for those who know classical piano

[Kent Swafford, RPT]

Mickey, this is a wonderful story. Thank you.

I've always said that we should do the best work we possibly can on every
piano we service, because we never _really_ know who might drop by to play
it.  :)

Thanks again,

Kent Swafford


On 1/4/02 7:04 PM, "Mickey Kessler" <mickeykes@znet.com> wrote:

> I've been offering my services as a tuner/tech to friends and family so as
> to build my skills before I actually start charging.  A few days ago I got
> a call from a friend of my cousin, who told me she had an old upright that
> her husband, a contractor, recently got in lieu of cash for some
> job.  Nobody in the house plays, she said, but when it was delivered she
> ran next door and asked her neighbor, whom she described as a "professional
> pianist" to come play it and tell her if it was okay.  "When he played it,
> it was beautiful, of course," she explained.
> 
> I went over today.  An upscale neighborhood of Los Angeles, near Griffith
> Park.  The instrument needs lots and lots of work the action's a mess and
> it's missing two strings, but I was fine about that because I badly need
> the experience.  The lady told me more about her neighbor, the professional
> pianist who played it the day it was delivered and made it sound so
> good.  "He goes all over the world and plays," she said. "I don't know
> anything about classical music, but it sounded great.  He's like famous or
> something.  He really lives in France where he's got like three houses, but
> when he's in L.A he lives next door with some other guys who are
> musicians.  He always wears red socks."
> 
> I gaped at her.  Yeah.  Her neighbor is Jean-Yves Thibeaudet.
> 
> When I finished work (a long story) she told me to wait because she had to
> run outside for something.  I waited, played with her kids for a few
> minutes.  She came back, breathless, and presented me with a Denon CD of
> Thibeaudet playing Liszt.  It's unreleased in America, she was told by his
> housemates, who gave it to her to give to me (he's on tour,
> evidently).  She said they apologized profusely that they didn't have an
> autographed copy for me.
> 
> What a job, huh?
> 
> Mickey Kessler