Two Truths Reinforced

[Elwood Doss, Jr.]

Thanks, Alan, for sharing the experience with us.  At my University I wear two hats--Piano Technician and Technical Director of the Fine Arts Theatre for the Department of Music.  The beauty of this combination is I get to hear my work in concert several times each week--and get to record it too!  It is a thrill to sit in the recording booth and listen to the piano being played.  Sometimes I'll slip out in the hall to listen to it in an ambient environment--and that's an even greater experience!  I may not make nearly as much money as most other tuners, but I receive blessings far greater than money!  I want each piano I tune to pass muster for the greatest critic I know--me!

Being an ordained minister, I agree with Bach!
Joy!
Elwood

Elwood Doss, Jr.
Piano Technician/Technical Director
Department of Music
University of Tennessee at Martin
731/587-7482

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <tune4u@earthlink.net>
To: "Pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Friday, April 18, 2003 11:16 PM
Subject: Two Truths Reinforced


> Tuned Steinway L at a huge chapel at Fort Wood. Hadn't tuned it for 7 months
> and had put in a DC w/undercover a month ago. I arrived just as a Protestant
> "Good Friday" service was about to begin. Was going to leave and come back,
> but was spotted by a young woman who is a client and was singing a solo--she
> invited me to stay, so I did. The organist (big pipe organ) played the
> Steinway for her solo: he is also a client and a professional musician.
> Talked to them afterwards and was apologetic that I hadn't gotten in to tune
> earlier. They both said it sounded fine, to them.
> 
> Hmmm. There it is again. A professional musician and a pretty durned good
> semi-professional singer who are either extraordinarily kind or just can't
> tell when a piano is off, so it seems.
> 
> So they leave and I tune. Actually, it was very close to pitch and mostly
> in-tune with itself. Unisons mildly sour. (Thank you stable Steinway)
> 
> I was kind of in a hurry to get to my own church and was fighting the
> temptation to just run through it quickly because most who play it seem
> indifferent or deaf to how it sounds. And it frankly tunes like a
> Steinway--that is to say, it kinda fights back as you tune. But, no, I can't
> do that. So I Did a careful job, zeroed in those unisons and set strings and
> pins as best I know how. Then I went up the scale and listed to each unison,
> touching up any hint of sourness I could.
> 
> Just as I'm finishing, the Catholics start to file in for their "Good
> Friday" service. A well-dressed lady speaks to me, after I've bumbled
> through my testing tunes, and says "You play really well."
> 
> How kind.
> 
> "Garsh," I said, "thanks. Are you playing for this service?" She was.
> 
> She sat down and started ripping through some of the most beautiful Chopin
> you ever heard! Turns out she's a concert artist from China. Wow.
> 
> Anyway, several people were listening and we all got talking when she
> finished. She complimented the tuning.
> 
> Out of that, I now have 4 new clients!
> 
> Morals of the story:
> 
> 1) Always do your best--for pride, for professionalism, for the benefit of
> others. (Bach said he did it for the glory of God; can't top that.)
> 2) People CAN hear a well-tuned, well-played instrument and do appreciate
> it. Even if we think they can't hear the difference, they really can.
> 3) Good things happen when you follow #1 above.
> 4) Remember to have a bunch of !#*@$& business cards on hand at all times!
> Very awkward to run out or have none when asked!
> 
> I've never tuned for a concert, per se, but it was a thrill to hear my work
> that way. Must be great, you who are concert tuners--unless the artist is a
> real jerk, of course.
> 
> Alan Barnard
> Salem, MO
> 
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