Backchecking Height and an incredible help

[antares@euronet.nl]

Right on David. Nice post!
btw, what do you feel when you have an attack of the rheumatoid 
arthritis? (I have no idea really).

On zaterdag, mei 31, 2003, at 07:23 Europe/Amsterdam, David Andersen 
wrote:
>
> This is a truly fascinating phenomenon and thread.  It's so hard for 
> the
> logical mind to surrender to the fact that there are things about a 
> piano,
> and working on a piano, that seem to be beyond logic or figuring out.
> I guess that's what "craft" is about: the ability to produce or 
> catalyze
> that extra added magic or mystery that makes the product or result of 
> the
> craft more attractive than the next guy's efforts. This, IMO, is a 
> result of
> 1) doing something thousands of times with attention, focus, and a 
> student's
>    mind.
> 2) Trusting, and I mean really trusting, your body as a feedback loop,
> rather than your thoughts. The ear, and the heart, ARE the final 
> arbiters.
>
> I am extremely spatially and mechanically challenged.  I am in awe of 
> many
> of y'all's understanding of how a piano works in a linear way.  And 
> yet:
> people pay me top dollar in an extremely competitive market in one of 
> the
> world's biggest cities because I can make a big, big difference in how 
> their
> pianos sound and feel by making subtle, incredibly precise changes in
> tuning, voicing, and regulation that seem to work synergistically in a 
> way
> that other technicians' efforts do not. And my gradual acquisition of 
> these
> skills came not through my ability to understand and envision how a 
> piano
> works, but to FEEL and HEAR what artists and serious players prefer.
>
> One thing I can tell the people on this list with a decade or less in 
> the
> craft:  trust yourself; don't place too much stock in what somebody 
> else
> says until you try it and FEEL and HEAR that it's good.  I know I've 
> learned
> a tremendous amount of extremely precious info and insight from certain
> people, and I'll always be grateful to them---Jack Cofer, Kenyon 
> Brown, Bill
> Garlick, Virgil Smith, Bob Davis & Dale Erwin, Richard Davenport, and 
> Tom
> Servinsky, and  to name just a few----but I've also bound myself, sent
> myself down dead-end roads for years, by buying somebody's advice or
> world-view about something to do with pianos that turned out to be not 
> true
> for ME, or not the best way to do something for ME.
>
> Trust yourself.  If you can't trust your ears, and your sensibilities, 
> you
> should look for another way to make money.
>
> End of rant.  Down off the soapbox.  My best to all.  Coming back to 
> the
> List a little at a time after a nasty, shocking, and disappointing 
> private
> exchange with another List member, then an especially vicious 
> flare-up, the
> worst ever, of rheumatoid arthritis....I've let go of the first, and am
> getting healthier by the day. It's a frightening illness; send  me 
> some good
> energy if you are so inclined.
>
> with warm and respectful regards......
>
> David Andersen
> Malibu, CA
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> pianotech list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives
>
>


Antares,
The Netherlands

see my website at : www.concertpianoservice.nl