concert on call fee

[hubert liverman]

Jenneetah,

This is a great post! It is important to know what should be done, what can
be done, educate the Management/ Artist under the time, economic,constraints
and to do the best possible job. Love the work, get to know the people, and
enjoy the fellowship,perks and the rest will take care of itself.  Good
food, new friends, and a realisation of a job well done. This is as about as
short a reply as possible.





Hubert Liverman
Piano tuner/tech
Opelika Al.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jenneetah" <yardbird@vermontel.net>
To: "Pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Wednesday, July 21, 2004 9:41 AM
Subject: RE: concert on call fee


>
> That's a good place to start, because as soon as management finds out
> what it really costs to have the technician in the building (and most
> of the time, reading a newspaper), they'll quickly figure out how to
> cut the time down to what's actually required. At the most, that's:
>
> 1.) Piano is in tune when the artist arrives to practise.
>
> 2.) (Red Carpet Treatment) You're there when the pianist arrives for
> practise so that you both get to meet each other personally.....great
> for communication as well as assuring each of you of what the other
> can deliver.
>
> 3.) (Red Carpet Treatment) You arrive just as he's finishing his
> practise, so that he can explain to you directly using the piano,
> anything he thinks the piano needs. This is your chance to evaluate
> what (of his requests) the piano and you can deliver, and if his
> expectations need adjusting, to do so in advance. Again great for
> communication.
>
> 4.) a fresh tuning on the piano just before the concert
>
> 5.) (Red Carpet Treatment) You stay for the concert to check on
> anything at intermission.
>
> Steps 1&4 are easy to price. As an example the state symphony
> orchestra did a concert at a hall an hour away, where I take care of
> the D.  Because they were rehearsing that afternoon, they requested
> two tunings, a before and after. There wasn't much to do on the
> "after", so I simply charged them the hourly. Plus I was invited to
> the elegant buffet prepared by the local symphony support committee.
> (I'm a firm believer in Free Lunch.)
>
> Steps 2&3 will keep everyone's headaches to a minimum (something that
> management always like), but if management wants to do it this way,
> they will have to get the artist to commit to two times (or even just
> one) when you will meet with the artist. (Getting an artist to commit
> scheduled meeting times won't always work with the artistic
> temperament, but that's management's problem.) When these meeting
> time(s) (is)are nailed down, you can schedule other tunings in the
> neighborhood. Such meetings need not take any more than 10 minutes
> apiece, and if the other tunings are close by, might not be worth
> charging for. (Another thing that management likes).
>
> Step 5.......well, unless you really have much better things to do
> (watching reality TV, going to bed early....?) consider this a
> valuable perk. First, this is your chance to hear the piano and the
> pianist as the audience does, out in the hall. It's also a chance to
> listen to your work (I wasted the first eight years of my career
> because I was scared to do this). It also as a calming effect on the
> pianist and management, just knowing that you're right there if
> needed. And finally as you do more and more of this staying for the
> concert, management takes a shine to you as the one person among all
> their vendors who stays on the job through the end of *their* long
> day. That's when you get introduced to board members and benefactors,
> and they invite you to tune their pianos. And if they don't have one,
> sometimes you'll get to pick one out for them (for 5% commission).
>
> As I said earlier, management will quickly figure out that they only
> need to buy as many of your hours as the job actually requires, not
> every single hour the artist is going to be there.
>
> BTW, this is not the same situation as being on hand for a recording
> session, so that if a pedal suddenly starts creaking, or if a unison
> gets smudged, they won't have to wait while you're summoned by cell
> phone from the other side of town, with the clock ticking at the
> studio's (and everyone else's) hourly rate.
> _______________________________________________
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