This is a multipart message in MIME format ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment That would be pre-Verituner? David I. ----- Original message ----------------------------------------> From: antares <antares@euronet.nl> To: Pianotech <pianotech@ptg.org> Received: Fri, 12 Nov 2004 19:25:07 +0100 Subject: Re: "should I stay or should I go?" Hi David Skolnik, Of course it is true that there circumstances where you can train= the stage crew of a certain theater to be quiet when you are= tuning. However, in most, or at least many cases, this is not= possible and in that case you just have to live with it. Here is a clear example : I worked for some time for the most= famous concert hall in Holland, and my expectations were that= they would help me to do the best that I had to offer, and= especially in that place (the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam). The opposite was the case! They did not give a damn whether I had= a hard time or not. All they said in response to my complaints= was that the tuners before me had never complained and that I 'd= better be a big boy now. Whatever I said... it did not help. At a certain moment it was so= bad that 2 people were vacuum cleaning the stage and the seating= rows at the same time while I was preparing a gorgeous= instrument for a famous pianist! It should actually be enough to stop the job, pack your tools and= get the hell out. And you know what? After a long time of this humiliating treatment... I packed my tools, and I got the hell out, and I never returned,= even though this was the most prestigious client I had ever= had. There are however other cases where you try to keep the job, even= if it is almost impossible. That's where you have to grin and ignore. Andr=E9 On 12-nov-04, at 15:45, David Skolnik wrote: Hi Kent - I don't think we disagree. I credit my own early theatre-tuning= experience with the my ability to through-tune, but I'm going= for a little nuance here. Let me say this. As to how many of= those same people would ever again be confronted with a piano= tuner at work, why should you assume it to be so unlikely? These= were stage hands and such. The next time, they might very likely= remember...maybe it would take a few times. That's a learning= curve. As to the existential characteristics, I am trying to= distinguish between those conditions which are mutable from= those that are im-, (pi). I see no virtue in suffering in= silence if, by speaking up, the situation can be altered, and I= don't accept the idea that asking / demanding silence ought to= be experienced as humiliating. As for your recent experience, congratulations. It would be= interesting to hear the circumstances surrounding such a= nightmare, but I think your story illuminates my point on= multiple levels. For example, what if some aspect of the tuning= had, in fact, proved inadequate? Maybe starting out good, but= slipping. How would you have felt if some critical attention had= been brought to the piano, despite your heroic effort. It= certainly wouldn't be fair, but you might also attribute that to= the tuners' existential dilemma. Why, in such a panic situation,= was it impossible for the venue managers to control the= conditions for you? Why SHOULD such heroics be allowed to become= the standard, as illustrated by the quote from Carol Beigel's= post, "Yeah, the real professionals can deal with anything". Overall, a much wordier version of what David Love just posted. David Skolnik At 06:50 AM 11/12/2004 -0600, you wrote: On Nov 12, 2004, at 12:02 AM, David Skolnik wrote: The point is, SOMEONE has to teach these people. If I (or you)= don't tell them, why SHOULD they know better? You are right. My position is indefensible. But it is my= position, nevertheless. I wonder how many of those people that= you successfully shooed away will ever be faced with the same= situation again. Next time it is likely to be different people= making noise and needing to be educated. This is the piano= tuner's existential dilemma, as far as I can see. We can suffer= (the noise) in silence, or we can suffer the humiliation of= having to ask for quiet. Suffering in silence involves no break= in tuning, and doggedly continues the progress toward a finished= tuning. Last weekend I tuned for Olga Kern, the Cliburn gold medalist. I= had prepared one piano in ideal conditions, but there was a last= minute change of pianos. I had half an hour to bring the other= piano up to pitch and tune it at the last minute while chaos= reigned in the hall. Impossible. But as far as they know, I did= it, and the reviews of the concert were raves. Maybe I was able= to do that because of the experience I have tuning in adverse= conditions. ? Kent _______________________________________________ pianotech list info:= https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives _______________________________________________ pianotech list info:= https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives friendly greetings from Andr=E9 Oorebeek "where Music is, no harm can be" ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/67/dd/6f/6a/attachment.htm ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment--
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