Concert Tuning & Prep Sequence

[Avery]

Rick,

At 06:40 AM 5/10/2006, you wrote:
>I have been called to do what I would consider my first real concert tuning.

You're kind of lucky. My first "real" concert tuning was for a 
symphony concert in San Angelo, TX with Ferrante & Teicher (sp?). 
They can be real pounders! :-)

>The pianist is Dino (well known in Christian circles) and the piano 
>will be a Yamaha C7 (I believe) that hasn't been tuned/serviced in 
>at least 3 years (church).

Ouch! I tuned for Dino twice quite a few years ago when he was still 
touring with his white Baldwin grand and as best I can remember, he's 
very easy to work with.

>I have already determined that I will approach this in two stages 
>spanning 2 days due to the limited amount of time available on the 
>day of the concert. I am planning to do a pitch-raise and as much 
>prep work as possible on day 1

I agree here with the proviso that one pitch raise tuning gets the 
instrument fairly well on pitch. Maybe after the prep work, go over 
it again quickly just to catch any notes that might have gone out 
again too much. You don't want to have to continue & battle the 
tuning the day of the concert, if at all possible.

As far as prep work is concerned, if you have limited time, I'd 
suggest going for a consistent dip/aftertouch, let-off, drop & 
repetition. Maybe lube the knuckles, also. You might want to quickly 
check the jack position in relation to the knuckles. If it's 
reasonably new Yamaha, you probably won't find too awful much out of 
whack. Unless someone else has messed it up of course. Then even up 
the voicing, paying particular attention to any notes that really stick out.

>and then return the next day (piano will be moved a small distance 
>of 4-5 ft. on the morning of day 2 after a graduation ceremony) to 
>retune and be present during the sound-check with the artist.

That small a move shouldn't cause a problem with the tuning, but you 
plan on tuning it again anyway, so it's basically irrelevant. When I 
tuned for him, he used a "soundtrack" type accompaniment, so if you 
tune aurally, make sure your fork is accurate and hope that his 
machine is. :-)

>I would like to receive advice regarding the sequence of concert 
>work as well as insight into the artist's expectations from any of 
>you who might have tuned for Dino.

Hope I didn't forget anything and I probably didn't really say 
anything that you weren't already thinking, but maybe just reinforced 
everything. That first one can be kind of scary. Good luck.

Avery Todd
University of Houston

>
>Thanks!
>
>
>Rick Bazemore, RPT
>Social Circle, GA
>www.pianosintune.com
>
>
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