techicians or tooners

[Annie Grieshop]

Les, this is an Introduction to Talking With Pianists (and Why)!  Thanks so
much.  I hadn't thought about it from the perspective of the non-player
technician, but after reading the kinds of questions you ask, I suspect you
notice things I wouldn't, because you've had some great teachers (not to
mention your own talent, skill, and expertise <g>).

As an example:  Doug Neal recently told me about Mischa Dichter's
requirement that dampers work at NINE different levels of engagement (and
forgive me if I'm paraphrasing that badly).  Doug undoubtedly knows a whole
universe about dampers that I can't even imagine, even though he doesn't
play.  Unless I happened to talk to just the right player (or technician), I
would never know that such thing was possible.

So, thanks, Les (and Doug), for educating me!

Sometimes, I find that my playing experience gets in the way of helping
customers because I can't duplicate the ways their hands (brain/arms/feet)
work.  So, many of the pianos I work on just tend to perform better for me
than for their owners.  That's where John's info card would be particularly
useful for me.

Annie Grieshop

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Leslie Bartlett [mailto:l-bartlett at sbcglobal.net]
> Sent: Saturday, June 02, 2007 4:10 PM
> To: annie at allthingspiano.com; 'Pianotech List'
> Subject: RE: techicians or tooners
>
>
> I am certainly limited in my keyboard skills. I have a couple "pay me"
> things I play when I'm finished. But I talk a great deal with people who
> play, ask them to describe how their action feels to them, tell
> them I need
> to learn to speak a foreign language (as in "the bass is wonkie").  But
> after a few thousand tunings on pianos of every ilk, there does come some
> understanding of what is going on, and my final judge is the customer.  I
> will often ask if such-and-such concerns the owner. If it does, we explore
> the issues involved, and what can be done. If it does not, then I say, "if
> it doesn't bother you there's nothing to mess with. If it does become of
> interest or concern, then we can talk some more about it."   I use the
> expertise of excellent pianists in their craft by spending a lot of time
> questioning how they define different aspects of touch,
> responsiveness, how
> they feel about their ability to draw music out of the piano.  I
> am quick to
> say they have expertise I don't and I am using them to become
> more sensitive
> to their needs.  I have done action work for a few major players, and have
> always gotten highly favorable responses.  I attribute that to never
> assuming anything until I have asked a question several different
> ways, then
> mirroring back what I think I have heard, then making very conservative
> changes on a few keys, and asking the pianist to play and respond as to
> whether changes positively reflect my interpretation of their
> descriptions.
> Thus I can use their knowledge to help me help them.
> les bartlett
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org
> [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
> Of Annie Grieshop
> Sent: Saturday, June 02, 2007 12:50 PM
> To: Pianotech
> Subject: techicians or tooners
>
> When I received Michael Spreeman's email, I was just about to sit down and
> write an addendum to my previous posting because I never meant to
> imply that
> non-playing technicians are inferior (and I was pretty sure somebody was
> going to take it that way).  Obviously, I should've been more clear the
> first time around. <g>
>
> My question referred to the recognition of non-tuning issues by those who
> don't play the piano.  I know wonderful technicians who have a
> very limited
> repertoire on the piano, so I certainly know it's possible.  Observant,
> careful, and conscientious craftspeople can diagnose and correct problems
> without being pianists (sort of like male gynecologists <g>).
>
> And what I meant was that the difference between a piano technician and a
> piano tooner is exactly that ability to reach beyond personal
> experience and
> do extra-ordinatry work.
>
> I do wonder what it's like to work on an instrument you don't play.  I
> wonder how that changes the relationship.  Guess I should try
> repairing some
> band instruments, as the whole blow-air-to-play-tunes thing
> (without reeds)
> just bamboozles me.
>
> Annie Grieshop
>
>
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