[pianotech] Grand Obsession (was re. Voicing Client)

[Roy]

List:
I share Keith's enjoyment of reading Grand Obsession. Before I read it, I derisively thought of it as "Grand Neurosis".  But it was better than expected. I took it more like a novel.  A story.  I didn't expect to get alot of factual information out of it.  It was more of a suspense book. She did a good job of creating characters of the people involved, to make them interesting.  I assume that the people in the book were caracitures to some extent.  All I mean is that she emphasized certain elements of their personalities.  It was well written, fun to read, and made me think....which is all I really ask out of a book like this.  

As Keith points out, it is hard to believe that the dealer went to such effort on a piano he sold heavily discounted.  And it's of course coincidental that Marc just happened to have lived out west, and was traveling back, and owed the dealer a favor, and happened to have been the guy who did the "magic" tuning.  But who cares? It made good reading.  I have to think that if the tuning would have been tried first, that the "magic" element would have been something else.  No doubt, actually.  You also have to wonder how whether she disclosed that she was writing a book, and whether that affected people's willingness to help her?  Or at what point she decided to write a book.

So much of the book is based upon her visceral reactions.  She would say that a piano "left me cold".  No explanation. Just her emotional response.  But, the theme of the book was her emotional reaction to the sound of her piano, and trying to figure out what that connection is.  And so, maybe it was OK.  It lead her to go into some theories of why we react to music as we do.

One thing I liked was that Marc emphasized the temporal nature of tuning, voicing, and piano work in general. It's only just so for a little while, he would tell her.  And, he did talk in the book about customers who are never happy in pursuit of the perfect sound.  It was probably Marc who called what he did "smoke and mirrors".  It's been a while since I've read it, but he did talk somewhat that way in the book.

Well, the book made me think about what I do, and my approach with customers.  I'm glad I read it.  It's not Plato's Republic, but it's worth reading none the less.

Roy Peters

 -----Original Message-----
>From: Keith McGavern <kam544 at allegiance.tv>
>Sent: Jul 3, 2009 1:13 AM
>To: pianotech at ptg.org
>Subject: Re: [pianotech] Grand Obsession (was re. Voicing Client)
>
>Ron, List,
>
>I need to add something that is extremely important. All the  
>technicians that visited this piano and did their thing between the  
>showroom experience and the final curtain altered the piano forever  
>because parts were changed in an attempt to make the piano like she  
>remembered. It would be nigh impossible for that instrument to ever be  
>like it was, once having other hands get inside and do their thing.
>
>It is utterly amazing of all that activity done to this instrument and  
>still have it end up at a reasonable semblance of what it once was in  
>its originally unaltered state at the time of the showroom experience  
>with a fresh tuning by a particular individual.
>
>Sincerely,
>
>Keith