[CAUT] tuning frequency

[Wimblees@aol.com]

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In a message dated 2/28/05 3:31:57 P.M. Central Standard Time,  
jtanner@mozart.sc.edu writes:

Others  haven't been tuned since 
last semester (hey, I'm not saying they're in  tune - I'm saying the 
profs ain't fussing. One professor came back after  the Christmas break 
and said, "what did you do to my pianos? they're  sounding great after 
the break!"  I smiled broadly and just thought  to myself, "Nothing. 
That's just how bad your ears  are.")
I am teaching a class, "The care and feeding of pianos", and one of my  
students, a clarinet player, had to tell her professor his piano was out of  tune. 
He couldn't hear it. I've only tuned the oboe teacher's piano once since  I've 
been here. A couple of weeks ago, one of the theory professors asked me to  
check his piano, because it sounded funny. It was 25 cents flat at the break. 




Your professors should understand that different buildings have  
different climate control capability, and not to mention, different  
climates will have varying levels of change.  If they don't understand  
this, make them all a copy of Walter Deptula's article from the January  
2000 Journal on "Deep Cycling of Humidity".  That article alone can  
answer LOTS of questions and support your position.  Add in a copy of  
that Steinway article on climate control, get you a couple of those  
Dampp-Chaser digital hygro units and record and reset the high/low 
every  week inside a couple of their pianos and you should have some 
pretty  convincing support.  Everything you give them, give a copy to 
your  supervising administrator.
 
One of the things I want to be careful of is that I don't want to sound too  
superior to my profs. I want to make sure they don't feel like they are wrong. 
 The last thing I want to do is make them feel I know more than they  do. 
Although your idea is great, (someone else mentioned the digital hydro  units), 
if I put them in there, they will realize it is not my fault.  Somehow I need 
to have them think of the idea. 
 
One of the pianos is going out of tune because the professor has a  space 
heater sitting 3 feet in front of the piano, next to his bench. (He comes  in at 
6 AM, before the heating system is up and running). When I asked him about  it 
on Sunday, and he said he uses it only under his desk. When I got there this  
morning, it was sitting next to the bench. Now he has to know he didn't  tell 
me the truth. But he is so determined to prove that the piano going  out of 
tune is my fault, that initially he didn't want to admit maybe it was his  
fault. I hope that when he sees the thing sitting there tomorrow morning,  (he 
doesn't come in on Mondays), maybe he'll think about what he said.
 
The basic problem here is lack of communication. These professors don't  want 
to talk to me. They have taken the attitude that the pianos are my  
responsibility, and anything that goes wrong with them is my fault. Not only  that, but 
they don't think it is their responsibility to tell me when  something goes 
wrong. On Saturday I spent 6 hours tuning and voicing one of the  other 
professors' two B's. I wrote her a note asking if she likes the tunings. I  have not 
heard from her yet. 
 
In case you haven't guessed, the honeymoon here at UA is over. Now have to  
work for a living.
 
Wim 

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