<HTML><HEAD> <META charset=UTF-8 http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charse= t=utf-8"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1170" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #fffff= f"> <DIV>Well, actually, it's dead. At least that is what Olga Kern told me last= week. She was here to give a recital. I prepped our new D, and put it in th= e middle of the stage. At 6:30 I stopped by to see if there was anything she= needed. She said, "This piano is dead." I said it was only a year old,= and had probably only been played about a dozen times. She said, it sounded= like it. I should have kept my mouth shut, but I offered her our 14 year D,= which was sittting off stage. After playing just 3 chords, she said she wan= ted to play the recital on that piano, but only after warming up on it. I ha= d 15 minutes to tune it before the doors opened. Unfortunately, by the end o= f the fist half, there were several notes that didn't make it. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>But that is not what I'm here to complain about. Olga was not the first= pianist to complain about the new piano. Last March Misha Dichter had the s= ame complaint. (but at least he gave me 2 hours to prep the older piano). My= question is, how do I put more "life" into a new piano? As I said, the pian= o only comes out of it's hiding place for special occasions. (No, sun down i= s not a special occasion here in Alabama, especially not on Sundays.) Since = we got the piano in August of last year, there have been about 12 performanc= es on it. The piano is voiced, regulated, etc., so I don't quite unders= tand when a performer says there is no life in the piano. Not even our piano= faculty agrees with that, although they do think the piano is a little stif= fer than the older one. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Any advice will be greatly appreciated. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Wim</DIV> <DIV><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"= >Willem Blees, RPT<BR>Piano tuner/technician<BR>School of Music<BR>Universit= y of Alabama<BR></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>