<html> <body> List, Below are some e-mails from a good local tech who's done some concert tuning work here in Houston. I'm really NOT trying to "blow my own horn" but in my experience, it's so rare that university techs get kudos like this, I just thought I'd pass them on. So, please forgive me for doing this. Besides, I guess it's basically my 'swan song' here as far as major events are concerned! :-) The prep work was done in Dallas and the instrument (CFIII) was moved down here for Abbey Simon and Olga Kern. All I did was tune, voice 2-3 notes that were sticking out and adjust the pedal play a little at Abbey's request. Avery This one was on the pianotech list, so some of you probably saw it this morning! Olga Kern played last night at University of Houston, Moores Opera House.  By some strange twist of the fates my wife and I ended up third row, center- maybe 12 feet from her.  Oh my gracious!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   I flinched a number of times when she crashed into the keys with a force I've not often seen.  It wasn't one of the school pianos, so had to be adapted to the environment. Evidently Yamaha sent a tech to do the action work, but Avery Todd did the tunings.  I have heard a very few tuners in Houston whose work enters into the realm of "art", and Avery certainly is one of them. I could have a ball just sitting quietly at a piano he's tuned and listening to intervals and sounds and balance and all that stuff.    I had to hope that some little thing might go the tiniest bit out, thus proving that no piano can be perfectly tuned, and after an hour and a half of incredibly powerful playing the tuners in the crowd might have noted a note or two struggling to slip a bit.    It was a totally "wow" kind of evening, not only aesthetically in terms of music, but in having some small idea of the level of intuitive work and experience required to present an instrument so fabulously.    Kudos to those who can regularly walk in those rarefied technical realms with confidence. The next two came to me privately. 1. I would have been so devastated if Olga Kern had managed to brutalize that piano all evening and NOTHING go amiss………  Ah, I was not disappointed!  Tiny, noticed only by the very few, there were some notes which took a toll , tiny though the toll was,  at her brutality……….  How many tunings did you put into it and how much time?  Did she "bang in it" for you before you did final tunings. Inquiring minds want to know.  She was incredibly hard on it, and it was rock solid.  I was amazed. I suspect it was in pretty good shape when you got it, but still it was soooooooooooooo close to perfect to take that kind of pounding……….  So, I'd like a blow by blow account if you have a mind for it.  Three encores, standing ovation at the intermission. She was spectacular- oh and she could play the piano too………………..  :-) 2. I'm seriously interested in the shape of the piano when you got it and what you did to it.  The brutality with which she attacked at times made me flinch.  If you could attain that in one or two total tunings, I think I should go hide in a hole somewhere because I fought to hear the tiniest thing slip, and in the end there were a few tiny things, but it was almost as if the tuning had been nailed down.  Sooooo,  do you think enough about what you do when tuning to be able to articulate how it is your body/mind manages to sense when "stasis" has been reached?  Every time I get a good piano, especially if it is close and the tuning is only tweaking, I am struck by the many ways I can mess up each and every note because there are so many variables going on.     I had to rib you a bit because of the very high calibre of the tuning. My wife even commented about listening to the top, its clarity and "in-tune-ness".    So, since you're about to escape the pressures of that kind of life, please pass on gleaned wisdom. Avery </body> </html>