<HTML><HEAD></HEAD> <BODY> Roger: What kind of hairspray? dave __________________________________________ David M. Porritt, RPT Meadows School of the Arts Southern Methodist University Dallas, TX 75275   ----- Original message= ----------------------------------------> From: Roger= Jolly <<A= href="mailto:roger.j@sasktel.net">roger.j@sasktel.net</A>><BR= >To: College and University Technicians <<A= href="mailto:caut@ptg.org">caut@ptg.org</A>> Received:= Wed, 03 Dec 2003 11:02:16 -0600 Subject: Re: It's= Alive!!!! Hi= Wim,          &n= bsp;      Comments like, "It is= stiffer".  Is all too often tone related.  Just last= weekend I had this comment from Vladimir Viardo, who was playing= Rach2, sprayed the strike points with hair spray, and he thought= I was a genius.  He thanked me for making the action more= even and lighter.   (Chuckling)  All I did was= spray the hammers.5 mins work tops.  Next time I see the= piano, buff off the Hair Spray crust with 400 grit paper. = Now how do I charge for  for a full voicing= job? Since you are getting these comments from visiting= performers of out standing quality, it really sounds as if the= piano needs more tone building,  Are your Profs  in= the league of Misha Dichter?    OMG University= politics.  <G> Walk carefully and carry a big= stick. Roger At 03:19 PM 12/1/2003, you= wrote: <BLOCKQUOTE class=cite cite="" type="cite">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 the= middle of the stage. At 6:30 I stopped by to see if there was at= i wasnything 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= wanted to play the recital on that piano, but only after warming= up on it. I had 15 minutes to tune it before the doors opened.= Unfortunately, by the end of the fist half, there were several= notes that didn't make it.   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= same 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 piano only comes out of it's hiding= place for special occasions. (No, sun down is 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= performances on it. The piano is voiced, regulated, etc., so I= don't quite understand 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 stiffer than the older one.=   Any advice will be greatly appreciated.=   Wim Willem Blees,= RPT Piano tuner/technician School of Music University= of Alabama</BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>