<HTML> <HEAD> <TITLE>Re: Gratuities & concert tuning</TITLE> </HEAD> <BODY> On 3/2/04 9:24 AM, "Avery Todd" <atodd@UH.EDU> wrote: Jeff and Avery, Since I have retired from University service I am smiling as I read your  scheduling problems and the last minute requests.  Finger pointing was always fun to watch.  Sometimes you gain some insight into faculty and student personalities by this exchange.      For 30 years I scheduled the concert hall pianos to be tuned on Friday morning.  I referred to it as a sacred occurrence.  No requests were approved for last minute rehearsals, visiting school children, etc.  Everyone knew I was in the hall and could stop by for a quick consultation about problems with the pianos.  Otherwise, the pianos were NOT tuned specifically for a concert during the week.  My director who started this schedule announced to the faculty that I had a life too and if they choose to perform on Sunday the piano would still only be tuned on Friday. The software also gave me the list of rooms and performances, which I looked over to see if there were any concerts I wanted to hear.  I learned and heard many problems before they became serious by listening to my work.  There were a few times that I was asked to tune for a visiting artist, and I was always responsive to broken strings, etc. I highly recommend this weekly tuning  schedule of concert pianos.    Humidity changes can be anticipated as American and German pianos don’t respond the with same pitch change.  Voicing and regulation can be tweeked in  a few minutes.   Dings in the corners can be touched and the case cleaned.  In Army jargon  -  the pianos were standing tall. Joel -- Joel A. Jones  RPT Piano Technicians Guild Assistant Institute Director June 29 - July 3, Nashville, TN http://www.ptg.org/conv.htm jajones2@facstaff.wisc.edu 608/833-1488 <BLOCKQUOTE>Jeff, Thankfully, our computer scheduling software has ALL rooms listed which be scheduled for any particular event. So, scholarship auditions, competitions, etc. have to be scheduled when they're arranged/booked. And since that type of thing is usually booked way in advance, I rarely get caught "with my pants down", so to speak. :-) Granted, most of the time, no one contacts me about them but with me being able to check the schedule here in my shop, and also book myself into any room on the schedule, I'm usually aware of any extra events being scheduled and then if I do have any questions, I can contact whoever is in charge. Avery At 10:00 AM 3/2/2004 -0500, you wrote: <BLOCKQUOTE>On Tuesday, March 2, 2004, at 09:44 AM, Avery Todd wrote: <BLOCKQUOTE> With the exception of the harpsichords, I usually don't have a problem in that realm. All concerts & recitals are on a computer schedule, to which I have access, so I keep a pretty close watch on what's happening. Both major halls have two 'D's in them, so piano availability is not a problem. The only problem I've had is that the student is supposed to indicate which piano is to be used but they rarely do. So, with the exception of the pianists (who usually do indicate), I've gotten to the point where I just tune whichever one I think would be best for that particular recital. I have better things to do than to track down a student or accompanist to ask which piano as I did when I first came here. Avery </BLOCKQUOTE> For the most part, that is an exact description of the way things happen here.  However, since we currently have only one recital hall, on rare occasion a recital might be scheduled in a different room, such as our choir room, which is equipped with recording facilities and utilized as a recital overflow venue.  Or there might be some other piano involving event held in there.  The events which are scheduled in that room do not show up on the main events (recital hall) calendar, which is separate still, from the recital calendar.  That is just one example.  We also periodically host competitions and auditions for outside organizations and can involve any number of pianos. About 25% of the time someone will contact me ahead of time to set up logistics.   The rest of the time, it is apparently assumed that someone else will let me know what is going on, or that I have ESP. </BLOCKQUOTE>Jeff </BLOCKQUOTE> </BODY> </HTML>