Substitute Tuners (was Re: overbooked)

[Barb Barasa]

Avery,

I, for one, would never be insulted if a fellow technician wanted me to tune
for him/her before sending me work.  The only reason I can imagine why
someone would NOT want to do this is because they fear they won't measure
up.  Then you don't want them anyway!  This could be done on a practice room
piano so any potentially bad tuning would not be heard in a critical place
(like a concert hall).

I'm brand new in my area (one month) and would be thrilled to fill in for
someone or get leftovers at this point.  And I am not into stealing people's
customers (altho you wouldn't have that to worry about at a university), so
I would be comfortable stepping in and then stepping OUT!

Being qualified is only one issue.  I think it also comes down to trust, and
we each have to judge that for ourselves when dealing with someone.

There may be someone like me near you who is hungry for work AND a really
good tuner ... check out the ones who are even newer than you are who might
still be looking for work and "test" them.

Barb Barasa
Ashland, OR


>   This brings up a question I've been thinking about the last few days.
>I'm having some knee problems and may eventually have to have surgery and
>be out for a while. When one is relatively new in an area, like I am here
>(3-1/2 yrs.) how do you go about finding out how good a particular tuner(s)
>is? Especially someone who can do "concert" quality work. In a large
>university like this one, I have to be sure that whoever I bring in for
>recitals can do a good tuning and, more importantly, a stable tuning. So
>far, I've only had to bring in someone to tune for me one time, but it's
>bound to come up again. That time I knew well in advance and I was able to
>get the Houston Symphony tuner, so everything worked out fine.
>   How does one establish that relationship? My tunings are up for
>evaluation anytime anyone wants to come to one of the (probably) hundreds
>of recitals we have here in a year. But how about those who do primarily
>home/church/school tunings?
>   Any thoughts on what could be a sticky subject?
>
>Avery
>
>_____________________________________
>Avery Todd, RPT
>Moores School of Music
>University of Houston
>Houston, TX 77204-4893
>713-743-3226
>atodd@uh.edu
>_____________________________________
>
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