Zen, or 'doing as less as is possible'

[antares]

on 12/30/02 12:50 AM, Jack Houweling at JackHouweling@dccnet.com wrote:

> Who are you ? Superman.?
> 
> Would you do that for a concert tuning?
> 
> Jack
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "antares" <antares@euronet.nl>
> To: "Pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org>
> Sent: Sunday, December 29, 2002 3:41 PM
> Subject: tuning time

Of course not Jack, but indeed, it is like what other colleagues here said :
it depends on experience, personal speed, hammer technique, and the way the
tuning pins behave.
I have recently told here that most tuners in Holland (who have a steady job
with a dealer) nowadays have to tune 30 piano's a week.
When I got in the bizz I had to do 7 a day, which makes 35 a week,
plus......very often 1 or  even 2 piano's extra, to get some more income.
After having done this for a couple of years you will have gotten very
efficient with your energy and your time.
Here is an example of a typical old fashioned 7 piano's day (working for an
employer, which I did at the time) :

tuning time average 45 minutes (which after years has become a standard and
a goal).
total actual tuning time per day = 7 x 45 minutes = ± 5.5 hours.

Travelling time within Amsterdam around 15 minutes from customer to customer
makes 8 trips (1 from my house to 1st customer, 6 trips in between, and 1 to
go home makes 8 x 15 minutes = 2 hrs
tuning time 5.5 hrs + traveling time 2 hrs = 7.5 hrs
On a ± 8.30 hour day that leaves 1 hour for chatting, drinking coffee and
eat lunch in car while driving.

Sometimes the days were longer, because customers ask for special treatments
like a noisy pedal or another minor complaint. In those days (I am so happy
that this story relates to my far past in deep space) complaints were extra
stress for me because it would 'cost' me time, i.e. once your schedule gets
screwed up your day will be more or less ruined because you're running after
the facts, so to speak.
Sometimes the days were shorter, which then left time to do an extra private
customer (or even two, although I am still not rich, darned!).
Quite a lot of (employed) tuners have lived this hectic kind of work life.
Most of them have either retired at an early age because their bodies could
not take it anymore : a number have prematurely died of strokes or heart
attacks, but the ones still on 'the battlefield'  all have severe physical
complaints about shoulders, back, back of neck, fingers, hands, ears, ankles
and knees (because most cars in Europe still have gear shifts @#$%^&*) and
they are by now reasonably insane because of their whining customers which
they have serviced for 30-40 years. *(;>0)

For about the last 12  years I have worked even over-over time because I got
into a small part of the concert circuit, started working as a free lancer
for Yamaha which gave me an incredible lot of work, tuned (since '83)
zillions of piano's at the Amsterdam Conservatory always very early in the
morning before classes start, did many piano shows and during the last 2
years I even have worked for the Amsterdam Concertgebouw which almost is a
night and day job.

I thought I was a fast tuner but at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw I really
learned what speed tuning and - 'concrete tuning' - was.
As in all major concert halls there is always an intermission.
Sometimes the instrument will be also used after the intermission which
leaves roughly 10-15 minutes for the tuner to 'fix' the 'damage'.
Those are the moments when you leave the scene with your left hand in a
karate chop posture, your face dripping with sweat caused by the tense
moment and the hot lights, and keyed up with Mount Everest adrenaline but at
the same time with a cats' smile of knowing that your tuning will last till
doomsday.
I am sure it sound familiar to many of us.

So my friends...am I Superman? Are we Super(wo)men?
After trillions of pulling wires for others we all will have a sound hammah
(;>) technique, a keen ear for economical tuning and a diamond hardened
stress shield for the moments when we get 'harassed' by whiners and really
impossible 'professionals'.

In this perspective the tuning times I quoted are a serious attempt to make
a 'real' tuning and not just another lousy job.
Maybe the ones on this list who are skeptical about ETD's will now have an
even better understanding why I personally am so happy with my VT   :
the tuning is - always - beautiful and I will probably live a little bit
longer because it takes the stress away.
Learning to tune with an ETD may take some time but we usually all learn
fast. 
I have found out a long time ago about - 'doing as less as is possible'  -
In the end, this Zen attitude is my final answer to a hectic life.


friendly greetings from
Antares, The Netherlands

"Where Music is no harm can be"

see my website :
www.concertpianoservice.nl