I'm back

[Tom Servinsky]

HI Terry,
Honestly, there was a point were I felt like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz,
clicking my feet together saying " there's no place like home".
This was the rollercoaster of emotional highs and lows as I ever
encountered.
We played at some of the incredible concert halls throughout Europe, like La
Cigal in Paris, which is where Chopin and Lizt used to compete for
attention. Or the Parma Opera House, Parma , Italy which was 5 balconies of
24 kt. gold leaf...absolutely stunning. Or the famous Royal Festival Hall in
London.
Then we would be some po-dunk place in Italy which didn't want tells us the
the venue stage is 2 flights of stairs down and there's no elevator to take
the piano down.  They were afraid to tell the booking agent in fear that the
show would be cancelled if we found out  (?/#*).
Then there was the issue of showers. We were  supposed to be granted at
least one shower a day either at the beginning of the day or after the show
was completely loaded back onto the truck ( 1:30 AM). Many times the showers
were missed. Talking about a ripe bus!
Then there were the truly, incredible moments where I finally found the
right voicing and octave stretch for this artist. This artist uses a lot of
Ravel type  voicing in his chordal work which makes for a very
broaden-transparent quality. I was told early on to keep the octaves on the
tight side which I  obliged to do.
As the tour developed and paid more closer to his style I made the decision
to open the stretch a bit and broaden the  5ths. This was like the show "The
Princess and the Pea". All of sudden this artist came alive and played
absolutely incredible. Mind you, not a word was mentioned to him. Solos were
completely transformed, his whole approach went up several notches. He
became so animated that I got goose bumps.
Following the concert he and I, over a bottle of very expensive wine, talked
about the attributes of tuning stretches and how they affect the overall
sound. We talked about historical temperaments. We talked about variations
in voicing to compliment his style. This was what I have worked my whole
life towards, understanding and working hand-in-hand with an artist. From
that point on the tour took on higher level of importance.
Then there was the time in Barcelona when the crew decided to whoop it a bit
after the show and headed down to one of the bars ( 2:00 AM). We hadn't
walked 1/2 mile when we heard a lady wailing behind us saying that someone
up there had taken here money. When I had turned around, coming right at me
was a stone-drunk guy with a 12" butcher knife ready to take a stab at my
gut. Luckily a ducked the right way and he fell down. He then went after the
rest of the crew. Turns out he thought we were the ones who  stole her money
and he was trying to help.
I didn't wet my pants..but came pretty darn close.
Tom Servinsky, RPT
----- Original Message -----
From: "Farrell" <mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com>
To: "Pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Sunday, October 20, 2002 11:15 PM
Subject: Re: I'm back


> Welcome back Tom. Sounds like quite a time. Geez Bill, give him a break -
no need for the quick dose of brutal honesty!  ;-)
>
> Terry Farrell
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Bill Ballard" <yardbird@pop.vermontel.net>
> To: "Pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org>
> Sent: Sunday, October 20, 2002 11:07 PM
> Subject: Re: I'm back
>
>
> > At 8:10 AM -0400 10/20/02, Tom Servinsky wrote:
> > >As was promised before I left on the European concert tour (7 weeks
ago),
> > >I'm back ready to answer questions.
> >
> SNIP
>
> > Tewn dem spinets, now.
> >
> > Bill Ballard RPT
> > NH Chapter, P.T.G.
>
>
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