Overseas employment

[Stéphane Collin]

Hi Ric, hi list.

Ric, as always, I like your view which is very pertinent to my eyes.
Just a few thoughts from poor me who has no (I mean really not one)
authorized qualification in any way, piano related or not.  The emphasis is
of course on the word authorized.
The concept of authorizing per se is not bad for me, in the way that it
gives to the authorized person well just that, authority to act in his
branche, that is controlled pertinence.  Normally, one should trust the
authorized guy and be confident in the level of his skills.
Now what are skills ?  Sorry to say, in my life, every authorizing process I
encountered proved to be just (and no more than) favoring the skills of the
pupils to please the "masters" who give the authorization, whatever this
involves.  No doubt, of course, that some of the true skills are implied,
but then again, what are the true skills ?
Can we talk about tradition ?  Ow, wrong word in here.  Anyway, even out of
here, one must see that tradition is not anymore what it used to be, that is
in the times when the words master and apprentice had their full meaning.
So ok, let's forget about tradition, which is anyway like glue under our
feet.
Let's be more pragmatic.  What is a good scale ?  Reading this list, none of
the scales from the past would succeed in authorizing their finders.  Many
will point out that those scales don't obey to what they think is a good
scale, that is mainly (so I suppose) one that makes all curves alla Dave
Roberts (with or without Sanderson's corrections) smooth.  This alone proves
that a part of the tradition that used to give different colours to
different registers disappeared.  What didn't disappear is the gold medal
for the guy who says that a good scale is etc. whatever if it matches what
the master thinks.
What is a good rim ?  Well any from 1850 uptill now seems to do well enough,
so ...
What is a good pinblock ? Well any from ever seems to fail at some point, so
...
When are you rim or pinblock bauer authorized ?  Well depends on who makes
the authorization and on how well he likes you.
What is a good voicing ?  Well, for me, I have a few tests that I try on the
pianos I voice.  One of my favourite is just playing the "Adagio cantabile"
from the "Grande sonate pathetique" Opus 13 of Beethoven, and see how well I
succeed in having the melody sing clearly while the accompanying stays on
the background forming a comfortable seat for the melody to sit in.  I know
that if this works well, many things in the repertoire will work well, and
pianists will be happy.  Now if I were a "master", I would not authorize any
of my "apprentices" unless they are able to do this check, that is play the
Adagio cantabile of Beethoven sonata op. 13 in a precise way enough to get
clear conscience that the piano will work for fine playing.  Is this
involved in the German klavierbaumeister process ?  Don't know.  But I know
many authorized voicers are only after maximum power.

Now back on topic, the employment thing.  Again in my life, what I saw is
that authorization has proved to be most beneficial when applying for a job
in an authorized structure.  Everywhere else, competence and good fame do
the trick.

Best regards.

Stéphane Collin.