Being called on stage, revisited

[Allen Wright]

> So Tom,

Tell us about the tuning; how badly out was the piano, and was it the  
kind of situation where you basically have to hit the worst octaves  
and unisons and hope for the best? Or was it in fairly good shape to  
begin with, so that you felt pretty good about the overall note  
placement, and were able to finesse things a bit? Also, did you use  
electronics (or was there even time enough to turn on the  
computer?!). I mean, twenty minutes isn't much time, is it?

Sounds like an exciting evening, indeed.

Allen Wright, RPT
London, UK
>
>
> From: "Tom Servinsky" <tompiano at bellsouth.net>
> Date: January 7, 2008 2:35:15 AM BST
> To: <ilvey at sbcglobal.net>, "Pianotech List" <pianotech at ptg.org>
> Subject: Being called on stage, revisited
> Reply-To: Pianotech List <pianotech at ptg.org>
>
>
> List,
> I had a first in my 28 yr career. I've tuned countless  times to   
> packed audiences due to scheduling and last minute issues. Do this  
> type of work long enough and you quickly learn that this comes with  
> the territory. But never have I had a situation when 1/2 hr prior  
> to showtime, with the house completely sold out, with the full  
> orchestra  in place on stage, the conductor and artist in the wings  
> pacing back and forth....and no piano.  If I ever write a book,  
> this story needs to have it's own chapter titled  " a 24 hrs I'll  
> never forget".
>  My career has me wearing several hats. Not only do I manage my  
> piano technician career, but I also play professionally as a  
> symphony musician with several orchestras, as well as being one the  
> techs for the Steinway C& A rental fleet for S. Florida. This past  
> week I was doing double duty as I was playing in the orchestra and  
> being the concert tech for Christopher O'Reilly performances of  
> Beethoven's 4th Piano Concerto.  No big deal as this situation  
> happens quite regularly in my world.
> The artist had picked out a particular piano through the Steinway  
> dealership, which  was then to be used for several concerts in  
> several cities. The Steinway dealership was responsible for  
> handling the logistics of getting the piano from one venue to  
> another. Let me also point out that this dealership is about  as  
> good as they get...very professionally run from top to bottom.  
> However as luck would have it, a snag in the workings occurred and  
> I ended having the 24 hour from hell.
> My "Tale of Woes" started on Thursday, Jan 3 as we had a dress  
> rehearsal and concert at 4PM and 8PM.  The piano was scheduled to  
> arrive at the hall at noontime, which would had provided plenty of  
> time for the piano to acclimate and for me to do the necessary  
> work. Noontime...no piano. 12:30...no piano. Finally I called the  
> dealer asking where the piano was. They said it should have been  
> there by now.I waited and waited.. Several phone calls later I come  
> to find out that the truck broke down and the guys needed to get a  
> wheel replaced. They were 80 miles away and that was 1:30. Ok...I'm  
> figuring that they get moving, they might get here by 3PM, which  
> would still a enough time to get a quick tuning in.. As a backup  
> plan I made the decision to get the house piano tuned and prepped  
> just in case the piano didn't make it time. My intuition turned out  
> to be correct and the piano never arrived on time for the dress  
> rehearsal.  The artist was livid. It wasn't until the end of the  
> dress rehearsal that the piano arrived.  The dress rehearsal  
> finished at 6:30 and I had a 30 mins. to get his piano ready prior  
> to a pre-concert lecture which would begin at 7PM.
> The piano got tuned and the concert went smoothly and the piano  
> held fine throughout. That was Thursday.
> Friday, Jan 4th: I thinking that I'm not going take any chances.  
> I'll keep in close contact with the mover not take any chances. The  
> piano was scheduled to be delivered to another city and be in place  
> by noontime. This time I called the mover directly at 9AM...no  
> answer. 10AM no answer and finally get him  at 11:30 to get a feel  
> where he was in his schedule.  He said, " no problem, I'll have the  
> piano there by 4:30PM".  I said, "dude, the concert starts at 4PM  
> and this piano better be here ASAP. Out of nowhere comes this  
> attitude of "take it or leave it". The best that I can do  is  
> 4:30."  If we didn't like his offer, get another mover. I couldn't  
> believe what I was hearing, nor could the Steinway dealer when I  
> relayed his remarks. This piano mover does all of the C& A moving  
> for the Steinway dealership and we have never had an issue with  
> them prior to this situation. The dealership had to scramble to  
> find another mover who could travel 110 miles with very heavy  
> traffic, pick the piano up, turn around head back south 53 miles to  
> the next venue for the 4pm performance. Keep in mind a pre-concert  
> lecture began at 3PM so I debated whether I should get the house  
> piano ready just in case the worse possible scenario actually came  
> true, again. However,the artist was insistent that he would only  
> use this particular C & A  piano, no matter what. So we waited and  
> waited and waited. Imagine the feeling of standing back stage with  
> the artist and conductor and no piano. It was the worse feeling of  
> misery one could ever imagine. Finally the piano arrived at 3:35  
> and the audience went wild. The piano was rolled into position and  
> by 3:40 I had my tuning hammer going to work. I finished right at  
> 4PM with 35 musicians, 600 in the audience, and Christopher  
> O'Reilly and the conductor ( pacing back and forth) as my witness.
> The concert went on right on time and the piano held beautifully.
> Here's the good news: My colleagues in the orchestra took a new  
> interest in the world of a concert piano technician. They have  
> watched me get pianos ready for other performances, but they never  
> watched with so much interest as they did on this particular occasion.
>   What I found of interest was that many of the musicians really  
> never full appreciated the vital role a concert technician plays on  
> any given performance. Yes they understood the pianos are tuned  
> prior to the performance but they never got a close-up and personal  
> experience of a near impossible situation and have someone be able  
> to work at a blazing speed. I think they also felt a new sense of  
> empathy for the pianist who are completely dependent upon others to  
> get their instruments to the gig, and others to tune, regulate and  
> voice the instrument up to performance standards.
> Many of the musicians approached me after the concert asking me  
> about our profession with a new profound sense of curiosity and  
> respect. And for the first time, many even ask me for my card. Even  
> Christopher O'Reilly walked up to me at the very end and said that  
> was one of the most remarkable achievements he had ever witnessed  
> in all of his professional career. He said that had he not  
> witnessed this first hand he never would have believed that this  
> could have been pulled off. He commented that he had never seen a  
> tech be so calm and collected in the midst of such a chaotic  
> scenario. Had I reacted differently he would have flipped out. But  
> the show went on 4 standing ovations later I just sat there in  
> utter disbelief of the wild ride I had just experienced. It's one  
> thing to have to deal with adversities in this type of work, and  
> it's another to have perform at a very high professional level. But  
> put the 2 together...that's another story.
>  Now for my apologies if this long winded threads sounds like a bit  
> of gloating on my part. But heck I earned some well deserved chest  
> beating and bragging rights through this experience.
> God I love this business!!!
> Tom Servinsky
>
>
>
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