On Jan 7, 2008 8:20 AM, <piannaman at aol.com> wrote: > Great tale, Tom! Glad you survived a very difficult weekend with you > dignity intact and a sense of pride. Thanks for taking the time to > chronicle it. > > > Dave Stahl, > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Tom Servinsky <tompiano at bellsouth.net> > To: ilvey at sbcglobal.net; Pianotech List <pianotech at ptg.org> > Sent: Sun, 6 Jan 2008 6:35 pm > Subject: Being called on stage, revisited > > 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 > > > > > > ------------------------------ > More new features than ever. Check out the new AOL Mail<http://o.aolcdn.com/cdn.webmail.aol.com/mailtour/aol/en-us/text.htm?ncid=aolcmp00050000000003> > ! > Great story, great job! Beat your chest and brag all you want, it's well deserved! Mike Magness -- The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources. Michael Magness Magness Piano Service 608-786-4404 www.IFixPianos.com email mike at ifixpianos.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/20080108/09f02403/attachment.html
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