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<DIV><FONT face="Century Schoolbook" size=2>List,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Century Schoolbook" size=2>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".</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Century Schoolbook" size=2> 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.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Century Schoolbook" size=2>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. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Century Schoolbook" size=2>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</FONT><FONT face="Century Schoolbook" size=2> 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. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Century Schoolbook" size=2>The piano got tuned and the
concert went smoothly and the piano held fine throughout. That was
Thursday.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Century Schoolbook" size=2>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. </FONT><FONT face="Century Schoolbook" size=2>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.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Century Schoolbook" size=2>The concert went on right on time
and the piano held beautifully.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Century Schoolbook" size=2>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. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Century Schoolbook" size=2> 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.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Century Schoolbook" size=2>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. </FONT><FONT face="Century Schoolbook" size=2>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.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Century Schoolbook" size=2> 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.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Century Schoolbook" size=2>God I love this
business!!!</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Century Schoolbook" size=2>Tom Servinsky</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Century Schoolbook" size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Century Schoolbook" size=2></FONT> </DIV>
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