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<DIV><FONT face="Century Schoolbook" size=2>Dave</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Century Schoolbook" size=2>Who said anything about my dignity
staying intact? Did I mention my hairline inched back a little further after
that ordeal...</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Century Schoolbook" size=2>Tom Servinsky</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=IFixPianos@yahoo.com href="mailto:IFixPianos@yahoo.com">Michael
Magness</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=pianotech@ptg.org
href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">Pianotech List</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Tuesday, January 08, 2008 9:08
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: Being called on stage,
revisited</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV><BR><BR>
<DIV class=gmail_quote>On Jan 7, 2008 8:20 AM, <<A
href="mailto:piannaman@aol.com">piannaman@aol.com</A>> wrote:<BR>
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style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid">
<DIV><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">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.<BR><BR></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV style="CLEAR: both">Dave Stahl,<FONT
face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"></FONT></DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV class=Wj3C7c>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>-----Original Message-----<BR>From: Tom Servinsky <<A
href="mailto:tompiano@bellsouth.net"
target=_blank>tompiano@bellsouth.net</A>><BR>To: <A
href="mailto:ilvey@sbcglobal.net " target=_blank>ilvey@sbcglobal.net </A>;
Pianotech List <<A href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org"
target=_blank>pianotech@ptg.org</A>><BR>Sent: Sun, 6 Jan 2008 6:35
pm<BR>Subject: Being called on stage, revisited<BR><BR>
<DIV>
<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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<DIV><BR>Great story, great job! Beat your chest and brag all you want, it's
well deserved!</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Mike Magness<BR clear=all><BR>-- <BR>The secret to creativity is knowing
how to hide your sources.<BR>Michael Magness<BR>Magness Piano
Service<BR>608-786-4404<BR><A
href="http://www.IFixPianos.com">www.IFixPianos.com </A><BR>email <A
href="mailto:mike@ifixpianos.com">mike@ifixpianos.com</A>
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