<div>Glad Jim, Sr. is still up and around! I miss seeing him on the list! </div> <div> </div> <div>Avery Todd<br><br></div> <div class="gmail_quote">On Jan 14, 2008 11:00 AM, David Andersen <<a href="mailto:david@davidandersenpianos.com">david@davidandersenpianos.com</a>> wrote:<br> <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid"> <div style="WORD-WRAP: break-word"> <div class="Ih2E3d"><br> <div> <div>On Jan 5, 2008, at 9:17 PM, Gary Telleen wrote:</div><br> <blockquote type="cite"> <div style="MARGIN: 0px"><font style="FONT: 16px Helvetica" face="Helvetica" size="5">David, on behalf of the Phoenix Chapter I would thank you for taking this time out of your busy schedule and making the trip over to Phoenix. <span> </span></font></div></blockquote><br></div></div> <div>The pleasure was truly all mine. For those who don't know, Gary is the PTG chapter president there in Phoenix, and he and his team extended a surprising invite to me last fall---to be the only instructor in an all-day seminar that would be the Arizona state conference; it would take place at Gary's big, beautiful shop out in the boonies near the mountains: a captive audience; nothing to do except listen me yap away. Mmmmm.  </div> <div><br></div> <div>Better yet, Gary said I was free to make up the day and the program as I saw fit, which turned a switch on big time for my interest.  Smart move, Gary. My description of the day is in the PDF below:</div> <div></div></div><br> <div style="WORD-WRAP: break-word"> <div></div> <div><br></div> <div>About 40 hardy souls showed up, some from as far away as Utah, Nevada, and California. For me it was a huge success; it felt good, the questions were great, the wisdom in the room was mind-boggling---thousands of years of experience among the people there--- </div> <div>good pianos to teach on, and---the big payoff for me---an obvious lighting of the lamp of the artisanal high end in a handful of technicians.</div> <div><br></div> <div>I have discovered a huge, seemingly unending passion for teaching---I'm a former professional hambone, so the performance aspect of it is really fun---and I've rediscovered the absolute joy of giving away whatever wisdom and experience my mentors and 30-odd years of piano work have given me. So sweet.   </div> <div><br></div> <div>Jim Coleman Sr. not only stayed for the entire day, he was actively involved, as were Nick Gravagne, perhaps my favorite Italian hipster, and Michael Spreeman, builder of the Ravenscroft piano---who's got the most beautiful and best-feeling shop I've ever seen. </div> <div><br></div> <div>At a pause in my tuning portion of the day, Jim actually showed the class a graph "proving" why my method of following the fourths and making them the key, the anchor for my tuning, is not only legitimate, but, in his words, "superior." Amazing. What an honor to be able to sit and talk with him as a friend, and what a massive personal "attaboy" for me. </div> <div><br></div> <div>I loved the format and the spine of this all-day class, and I intend to repeat it. Chapter and conference leaders, please take note.</div> <div>Call Gary Teleen, or Jim Coleman, or Nick G.,  and ask them how it went. I'm fired up.</div> <div><br></div> <div>Hope to see you all at NEECSO or in June at Anaheim......</div> <div><br></div> <div>best,</div> <div>David</div> <div><a href="http://davidandersenpianos.com/" target="_blank">davidandersenpianos.com</a></div><br></div><br></blockquote></div><br>