<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"> <head> <meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 12 (filtered medium)"> <style>  </style>  </head> <body bgcolor=white lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple> <div class=Section1> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D'>Hi Bill:<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D'>No, I don’t think so. I have never been one to stretch my octaves in the last octave or so the way some technicians do. She’s not the kind of player who would rifle off the arpeggios, within which pitch discrimination shows itself most prominently. And she wasn’t complaining about the tuning, but about the piano being way too bright. This when I’ve got the piano already voiced down to the tired marshmallow level, and out of step with the lower half of the piano, which is much brighter and suits her fine. What my audiologist friend Laura said seemed to ring true for the kind of response my customer was having. My sessions at the piano where I was addressing her concerns were always very friendly, but precise and probing in trying to get to what she was hearing. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D'>None of us want to get old, or admit that we have lost some of the things that are most important to us and our individual identities. I can think of my father still driving the last few years before he passed away. Scared me to death to get in the car with him, his vision was so poor and his response time so very slow. Should he have been driving? Probably not, and I encouraged him not to. But his driving was just fine according to him. It’s called Denial, and he does not lack for company in this infirmity of aging – most men respond this way. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D'>Treat our customers with kindness and respect, and we can leave our egos out of this, since we know the problem is not us. Satisfy them if we can, and otherwise let it be. None of us are getting any younger, and too soon we may be in the position where others are making similar judgments about us. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D'>Will<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <div> <div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Bill Peterson<br> <b>Sent:</b> Friday, August 08, 2008 10:33 PM<br> <b>To:</b> Pianotech List<br> <b>Subject:</b> Re: Customer Complaint on Tuning<o:p></o:p></span></p> </div> </div> <p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p> <div> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Microsoft Sans Serif","sans-serif"'>Hi will, Do you think that her problem might be that the stretch is hurting her ears.  My ears are very critical of the stretch in the upper octaves.  </span><o:p></o:p></p> </div> <div> <p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p> </div> <div> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Microsoft Sans Serif","sans-serif"'>Bill Peterson</span><o:p></o:p></p> </div> <blockquote style='border:none;border-left:solid black 1.5pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 4.0pt; margin-left:3.75pt;margin-top:5.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:5.0pt'> <div> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>----- Original Message ----- <o:p></o:p></span></p> </div> <div> <p class=MsoNormal style='background:#E4E4E4'><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'> <a href="mailto:surfdog@metrocast.net" title="surfdog@metrocast.net">Will Truitt</a> <o:p></o:p></span></p> </div> <div> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>To:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'> <a href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org" title="pianotech@ptg.org">'Pianotech List'</a> <o:p></o:p></span></p> </div> <div> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Sent:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'> Friday, August 08, 2008 5:00 PM<o:p></o:p></span></p> </div> <div> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Subject:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'> RE: Customer Complaint on Tuning<o:p></o:p></span></p> </div> <div> <p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p> </div> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D'>To our poor suffering brother Terry, Ron, and others (including me) who have known this terrible fate.  Might I add a small tale of my own that may shed some light?<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D'>I have a customer in her early 80’s whose Knabe grand action I rebuilt about 3 years ago.  When I go to tune the piano (which I do every six months), she is always asking me to voice down the treble.  She says the middle and the bass are just fine, but (and she’ll go over the piano, bang some notes “Hear that, it’s way too bright, it’s awful”).  Well, I’ve voiced the dickens out of top 3 octaves of that piano, it’s like milquetoast to my ears.  The rest of the piano is much brighter, and I’ve voiced this piano enough to feel like I’ve taken too much away;  BUT it’s still too bright to her.  She’s a really sweet lady, and her hearing is not perfect but certainly not at the 120 db TV level yet.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D'>We’ve been doing this for a while.  She still likes me and I like her.  But I am thinking to myself, what’s going on here?  So I approached Laura, who is an audiologist and a good friend (we have been teaching skiing at the same mountain in New Hampshire for a number of years) and asked her what might be going on with my customer’s hearing.  She explained to me that there is a condition that some older people can develop where they develop a hypersensitivity to higher frequencies that actually can cause them discomfort when hearing those higher frequencies.   She told me the name of the condition but I have forgotten it since it was last winter when I asked her (sorry).<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D'>The person isn’t really aware that they have this condition – they are aware of the symptoms, which cause them discomfort.  Which, of course, makes it hard for them to understand why you are having such a blasé reaction to all this, when (to their mind) it’s so obvious that any fool can hear it.  <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D'>Basically, it’s a situation you cannot win.  She doesn’t want to hear “It’s you, Lady!”  <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D'>So, yeh Terry, you got it right.  </span><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Smile, wiggle a few tuning pins, and say: "Oh, yeah, that should sound better now...?"</span><o:p></o:p></p> <p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D'>Will<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <div> <div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'> <p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Farrell<br> <b>Sent:</b> Friday, August 08, 2008 1:24 PM<br> <b>To:</b> pianotech@ptg.org<br> <b>Subject:</b> Customer Complaint on Tuning<o:p></o:p></span></p> </div> </div> <p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p> <div> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Oh boy. I knew it, I knew it, I knew it. Should have just erased the message and not called..... </span><o:p></o:p></p> </div> <div> <p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p> </div> <div> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Lady leaves message on my answering machine: </span><strong><span style='font-size:18.0pt; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>I LIVE AT 123 MY STREET. MY PIANO NEEDS TUNING. I LIVE AT 123 MY STREET. IT SOUNDS HORRIBLE. I LIVE AT 123 MY STREET. I NEED IT TUNED TOMORROW. I LIVE AT 123 MY STREET. CALL ME.</span></strong><o:p></o:p></p> </div> <div> <p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p> </div> <div> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>After my ears stopped ringing, I call her..... and they started ringing again. Made appointment. Pull up in her driveway Wednesday - I could hear the TV LOUD in the driveway. 120 year old lady - very sweet - she had the big eyes and high cheekbones - could tell she must have been a knockout 95 years ago. I asked how long it had been since last tuning. She didn't answer so I asked: </span><strong><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>HOW LONG SINCE LAST TUNING.</span></strong><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'> She said many years. Anyway, I did a 25 cent pitch raise and tuned the so-so condition 1970-ish Baldwin console.</span><o:p></o:p></p> </div> <div> <p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p> </div> <div> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>FWIW, she is a "musicologist". What is that? She also teaches piano.</span><o:p></o:p></p> </div> <div> <p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p> </div> <div> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>She calls me yesterday and says that some notes still don't sound right together. I didn't have the heart to ask which ones (like maybe C and C#?). So I told her I would call her Sunday early afternoon and stop by to check it out. (I have a morning appointment nearby that day.)</span><o:p></o:p></p> </div> <div> <p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p> </div> <div> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>I know what it will sound like - a crappy little old Baldwin console that just had a pitch raise and a tuning. She's going to plunk away at several keys, not hear a darn thing, and ask me: "see? hear that?"</span><o:p></o:p></p> </div> <div> <p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p> </div> <div> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>So what's the plan? Smile, wiggle a few tuning pins, and say: "Oh, yeah, that should sound better now...?"</span><o:p></o:p></p> </div> <div> <p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p> </div> <div> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>This is my second call-back on a tuning in 10 years. The other one was a few years ago from a 115 year old lady who couldn't hear a fire engine honking it's horn if she was standing right next to it.......</span><o:p></o:p></p> </div> <div> <p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p> </div> <div> <p class=MsoNormal><strong><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>:-(</span></strong><o:p></o:p></p> </div> <div> <p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p> </div> <div> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Terry Farrell<br> Farrell Piano</span><o:p></o:p></p> </div> <div> <p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p> </div> <div> <p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><a href="http://www.farrellpiano.com">www.farrellpiano.com</a><br> <a href="mailto:terry@farrellpiano.com">terry@farrellpiano.com</a></span><o:p></o:p></p> </div> </blockquote> </div> </body> </html>