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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=LHudicek@AOL.COM =
href="mailto:LHudicek@AOL.COM">LHudicek@AOL.COM</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A =
title=pianotech@ptg.org
href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> February 17, 2002 5:49 =
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: Prepared Pianos
question</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT size=2>In a =
message dated
2/16/2002 7:08:38 PM Eastern Standard Time, <A
href="mailto:cedel@supernet.com">cedel@supernet.com</A> =
writes:<BR><BR><BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px =
solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"
TYPE="CITE">A pianist came in while the piano technician was tuning =
for a
concert and insisted that the piano be tuned to A-442.</BLOCKQUOTE>
<DIV><BR><BR>I don't suppose my next life's dissertation on microtonal =
tuning
will be warmly received either! :). </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV></BLOCKQUOTE>
<DIV><FONT face="Lucida Sans" color=#000080 size=3>Technicians =
tend to get
worked up over this quite often. I think as often as not it boils down =
to money.
It takes extra time and effort to make these pitch changes in a piano =
and
somebody has to pay the bill. The piano owner--the hall, university,
etc.--rarely has the money to pay anything extra and it is often the =
tuner who
ends up on the short end of the food chain. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Lucida Sans" color=#000080 =
size=3></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Lucida Sans" color=#000080 size=3>This can be =
alleviated,
though not entirely solved, by prior agreements with the piano owner =
about who
should pay the additional charges. Most of us who worked out =
arrangements such
that the artist or orchestra or whoever was requesting the special pitch =
found
that when money entered the picture the pitch change became somewhat =
less
important. So the question then becomes, was it ever really important? =
or just
somebody's ego speaking out? And I'll not be at all ashamed to tell you =
that
often the piano is actually tuned to A=440 and the artist told it is =
at A=442
(or whatever) and no one besides the tuner really knows the truth. And =
then
there is the blind tuner I once knew who had a set of five tuning forks =
made up
all tuned to A=440 but marked A=440, A=441, A=442, etc., and =
asked the artist to
choose the correct one for him. In some years of tuning for concerts and =
recordings he was never found out and the pianos he maintained remained =
stable
and tuned to A=440.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Lucida Sans" color=#000080 =
size=3></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Lucida Sans" color=#000080 =
size=3>Regards,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Lucida Sans" color=#000080 =
size=3></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Lucida Sans" color=#000080 =
size=3>Del</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Lucida Sans" color=#000080 =
size=3></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Lucida Sans" color=#000080 size=3>Delwin D =
Fandrich<BR>Piano
Designer & Builder<BR>Hoquiam, Washington USA<BR>E.mail: =
<A
href="mailto:pianobuilders@olynet.com">pianobuilders@olynet.com</A><BR>=
Web
Site: <A
href="http://www.pianobuilders.com">www.pianobuilders.com</A></FONT></D=
IV></FONT></FONT></BODY></HTML>