[CAUT] In pursuit of perfection

[Barbara Richmond]

Ron,

Did you suffer in silence (so to speak)?  I've never been shy about telling
orchestral musicians that I need quiet, but I'll admit the best move I made
was telling the orchestra stage manager before rehearsal even started
that I needed to be undisturbed during the touch-up tuning--he or the
conductor must have made the announcement during rehearsal.
Maybe I've been fortunate enough that the musicians could do their
doodling in the theater hallways/stairwells and that was far enough away
(1 wall between us) to make a good job possible.  This isn't a school of
music, but a public concert facility.

Perhaps timing or scheduling could be better.  Though I've usually tuned
(early) before rehearsal (arranged that with the facility stage manager),
I've
always made sure I arrive to do the concert touch-up tuning just as the
rehearsal is ending (if I haven't already been there anyway to hear the
piano in rehearsal).  Maybe the people in the know, like the facility stage
manager or orchestra stage manager don't know exactly what you'd like.

A long time ago I had a little talk with myself <grin>, did I want to say
nothing about a situation and suffer, or do something about it?   I laughed
when I had a conversation with my successor at IWU and he said that the
head of the keyboard department had remarked about me, "Barbara
demanded respect."   I don't think he meant that I was particularly
demanding (or maybe he did!), but I was upfront and honest about the
cooperation I needed from the faculty to do a good job.

Best,

Barbara Richmond, RPT
near Peoria, Illinois

.




----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ron Overs" <sec at overspianos.com.au>
To: "College and University Technicians" <caut at ptg.org>
Sent: Tuesday, October 31, 2006 5:25 PM
Subject: Re: [CAUT] In pursuit of perfection


> Hi all,
>
> Just returned from tuning the piano for a Sydney Sydney Symphony Orchestra
> second day performance for their schools concert programme.
>
> When I arrived to tune the piano, at my allocated time, there was just one
> solitary Oboist rehearsing her lines. By the time I had finished, the
> rehearsing instrumentalists included, two French horns, a trumpet, slide
> trombone, a percussionist on kettle drums, a vibraphonist and the
> aforementioned Oboist.
>
> Fortunately I also tuned the piano for the first concert yesterday, and
> the piano is quite stable. Their lack of consideration had me dreaming of
> arriving with tools in hand during their performance, for a little
> unscheduled touch-up.
>
> Ron O
> -- 
> OVERS PIANOS - SYDNEY
>       Grand Piano Manufacturers
> _____________________________
>
> Web http://overspianos.com.au
> mailto:ron at overspianos.com.au
> _____________________________
>