[CAUT] In pursuit of perfection

[Bob Hull]

Thanks, Barbara, for the en- couraging words about
asking for some respect.  I have a lot of racket to
overcome especially during my time to do touch up
after symphony rehearsals when they dismiss for their
"break and food" before the concert.  Some players
will stay and rehearse their parts while others stay
and talk, loudly.  All this while I am trying to touch
up the piano for the concert.
I think I will ask the conductor or exec. dir. to
request some quiet for me. 

Bob Hull 

Barbara Richmond <piano57 at insightbb.com> wrote:

> 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
> > _____________________________
> >
> 
> 



 
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