I don't think of that as denigrating the pianists who become stars so much as respecting the so many more who are just as talented and don't. Without an agent and a brilliant marketing campaign, the would-be performers join the audience. Talent is not the only reason the stars become stars. Just watch an episode of America's Got Talent. One of the most polished and talented performers I've seen in a long time got voted off by the judges in favor of a frisbee catching dog because two of them thought he should have picked a different song, even though the dog missed half his frisbees. The classical music world is no different than pop. It's a business. It's a political one. And it's all about the right person liking you at the right time.
Seriously, you don't think their is a social reason people buy tickets to the symphony?
Jeff
----- Original Message -----
From: Porritt, David
To: caut at ptg.org
Sent: Friday, August 21, 2009 8:50 AM
Subject: Re: [CAUT] Subservience, was CAF
I haven't really tried this approach but I never thought we'd get more respect for our profession by denigrating the pianists ("The ones who become stars do so because they have brilliant agents and marketing campaigns") or the ticket buyers ("the ticket buyers are season ticket holders and just go to the concerts because it makes them look well to do in the eyes of other people")
I have taken short, ill-advised trips to cynical. I just tried to avoid living there.
dave
David M. Porritt, RPT
dporritt at smu.edu
From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Jeff Tanner
Sent: Thursday, August 20, 2009 10:22 PM
To: caut at ptg.org
Subject: Re: [CAUT] Subservience, was CAF
My thinking was along the lines of this. When Tiger starts hitting the ball in the woods (pun fully intended), he goes to someone who is an expert in the MECHANICS of the golf swing and equipment to show him what HE is doing wrong and help HIM correct his technique. The expert might also alter the equipment or suggest different equipment. But usually, they work on Tiger's technique (at that level, they can play about as well with KMart clubs - they just get paid more money not to). With pianists and piano coaches, like no other musicians, when it comes to mechanics, we essentially have the blind leading the blind. Sometimes it helps to have the perspective of the mechanics expert in how the thing functions to explain what's going on. And we shouldn't think so lowly of ourselves that our understanding of how the piano functions isn't important. (Susan, yes, I've had a very similar experience with assisting with pedaling -- how pedaling too slowly will create zings and zoinks no matter how good the regulation is)
The phenomenon we started out describing is action failure, and using the assistance of the rest cushion to "correct" it. The more I have contemplated this, I have realized that if the cushion is coming into play during repetition at all, ACTION FAILURE has already occurred. Raising the cushion does not SOLVE the action failure. It is by simple coincidence that the jack can reset at all if the shank is bouncing off the cushion at whatever height. My thinking is that a situation like this (as rare as Fred has described that it is) is one that the performers should be educated on. "If I may explain what's going on mechanically: What you're doing is creating something of a false start in the key, and by doing so you are actually causing action failure. It may work on some actions and not on others. But by raising the cushions, we are not eliminating the action failure. It is still happening. This is in some respect a bandaid approach which increases the probability that you will be able to repeat the note."
But along the lines of the "self-deprecating vibe", yes, I hear this subserviant attitude way too much from us, which is part of why I responded the way I did. Humility is one thing, but subservience is not a healthy attitude. We don't garner respect because we don't respect ourselves. And this is most of why CAUT work is so poorly compensated. It's a combination of "we're beneath the DMA music faculty gods, so we shouldn't make as much as they do, and, besides, the local tooner who charges less might get this job if I let them think I should be earning more." CAUTs net $125 a day plus some version of health care and retirement benefits instead of $400 because we don't respect what we do. So nobody else will either. Fred, it's not mutual respect when we don't even respect the value of what we do.
Ed Sutton wrote:
"It is not very often that the public buys tickets to hear some unknown player perform a tuning by Ed Sutton."
Actually, Ed, that is exactly what they're doing every time. They just don't think about it that way because you haven't let them know you exist. They don't know who the player is, they've just read the opinionated reviews (many of these "stars" are made by opinion writers who can't play chopsticks). Or, more often, the ticket buyers are season ticket holders and just go to the concerts because it makes them look well to do in the eyes of other people. These players don't become stars because of their talent. There are tons of talented musicians in the world (I was floored to find our outstanding faculty member actually paying the record company for the privilege of making a record that the record company was going to sell). The ones who become stars do so because they have brilliant agents and marketing campaigns.
The audiences don't know these musicians from Adam. But you prepare the piano no matter who is playing it. They come to hear your work every time. You are part of the TEAM that makes each concert possible. You are a big part of why they buy tickets. When this concert is over, YOU get called back before the performer does. Why should we should think of ourselves as beneath the performer? Without us, the performers can't do what they do. Without our expertise, no matter how much they practice, they can't get to where they are unless we've done our work. That's actually us making the music when they push those buttons.
I GUARANTEE YOU, if you placed an ad in the program that says, "The performers can do what they do because Ed does what he does" with a nice, professional picture, the respect given you would be completely different. Can't you just imagine hearing folks walking into the auditorium, and you might hear "I wonder what tonight's pianist is going to be able to do with Ed's piano tonight?"
We have got to have more respect for and pride in what we do.
Jeff
----- Original Message -----
From: Fred Sturm
To: caut at ptg.org
Sent: Thursday, August 20, 2009 7:58 PM
Subject: Re: [CAUT] CAF
On Aug 20, 2009, at 7:56 AM, Jeff Tanner wrote:
Geesh, Fred. Should we not look directly into their faces lest their countenance blind us? Perhaps piano tuners should wear veils when we go out in public.
Jeff
Actually, I think there is a middle ground. I call it mutual respect. But I would also say the the piano technician is on the lower side of the equation. We are support staff. We are definitely not the star.
I don't tell the pianist how to play, or not play the piano. The pianist doesn't tell me how to do my work. The pianist does point out defects in the piano from his or her point of view, and it is my job to address them the best I can. I do not point out defects in the pianist's approach to the piano, whether or not I think they are present. I may try to explain how the piano action functions in order to establish better communication. Or not, depending on the person involved.
Regards,
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico
fssturm at unm.edu
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