Wim, If nothing ever broke and there were never any eleventh-hour requests, I would still be busy all of the time with normal maintenance. For example, just yesterday someone broke their key off in a piano keyboard lock. Naturally, I had to fix it/get it fixed. And one of our piano faculty asked me at 8:00 AM if I could tune a certain classroom piano for him by 9:00 AM for a Mendelsohn's birthday celebration. This is time away from the usual, planned chores, time that is never recovered. Doing non-ET/440 tunings had been a task that I had to do at the discretion of those requesting it. I still have to do it if requested, they just have to want it enough for someone (in the case of an individual) or someone's budget to compensate the piano shop (not me personally). It is all too easy for students faculty and even the dean to have me do their bidding. Problem is, the practice room pianos from whom the time is taken away cannot advocate for themselves. I don't work overtime, it's just a matter of how the time I put in is allocated. Alan -----Original Message----- From: wimblees at aol.com To: caut at ptg.org Sent: Tue, 3 Feb 2009 4:52 pm Subject: Re: [CAUT] HIstorical temperaments and compensation Alan What you say makes sense. Again, if the dean is willing to allocate the money, taking it from other budgets, that's a win win situation for you. However, you either have the time to do this kind of work, or you don't. Are you now getting paid to work overtime to do this extra work, or is this still part of your dally work schedule? If you're working overtime, then shouldn't you just charge what ever your over time is worth? If it's part of your dally schedule, and other projects, or regular tunings, are suffering, I wonder if perhaps, instead of getting paid extra, the people who want the extra tunings should clear the request through the dean's office, and let him decide if the historical/unusual temperament is worth it. Wim -----Original Message----- From: reggaepass at aol.com To: caut at ptg.org Sent: Tue, 3 Feb 2009 11:38 am Subject: Re: [CAUT] HIstorical temperaments and compensation Wim, Thanks for your question. You asked about the reasoning behind my asking for compensation to the piano shop for unusual tunings. In my original post, I tried to provide the context for this request. Unusual tunings had been an indulgence, freely done, at the expense of time that COULD have been spent doing the usual chores. That time away from normal duties cannot be replaced. Also, there weren't any constraints on people's requests for unusual tunings (and some of these projects would take ten to twenty hours!). Add to the mix the fact that we were trying to come up with ways to increase the piano shop's budget. I hit on this approac h as a "two birds/one stone" remedy, and the boss said yes! There is added educational value in that now, whenever someone thinks about using an alternate tuning, they have to check their wallet (budget) first. Out beyond the hallowed walls of academia, this is the hard reality. (In fact, there are venues where alternative tunings are not possible, budget aside.) Our new policy gets the students into a practical mindset where alternative tunings are concerned. Make sense? Alan Eder -----Original Message----- From: wimblees at aol.com To: caut at ptg.org Sent: Mon, 2 Feb 2009 7:49 pm Subject: Re: [CAUT] HIsto rical temperaments and compensation -----Original Message----- From: reggaepass at aol.com To: caut at ptg.org Sent: Mon, 2 Feb 2009 12:08 pm Subject: [CAUT] HIstorical temperaments and compensation List, This past summer I had a long meeting with my dean. We covered everything from what I like and don't like about working here (all matters large and small) to additional funding for the piano shop and the prospects for enhanced compensation for yours truly. He responded well to many of my suggestions along these lines. One was that the piano shop start being reimbursed for any unusual tunings. Until now, this has meant alternative, modern tunings (anywhere on the spectrum from simply tuning one piano down 50 cents for quarter tone music to realizing original tuning systems). This service had been freely provided as an indulgence to the students and faculty, creating more of a burden for me without any extra compensation--the bad scenario articulated by Jeff Tanner. My dean has since agreed to compensation for the piano shop in exchange for any unusual tuning work. Here is how we have structured the procedure: Someone requests a non-ET/440 tuning; I make a binding estimate for how much time it should take; we=2 0multiply that times a wholesale private rate (i. e., less than I would charge someone privately, but more than what my salaried rate at the school comes out to per hour); they determine if/how it will be paid for, and we go from there. It turns out that the composition department, for example, has funds for "programming" which can be used for paying for alternate tunings. This has been a positive development in that i t is a source of income for the shop while also serving as a, er, "consciousness raiser" for those who dabble in alternate tunings as part of their work. Alan Eder Alan I don't understand why you feel the piano shop needs to be reimbursed for unusual tunings. It would seem to me that is akin to bank executives wanting to get a bonus for the work they are doing in the first place. If you are employed full time by the school, then all work you do for the school, regardless of what it is, is part of your "job". One of the job descriptions at many schools is working evenings and weekends, for which most of us usually get extra time off during the week. But why the extra pay for doing unusual tunings? Do you also get paid extra for weighing keys, or other "unusual" action work? I'm not faulting you for asking for, and getting the extra money. Hey,if the dean is willing, why not?But I don't understand the reasoning behind asking for it in the first place. Wim You can't always choose whom you love, but you can choose how to find them. Start with AOL Personals. Great Deals on Dell Laptops. Starting at $499. Carnations mean admiration, Tulips mean love - what do Roses mean? Find out now! Great Deals on Dell Laptops. Starting at $499. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... 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