Concert work...

[richard west]

John,
Personally I hate tuning at intermission.  You can't really hear.  You
don't have enough time.  You're up there in front of hundreds of
people with a hint of, "Didn't you tune that thing well enough to
start with?"  And how does it look if you break a string?

There are times when tuning at intermission is unavoidable.

1)  it's in the contract
2)  a string broke at rehearsal and the new one won't make it through
the performance
3)  the performer requests it

I think a bigger issue is what your time is worth and trying to
preserve your own personal life.  If your're getting paid to be there
great (or in our case getting comp time).  But even if you get comp
time or money for attending a concert, sometimes my personal time with
family is more important than any money or comp time.  I don't expect
to go to every piano concert/recital.  I don't want it expected of me.
In many ways this issue is one that piano technicians have always had
to wrestle with--how valuable is my time; how much work am I going to
do to make people happy (and sacrifice my own lifestyle in the
process), how much work am I going to give away for free in the name
of public relations.  I don't have any pat answers to these questions
but the older I get the more I fight to perserve my personal choices
and avoid things like intermission tuning.  I've had a couple of
confrontations on this matter with "the powers that be" and have come
out okay.  Generally I try to be a "can do" kind of guy, but I'll dig
in my heels when the expectations verge on the impossible and "can do"
becomes "must do, or else."  There are arts organizations/people who
expect you to give away your time/money and do so repeatedly.  When
their expecations become too inflated, so does the price they pay.

Richard West
University of Nebraska