a newbie at bat

[Ron Nossaman]

Hi Les,
Having spent my career in the "cheap seat" trenches, rather than in the
ivory towers, all this looks just like daily business as usual to me. I
suspect it will to a lot of other list folk too. The humidity did what the
humidity did, and the pianos reacted accordingly. You didn't get a say in
the matter. Same with the sticking keys that were fine earlier. You can't
anticipate this sort of thing. Whatever anyone might tell you, and whatever
you may worry about, the bottom line is that you honestly and sincerely did
the best you could with what you had to work with and didn't screw up a
thing. In the final analysis, that's the best any of us can do. Since
everything under your direct control was dealt with in a straightforward
and professional manner, I don't see that you have anything to beat
yourself up over. I'd say you done good, Bud, and survived the dreaded
CONCERT TUNING. There will always be ugly little surprises in situations
like this, that have the aura of tragedy about them. Oddly enough, reports
of these little glitches don't normally appear on billboards about town, or
on Oprah, and most of the people involved realize that the glitches are
just the work of the flying fickle finger of fate, and don't generally
sweat it. There are exceptions, naturally, but you can't let the reality
challenged get you down.

I guess what I'm saying is that you were the only guy in the house that
could have pulled it off as well as this, so relax and accept the
appreciation of those who realize what you did. The next one will be
easier, even if it's worse.

Congratulations,

Ron N