My Saturday nite

[Jim Coleman, Sr.]

Hi Paul:

Thanks for the comments on your latest tuning adventure.

Now for my latest adventure.

A week ago Sunday we had a church recital by a very fine Concert 
Pianist. His name is Sam Rotman. I think he is one of the very 
best pianists which I have ever heard. (as you know, I have heard 
quite a few). I was starting to get uptight about what to do. We 
usually keep our Kawai 6'8 in the C11 temperament. I remembered the
phrase "Don't ask, Don't tell". I struggled with this. I finally 
decided on Saturday to call him and discuss it with him. I 
explained that we usually keep this piano tuned in an historical
temperament, more like what the classical composers were using in 
their day. He said that would be just fine with him (he had played 
here before on the same instrument 2 years before).

On Sunday afternoon I went over the tuning very carefully, knowing 
that he would be playing "The Great Gate of Kiev" from The Pictures
at An Exhibition" by Mussorgsky which is one of the most 
bombastic of piano pieces. I used my hammer head key pounder to 
sock in every unison. Except for the Bass I tuned each string of 
each unison with the SAT III. I used multiple strong keyblows to 
insure that nothing would move afterwards.

The concert went off without a hitch. I was pleased that the 
unisons held up quite well (not perfect). Mr Rotman's rendition
brought tears of joy to my eyes at times. It is not just that he 
plays 
all the notes right, but that he plays music. His interpretation 
was a bit individualistic, but always intelligent and meaningful.
He appealed to the musical content and not to showmanship. At the 
close of his program, he complimented the church on having such a 
fine Kawai piano. I took this to mean that he liked the way the 
piano sounded and made beautiful music.

In light of the "Don't ask, Don't tell" philosophy, I made the 
mistake of not telling when I switched from HT back to ET while tuning
a piano in a Lutheran Church about 2 weeks ago. I had to go back 
and retune it in the C-11 for free. That was the first time I have
had to do that in the direction from ET to HT.

In light of these two experiences, I think I WILL ask and tell from 
now on.

Jim Coleman, Sr.

On Mon, 18 Mar 2002, pbailey wrote:

> Well, Jim,  I've just had one of those experiences which leaves me both 
> thrilled and very angry -
> I'm just hoping the thrill will last and the anger will go away. Tuned 
> (a volunteer tuning; otherwise
> there would have been NO tuning at all!) for pianist Paul Roberts - you 
> can look him up on the web
> and hear a brief excerpt from one of his CD's- this concert was a 'salon 
> recital' of Debussy and
> Ravel.
> 
> Mr. Roberts has to be one of the truly great Impressionist pianists of 
> our time, and a great scholar
> also.
> 
> He just loved my tuning and yes, I used the PB'93. More than recognizing 
> a competent tuning, he
> said;"This French music really needs a colorful tuning - and ET doesn't 
> do it".
> 
> You must know how this makes me feel! Where Ed Foote and Michael Kimbell 
> meet up is on
> exactly this question - they both agree that Debussy and Ravel both 
> require ET. Ed says he's
> heard Debussy played in well temperament, and it just didn't sound good 
> to him. Well, I hope
> the recording comes out ok, and I can send a copy to Ed and he can tell 
> me just how the temperament
> is wrecking the music - and I can forward the message to one of the 
> truly great Impressionist pianists,
> and he can correct the error of his ways, and revise his historical, 
> theoretical and aesthetic understanding>
> that doesn't sound too bitter, does it?
> 
> An audience member sought me out to complement me on how wonderful the 
> piano sounded, which was
> nice, but then he had to go on to tell me that not long ago he had 
> attended another recital in this same
> venue, in the company of a friend who is a professional piano tuner of 
> many decades experience, working
> for important artists; and who had tested a few intervals, and condemned 
> the tuning as being incompetent
> and musically impossible - thank goodness I'd showed up to save the 
> situation! To paraphrase Paul Harvey,
> "I assume you know the rest of the story".
> 
> And I assume that the local piano community would have absolutely no 
> problem with hearing Mr. Roberts
> play a fabulous recital of Impressionist piano music, and "Ooh and 
> Ahh!!" and never think for a moment that
> the temperament was anything other than good old standard ET, and in 
> fact, totally refuse to believe me if
> I tried to tell them they had just been delighted and awed by a recital 
> of Impressionist music in an 18th
> century style temperament, and not only that, but the pianist knew it 
> and loved it and found it very much
> in the service of his aesthetics and interpretations.
> 
> I'm just going to have to get over the bitter part: Twenty years ago I 
> was way ahead of my time, and I guess
> I still am a ways ahead of myself. It was a great moment to collaborate 
> with one of the great pianists, and
> have my skills and also my theories and aesthetics confirmed in such 
> positive terms, and to experience
> the proof in the music.
> 
> Oh, yeah, I didn't get paid, but then the performer pretty much didn't 
> get paid either: Imagine this: One of
> the truly great living pianists gave a recital of some of the most 
> popular piano literature in the supposedly
> cultural mecca that is  ta - da !  SAN FRANCISCO   for goodness sakes, 
> and the audience was less than
> 20 - this guy has an international reputation and in 	SAN FRANCISCO  
> he drew an audience of almost
> nil..... What am I missing here????
> 
> Oh, yeah; Paul Roberts told a little story about Ravel and a friend of 
> his, a prominent concert pianist: they
> liked to go slumming looking for old pianos that were still tuned in 
> meantone; they were not satisfied with
> what the top notch professional tuners working in their musical circles 
> were providing and they needed
> to hear other sonorities that were not being provided by the 'competent' 
> 'professionals'.
> 
> Anyhow, if you are consulted as to how to tune for Paul Roberts, or if 
> you get the opportunity yourself,
> feel free to use your C. 16 or any other muscular well temperament you 
> see fit; he is more than ready.
> 
> 									Paul
> 
>