Hello David. I loved this post. Stéphane Collin. ----- Original Message ----- From: "David Andersen" <bigda@gte.net> To: "Pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org> Sent: Saturday, May 31, 2003 7:23 AM Subject: Re: Backchecking Height and an incredible help | | This is a truly fascinating phenomenon and thread. It's so hard for the | logical mind to surrender to the fact that there are things about a piano, | and working on a piano, that seem to be beyond logic or figuring out. | I guess that's what "craft" is about: the ability to produce or catalyze | that extra added magic or mystery that makes the product or result of the | craft more attractive than the next guy's efforts. This, IMO, is a result of | 1) doing something thousands of times with attention, focus, and a student's | mind. | 2) Trusting, and I mean really trusting, your body as a feedback loop, | rather than your thoughts. The ear, and the heart, ARE the final arbiters. | | I am extremely spatially and mechanically challenged. I am in awe of many | of y'all's understanding of how a piano works in a linear way. And yet: | people pay me top dollar in an extremely competitive market in one of the | world's biggest cities because I can make a big, big difference in how their | pianos sound and feel by making subtle, incredibly precise changes in | tuning, voicing, and regulation that seem to work synergistically in a way | that other technicians' efforts do not. And my gradual acquisition of these | skills came not through my ability to understand and envision how a piano | works, but to FEEL and HEAR what artists and serious players prefer. | | One thing I can tell the people on this list with a decade or less in the | craft: trust yourself; don't place too much stock in what somebody else | says until you try it and FEEL and HEAR that it's good. I know I've learned | a tremendous amount of extremely precious info and insight from certain | people, and I'll always be grateful to them---Jack Cofer, Kenyon Brown, Bill | Garlick, Virgil Smith, Bob Davis & Dale Erwin, Richard Davenport, and Tom | Servinsky, and to name just a few----but I've also bound myself, sent | myself down dead-end roads for years, by buying somebody's advice or | world-view about something to do with pianos that turned out to be not true | for ME, or not the best way to do something for ME. | | Trust yourself. If you can't trust your ears, and your sensibilities, you | should look for another way to make money. | | End of rant. Down off the soapbox. My best to all. Coming back to the | List a little at a time after a nasty, shocking, and disappointing private | exchange with another List member, then an especially vicious flare-up, the | worst ever, of rheumatoid arthritis....I've let go of the first, and am | getting healthier by the day. It's a frightening illness; send me some good | energy if you are so inclined. | | with warm and respectful regards...... | | David Andersen | Malibu, CA | | | _______________________________________________ | pianotech list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives |
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