Fw: Families with kids

[Michael Gamble]

Hello Clyde Hollinger
I too like families around and it's usually a great pleasure to reveal what
goes on in the piano when they play it. The only thing I find disturbing is
when they start to sing the note I'm trying to tune....! I regularly have
battles with an On Stage vacuum cleaner as I'm tuning in the Pit. The vacuum
cleaner is slightly sharp of middle C - and I can tell if it needs emptying!
But Stage Management has got used to my requests for delaying their
vacuuming now and, after twenty+ years of doing this, they actually schedule
the vacuuming to not clash with the tuning!
What I cannot understand, Clyde, why did you have to give up that grand on
the basis of being left-handed? I'm left handed and cannot work out any
reason for your doing that. I always use a "T" hammer on Grands (one needs a
very strong wrist to turn the "T") and a Lever on Uprights. Some of the old
Grotrian-Steinweg uprights are the very devil to apply any Lever to... their
wrest plank is sloped which makes the handle of the Lever come into contact
with the excessive over-hang of the casework. My Lever has changeable heads
and I have one very long head about 4inches long. The stem is extendible
with a collett mechanism in the wooden handle to grip the metal stem. The
separate heads are simply screwed on to the Lever stem. They don't sieze on
or anything like that. I rarely use the Lever on a Grand - or if I do it is
simply because the wrest-pins are so darned tight. (Who re-strung this
piano? Did they remember to dip the new pins in French Chalk before
hammering them in?)
Regards
Michael G (UK)

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Clyde Hollinger" <cedel@supernet.com>
To: <dave@davispiano.com>; "Pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Wednesday, October 22, 2003 2:01 AM
Subject: Families with kids


> Dave,
>
> I'm with you there!  I enjoy kids, and, while there are some kids who
> will drive you crazy, the majority of the ones I work for are polite,
> interested in how the piano works, personable.  I enjoy teenagers as
> well, which is how I could be a high school teacher for 17 years.  So
> when they will actually speak to me, even with a smile sometimes, their
> stock goes way up in my book.  I'm always disappointed when they ignore
> me as if I weren't even there.
>
> On a couple occasions I had a younger kid come and sit on the other end
> of the piano bench and just quietly watch while I work.  After a bit I
> would say, "Now you need to get up so I can move the bench, then you can
> sit down again."  And that's exactly what they do.  I love it.
>
> Sometimes I will teach a little.  "Want to know what this pedal does?"
> Then I show them.  One time I told a little kid the names of a half
> dozen piano parts and said I'll ask a little later if he still knows
> them.  If my memory serves me correctly, he remembered them all.
>
> I tune one piano every year where the mom gives each kid a set amount of
> time to be in the room with me as an observer.  I'd think they would be
> bored silly, but they sit quietly and watch until told their turn is
> over, then the next one comes in.
>
> I referred a customer to another tuner because their very nice grand
> piano was hard for me to tune as a lefty.  (My long tuning head works on
> all other grands, but not on this one.)  The customer agreed to the
> change but later told me the kids said, "Aw!  We *like* our piano
> tuner!"  Music to the ears.  But the new guy is nice, too.  This life
> has its drawbacks in some ways, but it's got its blessings, too!  <G>
>
> Regards,
> Clyde
>
> Dave Davis wrote:
>
> <big snip>
>
> > ... tuning for families with kids taking lessons makes it worth it.
>
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