concert on call fee

[Jenneetah]

At 9:05 PM -0500 7/20/04, Paul Chick \(Earthlink\) wrote:
>Figure a daily rate--a per diem--the amount you expect to earn for a 
>days work, plus your expenses.

That's a good place to start, because as soon as management finds out 
what it really costs to have the technician in the building (and most 
of the time, reading a newspaper), they'll quickly figure out how to 
cut the time down to what's actually required. At the most, that's:

1.) Piano is in tune when the artist arrives to practise.

2.) (Red Carpet Treatment) You're there when the pianist arrives for 
practise so that you both get to meet each other personally.....great 
for communication as well as assuring each of you of what the other 
can deliver.

3.) (Red Carpet Treatment) You arrive just as he's finishing his 
practise, so that he can explain to you directly using the piano, 
anything he thinks the piano needs. This is your chance to evaluate 
what (of his requests) the piano and you can deliver, and if his 
expectations need adjusting, to do so in advance. Again great for 
communication.

4.) a fresh tuning on the piano just before the concert

5.) (Red Carpet Treatment) You stay for the concert to check on 
anything at intermission.

Steps 1&4 are easy to price. As an example the state symphony 
orchestra did a concert at a hall an hour away, where I take care of 
the D.  Because they were rehearsing that afternoon, they requested 
two tunings, a before and after. There wasn't much to do on the 
"after", so I simply charged them the hourly. Plus I was invited to 
the elegant buffet prepared by the local symphony support committee. 
(I'm a firm believer in Free Lunch.)

Steps 2&3 will keep everyone's headaches to a minimum (something that 
management always like), but if management wants to do it this way, 
they will have to get the artist to commit to two times (or even just 
one) when you will meet with the artist. (Getting an artist to commit 
scheduled meeting times won't always work with the artistic 
temperament, but that's management's problem.) When these meeting 
time(s) (is)are nailed down, you can schedule other tunings in the 
neighborhood. Such meetings need not take any more than 10 minutes 
apiece, and if the other tunings are close by, might not be worth 
charging for. (Another thing that management likes).

Step 5.......well, unless you really have much better things to do 
(watching reality TV, going to bed early....?) consider this a 
valuable perk. First, this is your chance to hear the piano and the 
pianist as the audience does, out in the hall. It's also a chance to 
listen to your work (I wasted the first eight years of my career 
because I was scared to do this). It also as a calming effect on the 
pianist and management, just knowing that you're right there if 
needed. And finally as you do more and more of this staying for the 
concert, management takes a shine to you as the one person among all 
their vendors who stays on the job through the end of *their* long 
day. That's when you get introduced to board members and benefactors, 
and they invite you to tune their pianos. And if they don't have one, 
sometimes you'll get to pick one out for them (for 5% commission).

As I said earlier, management will quickly figure out that they only 
need to buy as many of your hours as the job actually requires, not 
every single hour the artist is going to be there.

BTW, this is not the same situation as being on hand for a recording 
session, so that if a pedal suddenly starts creaking, or if a unison 
gets smudged, they won't have to wait while you're summoned by cell 
phone from the other side of town, with the clock ticking at the 
studio's (and everyone else's) hourly rate.