Concert hall work

[Barbara Richmond]

Many thanks, Mr. Bill, for laying it right out there.  All I know, is that
if I am indeed faced with the situation, somehow I need to be able to make
those pianos *mine*.  Perhaps if I strike that pose (especially if I could
come up with a beard to stroke), I could put it so eloquently.  :-)

Barbara Richmond



----- Original Message -----
From: "Bill Ballard" <yardbird@vermontel.net>
To: "Pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Friday, March 12, 2004 11:53 PM
Subject: Re: Concert hall work


At 8:39 PM -0600 3/12/04, Barbara Richmond wrote:
>Have any of you worked out an agreement where you can go in somewhat
>regularly, having however many hours you need to get the rest of the
>maintenance work done--besides trying to squeeze it in during
>the preparation for an upcoming event?

No I haven't, but hey, this is what piano techs do best, to strike a
pose (one arm tucked under the other, with other hand stroking chin)
and say, "now if I was doing it, this is how I'd do it." And as the
fabled Stephen Jellen would say, you listen to ten people tell you
ten different ways, and then you just go ahead and do it the way you
had planned.

Two separate issues, the first being whether management is willing to
budget for this kind of maintenance. Let's assume that they are, that
they have been convinced by the example of the piano's current
condition and that all they need is some fair way of arriving at the
real cost of this kind of maintenance. After all, there's not much
point in doing this kind of work for a venue

The second is how to figure the cost. My plan (if I were doing this)
would be 1.) an immediate full regulation and voicing to make it the
best it can be (and I know you can do this beautifully), 2.) a day or
two before each concert, a two-three hour visit to first, accomplish
any pitch stabilizations required, second to assess any voicing and
regulation to bring the piano back up to snuff (say, this winter when
action fasteners need tightening and the hammer spacing on which the
U.C. depends needs re-establishing). This assessment would also
settle the matter of whether that afternoon (prior to the concert) is
the best time to do the work, or whether it is minor enough to do at
the time of the actual concert tuning. (Remember, this first
afternoon, you've already insured that on concert day,the piano is at
pitch and will submit to a really fine tuning and not misbehave.
After all, a concert piano should already be in tune when you show up
to do do the concert tuning.)

Assuming that management is still with you thus far, 1.) is their
example of how expensive it is to make a real
"put-this-hall-on-the-national-map" piano out of a
"says-it's-a-concert-grand-on-the-original-bill'o'sale". Once they've
been through this, they'll respect the finished qualities of the
piano, and the skill on your part which got it there. 2.) is their
education in the small week-to-week increments by which these
qualities degrade.

Unfortunately, none of this time can be figured in advance. (The D on
which you heard the piano-4-hands "Rite of Spring" was a 40+ year-old
taken in trade by the local Stwy dealer, which while waiting to
resell it, threw in a new set of action parts and rented it to a
summer music program for several seasons. When it was handed to me, I
had carte blanche and ran up 23 hours of work. At the end of the
parade, the artistic director couldn't believe that the owner had
bought it for $35K.) Just an example of how thorough work can add up.
But management will understand that your "value-added" work is still
far cheaper than starting over again with a new piano (assuming
you've decided that the qualities you want to bring out are inside
the piano already). Plus, they have already accepted the price of 1.)
as the real cost of keeping the piano up the way it was done by the
person you're replacing.

So management should be ready to accept whatever bill you hand them.
It's the cost of starting the piano out right. It's also your proof
to them that they picked the right tech. (Given the kinds of people
you've replaced, that's not hard.)

The regular maintenance visit earlier in the week of each concert is
another matter, because it essentially doubles (and possibly then
some) what they thought were their fixed costs ("you've gotta a
concert, you gotta buy a tuning"). Once again, as 1.) was a lesson in
how much the ultimate quality costs, 2.) is a lesson in how much it
costs to keep the piano there once you put it there. 1.) isn't much
good without 2.)

The cost of 2.) won't be any easier to figure, especially consider
that, with 1.) your start point (the piano's current condition) is
known, and for 2.) it's going to be different with each session,
depending on the time of year, and whether last week it was
Lollapalooza and this week a blue-ribbon touring piano quartet. But
what 2.) does is insure that the piano's condition never has to sag
from 1.), that for each concert, the piano is back in 1.) condition.
Which is why they called you, right?

So, if they won't buy 2.) outright (but they did buy 1.)), come up
with some sort of compromise on the cost, anything which will allow
you to do this. Say, a review of the accumulated hours on 2.) halfway
through the year, with some extrapolation of what this will look like
on an annual basis. Alternative ways of compensation: program booklet
advertising, maybe 40-or-50-or-60¢ on the dollar. But just do the
work. First of all, to demonstrate that this piano which had been a
dismal disappointment, could be made into a first class concert piano
and better yet be kept there. And second, to establish a record of
the actual hours involved, so that after the first year is up,
management can go to the artistic director and the board of trustees
and say, we all agree the piano was spectacular this year (beyond our
wildest dreams), here's how much it cost, go find the money somewhere.

You can probably already guess that the cost for 2.) is going to
taper off and stabilize, once you keep after it on this kind of
basis. I wouldn't go promising something like that at the outset, but
as soon as the trend becomes clear, management will be very happy and
relieved at their ROI in you.

You go, gorilla.......!

Bill Ballard RPT
NH Chapter, P.T.G.

"Can you check out this middle C?. It "whangs' - (or twangs?)
     Thanks so much, Ginger"
     ...........Service Request
+++++++++++++++++++++











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