Being called on stage, revisited

[Michael Magness]

On Jan 7, 2008 8:20 AM, <piannaman at aol.com> wrote:

> Great tale, Tom!  Glad you survived a very difficult weekend with you
> dignity intact and a sense of pride.  Thanks for taking the time to
> chronicle it.
>
>
> Dave Stahl,
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Tom Servinsky <tompiano at bellsouth.net>
> To: ilvey at sbcglobal.net; Pianotech List <pianotech at ptg.org>
> Sent: Sun, 6 Jan 2008 6:35 pm
> Subject: Being called on stage, revisited
>
>  List,
> I had a first in my 28 yr career. I've tuned countless  times to  packed
> audiences due to scheduling and last minute issues. Do this type of work
> long enough and you quickly learn that this comes with the
> territory. But never have I had a situation when 1/2 hr prior to
> showtime, with the house completely sold out, with the full orchestra  in
> place on stage, the conductor and artist in the wings pacing back and
> forth....and no piano.  If I ever write a book, this story needs to have
> it's own chapter titled  " a 24 hrs I'll never forget".
>  My career has me wearing several hats. Not only do I manage my piano
> technician career, but I also play professionally as a symphony musician
> with several orchestras, as well as being one the techs for the Steinway C&
> A rental fleet for S. Florida. This past week I was doing double duty as I
> was playing in the orchestra and being the concert tech for Christopher
> O'Reilly performances of Beethoven's 4th Piano Concerto.  No big deal as
> this situation happens quite regularly in my world.
> The artist had picked out a particular piano through the Steinway
> dealership, which  was then to be used for several concerts in several
> cities. The Steinway dealership was responsible for handling the
> logistics of getting the piano from one venue to another. Let me also point
> out that this dealership is about  as good as they get...very
> professionally run from top to bottom. However as luck would have it, a snag
> in the workings occurred and I ended having the 24 hour from hell.
> My "Tale of Woes" started on Thursday, Jan 3 as we had a dress rehearsal
> and concert at 4PM and 8PM.  The piano was scheduled to arrive at the hall
> at noontime, which would had provided plenty of time for the piano to
> acclimate and for me to do the necessary work. Noontime...no piano.
> 12:30...no piano. Finally I called the dealer asking where the piano was.
> They said it should have been there by now.I waited and waited.. Several
> phone calls later I come to find out that the truck broke down and the guys
> needed to get a wheel replaced. They were 80 miles away and that was 1:30.
> Ok...I'm figuring that they get moving, they might get here by 3PM, which
> would still a enough time to get a quick tuning in.. As a backup plan I made
> the decision to get the house piano tuned and prepped just in case the
> piano didn't make it time. My intuition turned out to be correct and the
> piano never arrived on time for the dress rehearsal.  The artist was
> livid. It wasn't until the end of the dress rehearsal that the
> piano arrived.  The dress rehearsal finished at 6:30 and I had a 30 mins. to
> get his piano ready prior to a pre-concert lecture which would begin at
> 7PM.
> The piano got tuned and the concert went smoothly and the piano held fine
> throughout. That was Thursday.
> Friday, Jan 4th: I thinking that I'm not going take any chances. I'll keep
> in close contact with the mover not take any chances. The piano was
> scheduled to be delivered to another city and be in place by noontime. This
> time I called the mover directly at 9AM...no answer. 10AM no answer and
> finally get him  at 11:30 to get a feel where he was in his schedule.  He
> said, " no problem, I'll have the piano there by 4:30PM".  I said, "dude,
> the concert starts at 4PM and this piano better be here ASAP. Out of nowhere
> comes this attitude of "take it or leave it". The best that I can do  is
> 4:30."  If we didn't like his offer, get another mover. I couldn't believe
> what I was hearing, nor could the Steinway dealer when I relayed his
> remarks. This piano mover does all of the C& A moving for the Steinway
> dealership and we have never had an issue with them prior to this
> situation. The dealership had to scramble to find another mover who could
> travel 110 miles with very heavy traffic, pick the piano up, turn around
> head back south 53 miles to the next venue for the 4pm performance. Keep in
> mind a pre-concert lecture began at 3PM so I debated whether I should get
> the house piano ready just in case the worse possible scenario actually came
> true, again. However,the artist was insistent that he would only use this
> particular C & A  piano, no matter what. So we waited and waited and waited.
> Imagine the feeling of standing back stage with the artist and
> conductor and no piano. It was the worse feeling of misery one could
> ever imagine. Finally the piano arrived at 3:35 and the audience went wild.
> The piano was rolled into position and by 3:40 I had my tuning hammer going
> to work. I finished right at 4PM with 35 musicians, 600 in the audience, and
> Christopher O'Reilly and the conductor ( pacing back and forth) as my
> witness.
> The concert went on right on time and the piano held beautifully.
> Here's the good news: My colleagues in the orchestra took a new interest
> in the world of a concert piano technician. They have watched me get pianos
> ready for other performances, but they never watched with so much interest
> as they did on this particular occasion.
>   What I found of interest was that many of the musicians really never
> full appreciated the vital role a concert technician plays on any given
> performance. Yes they understood the pianos are tuned prior to the
> performance but they never got a close-up and personal experience of a near
> impossible situation and have someone be able to work at a blazing speed. I
> think they also felt a new sense of empathy for the pianist who are
> completely dependent upon others to get their instruments to the gig, and
> others to tune, regulate and voice the instrument up to performance
> standards.
> Many of the musicians approached me after the concert asking me about our
> profession with a new profound sense of curiosity and respect. And for the
> first time, many even ask me for my card. Even Christopher O'Reilly walked
> up to me at the very end and said that was one of the most remarkable
> achievements he had ever witnessed in all of his professional career. He
> said that had he not witnessed this first hand he never would have believed
> that this could have been pulled off. He commented that he had never seen a
> tech be so calm and collected in the midst of such a chaotic scenario. Had I
> reacted differently he would have flipped out. But the show went on 4
> standing ovations later I just sat there in utter disbelief of the wild ride
> I had just experienced. It's one thing to have to deal with adversities in
> this type of work, and it's another to have perform at a very high
> professional level. But put the 2 together...that's another story.
>  Now for my apologies if this long winded threads sounds like a bit of
> gloating on my part. But heck I earned some well deserved chest beating
> and bragging rights through this experience.
> God I love this business!!!
> Tom Servinsky
>
>
>
>
>
>  ------------------------------
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>

Great story, great job! Beat your chest and brag all you want, it's well
deserved!

Mike Magness

-- 
The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.
Michael Magness
Magness Piano Service
608-786-4404
www.IFixPianos.com
email mike at ifixpianos.com
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