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howeirdThe piano tech arrived a couple of minutes early, I was on the PC, VPNed into work and actually working.
Tall Hungarian fellow, the first thing he did was claim that tuning it the right way would cost more than buying a new piano. He makes the mistake that I actually play the piano, though he does understand the concept of emotional attachment. No, that's not the phrase. I'll think of the right one and poke it in later. Sentimental value. That's the phrase.
He had sent me his prices, and I knew we were looking at about $300. He way underestimated how well built this relic is, and was sure we would be busting strings right and left at $80 a string. The piano was flat by about 2%. He was afraid that tightening the strings, which are almost all the originals, would break them if he did it all in one fell swoop like all the other piano techs have done for the past 46 years. So I let him do two passes at $45 and an hour each. He also wanted to adjust the action, which is something it needed, but he gave up before he had finished the 5 & 6 octaves. I use 5 a lot, 6 not so much.
I've probably told the sentimental value story before,
My junior and senior years in high school I was the TA for the band director. He also taught all the instruments. Mr. Akers had at one time been the premier arranger of marches and patriotic tunes for band for the Filmore Music company, which in turn was the foremost publisher of that genre. Prior to that he was a trombone player in a big name circus band. From his disheveled appearance and his somewhat scattered mind, I guessed (but never asked) that he'd gotten too friendly with Jack Daniels or Johnny Walker or one of that ilk, hit bottom, and finally wound up teaching in the smallest high school in Seattle.
We had two piano rooms in the band room. I heard real pianists in there playing Maleguña and was impressed, and learned to plunk it out in the half hour or so each day there was nothing to do for Mr. A and the pianos were available.
I don't remember exactly how it happened, but somewhere in there I had a tune in my head, and wanted to score it for band, and I had no clue how to do that. Mr. A taught me how to read and then write a score, and his visualization tool was the piano keyboard.
If I was going to do this project, I needed a piano at home.
My 17th birthday was coming up, I had saved $100 somehow, and convinced Mom to go halves with me. We went down to Sherman Clay downtown, and found this beautiful old Schiller upright for $200.
I wrote my "Processional", it was done i time for my sister's high school graduation. Mr A put it in right after Pomp & Circumcisions, announcing that I had written it, and offering to let me conduct it. But I'm not conductor, so I played French Horn instead.
So that was my day, plinking sounds in the background as I read documents & email for work.
During a break I updated my theater resume, it needed the new address, and was set to print it, but could not find any card stock. Tried photo paper, but it's a 2-sided resume, and the back of Kodak paper doesn't take ink.
I quit working at 5, and headed for Fry's to get some card stock. But they have castrated their stationary department, and had none. So I slogged in rush hour traffic up to Office Depot, and paid way too much for a ream. Used to be able to buy card stock in smaller doses.
Since I was now right across the street from Safeway I went there to stock up on produce and frozen food. Oh my, the eye candy was out in force. The woman in charge of the self check-out is DDG, looked like she ought to be on a ski slope posing for a breath mint commercial. Or chapstick. So beautiful! And many customers were in the "mommy, I want one!" category. Enjoyable trip.
Home, big envelope in the mailbox, turned out to be the docs for the replacement insurance. Fully approved, they included flood insurance for no extra $$, and it's for full replacement cost of the home, not the cheap-o $150k which Allstate had lined up. I dashed off email to Escrow Lady with the details, because insurance for the first 2 years is suppose to be paid out of escrow, and asked who else I need to contact. In theory the old insurance gets canceled as of today because I didn;t fork over the bogus $200 they claimed I owed because the community doesn't have a staff member living here full time.
Printed the theater resume on card stock, printed the audition forms and filled them out.
Dinner was the rest of the Marie C lasagna and some garlic sourdough bread.
Plans for tomorrow:
Work
1-on-1 with the boss, maybe. He moved it to Thursday the last 2 times.
I expect to hear from the director about coming in to audition.
Maybe set up the telescope on the tripod. It's a VERY solid tripod. Too bad it's a new moon. I should check to see in SJ Astronomy club is getting together for a dark sky night.
Tall Hungarian fellow, the first thing he did was claim that tuning it the right way would cost more than buying a new piano. He makes the mistake that I actually play the piano, though he does understand the concept of emotional attachment. No, that's not the phrase. I'll think of the right one and poke it in later. Sentimental value. That's the phrase.
He had sent me his prices, and I knew we were looking at about $300. He way underestimated how well built this relic is, and was sure we would be busting strings right and left at $80 a string. The piano was flat by about 2%. He was afraid that tightening the strings, which are almost all the originals, would break them if he did it all in one fell swoop like all the other piano techs have done for the past 46 years. So I let him do two passes at $45 and an hour each. He also wanted to adjust the action, which is something it needed, but he gave up before he had finished the 5 & 6 octaves. I use 5 a lot, 6 not so much.
I've probably told the sentimental value story before,
My junior and senior years in high school I was the TA for the band director. He also taught all the instruments. Mr. Akers had at one time been the premier arranger of marches and patriotic tunes for band for the Filmore Music company, which in turn was the foremost publisher of that genre. Prior to that he was a trombone player in a big name circus band. From his disheveled appearance and his somewhat scattered mind, I guessed (but never asked) that he'd gotten too friendly with Jack Daniels or Johnny Walker or one of that ilk, hit bottom, and finally wound up teaching in the smallest high school in Seattle.
We had two piano rooms in the band room. I heard real pianists in there playing Maleguña and was impressed, and learned to plunk it out in the half hour or so each day there was nothing to do for Mr. A and the pianos were available.
I don't remember exactly how it happened, but somewhere in there I had a tune in my head, and wanted to score it for band, and I had no clue how to do that. Mr. A taught me how to read and then write a score, and his visualization tool was the piano keyboard.
If I was going to do this project, I needed a piano at home.
My 17th birthday was coming up, I had saved $100 somehow, and convinced Mom to go halves with me. We went down to Sherman Clay downtown, and found this beautiful old Schiller upright for $200.
I wrote my "Processional", it was done i time for my sister's high school graduation. Mr A put it in right after Pomp & Circumcisions, announcing that I had written it, and offering to let me conduct it. But I'm not conductor, so I played French Horn instead.
So that was my day, plinking sounds in the background as I read documents & email for work.
During a break I updated my theater resume, it needed the new address, and was set to print it, but could not find any card stock. Tried photo paper, but it's a 2-sided resume, and the back of Kodak paper doesn't take ink.
I quit working at 5, and headed for Fry's to get some card stock. But they have castrated their stationary department, and had none. So I slogged in rush hour traffic up to Office Depot, and paid way too much for a ream. Used to be able to buy card stock in smaller doses.
Since I was now right across the street from Safeway I went there to stock up on produce and frozen food. Oh my, the eye candy was out in force. The woman in charge of the self check-out is DDG, looked like she ought to be on a ski slope posing for a breath mint commercial. Or chapstick. So beautiful! And many customers were in the "mommy, I want one!" category. Enjoyable trip.
Home, big envelope in the mailbox, turned out to be the docs for the replacement insurance. Fully approved, they included flood insurance for no extra $$, and it's for full replacement cost of the home, not the cheap-o $150k which Allstate had lined up. I dashed off email to Escrow Lady with the details, because insurance for the first 2 years is suppose to be paid out of escrow, and asked who else I need to contact. In theory the old insurance gets canceled as of today because I didn;t fork over the bogus $200 they claimed I owed because the community doesn't have a staff member living here full time.
Printed the theater resume on card stock, printed the audition forms and filled them out.
Dinner was the rest of the Marie C lasagna and some garlic sourdough bread.
Plans for tomorrow:
Work
1-on-1 with the boss, maybe. He moved it to Thursday the last 2 times.
I expect to hear from the director about coming in to audition.
Maybe set up the telescope on the tripod. It's a VERY solid tripod. Too bad it's a new moon. I should check to see in SJ Astronomy club is getting together for a dark sky night.
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