WHen I first started out at CalArts, 35 years ago, we had weekly
production meetings, and I had to sign out time in the concert venues
on a paper schedule felt in a notebook in the music office. Those
practices were cumbersome and an imposition the time of all involved.
Now most all of the production communication is by email and we use
Google Docs for our calendar. Our concert venues are used for classes
and rehearsals, but most of the time that is not regularly scheduled
for those activities is "held" for piano servicing. (If someone else
needs my time in one of the venues on a one-off basis, I almost always
am able to accommodate their needs.)
When people sign up for a concert time, they fill out an event check
list. This provides vital information for the production crew, public
affairs and yours truly. If the artist is using a piano (or pianos) or
harpsichord, if they need a lid removed, or if they are planning to
use extended techniques, they include that on the form, and I am
notified. I still come in on weekends for concert work, but am looking
to change that to only coming in to check pianos that are used more
than once between Friday night and Sunday night. (Up 'til now, I have
given the love to every instrument used in performance in the hours
prior to their use.)
In the few instances in which the production manager (who controls the
use of our concert venues) has dropped the communication ball, I make
sure that he and other key payers know about it. This applies equally
to situations where a piano was requested, but not used (a waste of my
precious time, and therefore an affront to all of the pianos that
could have benefitted from a little love they consequently did not
get); one was requested, but another was used (and therefore not
serviced for the occasion), or; one was not requested (and therefore
not serviced for the occasion), but used regardless.
Alan
On 11/6/18, Martin Snow via Piano Technicians Guild
Original Message------
So very early on in my now 33 years at BU I block booked in the master schedule 8am thru 10am Monday thru Friday for tuning and maintenance of the 5 concert grands and h'schord backstage Concert Hall, of course we don't always use all this time but its ours in the book. Once in a great while Scheduling Office will ask to use a portion of that time maybe for auditions or the like but its rare. Every student or faculty member giving a recital must fill out an Event Requisition Form which has many pertinent questions about their recital, reh. time, keyboard needs, any prepared piano etc etc. We have 2 of the newer Steinway 9' pianos 2007 and 2011 which are reserved for Doctoral piano performance students , Doctoral collaborative pianists and faculty, and special events Concerto
competition etc Undergrads and Masters students have the choice of two older 9' Steinways one US one Hamburg, the 9' Baldwin still is selected but not as often and we use it for lower priority events.
In addition each of the 7 large classrooms has a weekly reserved tuning slot in the schedule, as does a smaller performance venue.
Every Wednesday at 3pm we have a production meeting with piano tech., stage manager, scheduling office manager and ensemble manager where we go over in detail every event in the upcoming week then look ahead to 2 and 3 weeks ahead to make sure all information has been received from those giving recitals and troubleshooting any issues.
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Martin Snow
Boston MA
617-543-1030
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