Thank you David. I am very much getting the point about providing any donated or "free" services. Taking some time to really sort thorough everything and be prepared for my arranged meeting on Friday. I am documenting everything that I'm doing and will have that ready and in good form as I go.
I'd be happy to provide some information you inquired about.
The reason I know mine was the lowest bid is the piano professor had told me before submitting the bid that they usually go with the lowest bid submitted for independent contractor work. When receiving word that I was selected for the position, he then again told me that "Mine was the lowest bid." Of course that was no confidence booster, but I had taken a few days to really think everything over and came up with a number I was comfortable with and that works for me. I felt a little bit odd that he gave out that information in such a way. I feel he may share some frustration with the way things are administered and has shared some disappointment in the lack of understanding about things like the climate control...ect... He has tried to convince them to leave the AC on for the summer months but was unsuccessful. The bid was for "x" amount of tunings and that is all. Nothing about hours. The deal does not include housing, but through student housing I was able to secure a hotel room that is converted to student housing which was the least expensive short term situation around town. Before submitting the bid I also I inquired about repair and regulation work and was told that the "technician work" would be something separately to consider. I think they wanted to look over my list of assessments and decide what work they deemed most important to do. So perhaps that is actually a respectable approach for things? I have been making some improvements within reason along the way and documenting it all...squeaky pedals...ect...
They have 2 concert venues with 2 Steinway D's and one B. Again, initially all that was disclosed to me was that I would be tuning them. This week they got approval for paying me to do an additional 1-2 hours of work preparing one of the D's for this Friday's guest performer. The piano has some undetermined action interference/noise and friction in the bass section and also some bass dampers that are not damping well. Some pretty serious false beats in the upper treble (I likely will not be improving that, just tuning...) I believe this sounds good and fair, would you agree?
Honestly, this will be some of my very first "Concert Prep" work and I am looking forward to it! I don't want a dark cloud overshadowing what I am doing, so I am also very glad to have arranged this meeting with the piano professor and the head of the music department to gain a better understanding of things moving forward. I take your points and advice very well and put great value on my time and all of our time and experience in our field of work. I won't give it away and I thank you for the insight and guidance.
My experience I believe would be consider minimal. I have done some mentored action rebuilding, some rebuilding and regulation work on my own, been tuning for a bit more than three years, minimal voicing work.... For most people in general, I'd think the view would be that I have no where near the experience need to perform this job. But a little more about myself may help your understanding here. I have a lifetime of musical background. Took some piano when I was 5-6 years old and surprisingly remember a lot of useful things about the mechanics of playing, although I have a limited repertoire. I come from a bloodline of musicians. Started playing guitar at 11 and still do. Although tuning a guitar does not really compare to a piano, some of it does transcend over into this realm...especially the 12 string. I started working with recording and mixing at 12-13 years and still do Audio production (Recording and Live Sound). In that field the work with frequencies has certainly transfer over into piano technology...listening to the 'sounds within the sounds' as I have when mixing albums is very relative to listening to partials when tuning, or even troubleshooting unwanted noises...ect... I have 23 years of some real landscaping experience doing stonework, antique paver patios and walkways, stone staircases, retaining walls, planting tree with huge root balls...ect...I have "tons" of experiences leveraging weight with pry bars and using my body, machines...ect...You might think that's crazy or irrelevant, but it also has translated over to leveraging tuning pins or even the very fine and sensitive aspects of action work bending wires and such that requires appropriate and safe "amounts" of force for the task at hand. I'm always doing my best to be mindful and careful with what I am doing. I have become very detail oriented when working for clients and they seem to appreciate that.
I also appreciate your mentioning that I feel responsible for contributing to the "higher purposes". Perhaps more accurately I am feeling a potential for me to provide more value. I feel there is a possibility of opening a few things up that wouldn't normally be available. Something like an "internship" for students who are inclined for this type of work...Or even just informing the faculty about their instruments...I am imagining either being a guest in a class or doing an extra-curricular presentation/discussion about piano technology to spark some interest and just inform others about the amazing piano we all love. Besides just doing the tuning work, this is kind of what I meant with the giving back statement. People have been some generous in sharing useful information and experience with me, it seems to be a chance to share with some others and pay it forward. What is your feeling about that idea?
I'd like to again include a personal note and interesting set of coincidences that ended up with me being here. My daughter is in school here as a sophomore majoring in choral music education. While visiting her in the previous year, she showed me around the music building and I quickly noticed that the practice room piano needed work. A light bulb when off in my head and I thought perhaps I could provide some piano service here when I come up to visit her. I sent a message online to the music department and heard nothing back. Over the winter break my daughter, Talia, mentioned to me that she felt lonely and detached being so far away from family and friends (mainly her boyfriend) and is considering transferring to a closer school, but its a hard decision because her current school does have a great music program and she's made some great friends here and has an accapela group that she's very involved in. I'm so proud of her. She's perhaps the sweetest person I know. So, this again prompted me to look into working at the campus. This time I called and the conversation was, " Interestingly enough, our piano technician just gave his notice and we are looking for someone to tune for the spring semester." It was short notice and last minute, but they needed to go through their bidding process...ect... I thought, 170 tunings!?!? Whoever does that is going to need some help! I learned that is not how things work. It would be one person do all the work or nothing. I dismissed it as not possible but the idea was still in my mind. I discussed it with my lovely wife. Thought it over for a few days, came up with my bid number, submitted it and was selected. I would not be here if not for my daughter, and the coincidental happenings make me feel this is where I'm suppose to be. Being able to have this experience with Talia makes me know this is where I am supposed to be. Shoveling her out of snowdrifts is not a problem but actually a parental joy. We are so glad to be in college together!! Ha. It is a fun and unique experience. Life is grand.
Thanks for hearing my story and all the useful professional advice. I feel well equipped with the PTG on my side. I'm pursuing the RPT certification and I will do my best to well represent our trade and the Guild.
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Cory Jacobson
Campbellsport WI
262-689-6043
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Original Message:
Sent: 02-13-2019 10:54
From: David Skolnik
Subject: Landed an opportunistic job!
Cory -
Alan E included a disclaimer in his response and so will I: I don't mean to be critical of or harsh with either you or my colleagues. I hurrying to be less late than I already am, but I've wanted to weigh in for a couple of days. You are experiencing the thrill of novelty and possibility, which I'm reluctant to rain on, but I have a bit of a problem with the situation, given that you have forthrightly explained that your's was the lowest bid.
A perfunctory list:
- how did you come up with a bid without having a better idea of the situation?
- could you describe your experience a bit further? Concert tuniing, voicing, regulation, etc.
- how many performance venues are there, and what is the condition of those pianos (assuming either D's or B's)?
- how many hours a week does the job description assign?
- does it cover the housing you had to obtain?
For now, my discomfort comes from the idea that the CAUT community has, for years, been trying to elevate the understanding of the requirements, both technical and resources ($) of proper piano maintenance. At this point, it would seem that neither we, nor you, have any 'historical context'. You (perhaps gratuitously) provided the name of the previous technician, whom I don't know, but who has a fairly impressive website. Theoretically, you might have contacted him before accepting (or even bidding) the job, and understood the situation before hand.
From the perspective of your own experience, you won't be able to avoid learning a great deal, but I'm not entirely comfortable with those aspects of your narrative that reflect your assumption of responsibility for those 'higher purposes':
It's a higher regarded campus with great resources. (but not $$)
It is also a good opportunity to give back (to whom?)
I have mentioned and offered to do some work as a donation.
At some point, the question will be defining your limits.
Good luck.
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David Skolnik [RPT]
Hastings-on-Hudson NY
914-231-7565
Original Message:
Sent: 02-13-2019 07:46
From: Alan Eder
Subject: Landed an opportunistic job!
Cory,
Allow me to jump on the band wagon in endorsing ALL of Margie's sage advice. Yes, let your admins know what is needed and what is possible (given current resources), but do NOT simply give it all away. Dong so would denigrate yourself and weaken your bargaining position. No matter how much you are learning and how exciting all this new-found opportunity is.
Best,
Alan
P. S. And yes, students can be a big help, if you choose the right ones and properly marshal the resources. WARNING: SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION (well, not really, but the PC police demand the disclaimer)… If you are considering shop help, you can reap the benefit of my thirty-five years in that realm by taking my class "Shop Help: A Guide to Effective Selection, Training, Supervision and Management of Piano Shop Assistants" at the national convention in Tucson. Many of my student assistants (and other apprentices) have gone on to have celebrated careers in piano tech, and several have become long-time members of the Guild as well as valuable colleagues.
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Alan Eder, RPT
Herb Alpert School of Music
California Institute of the Arts
Valencia, CA
661.904.6483
Original Message:
Sent: 02-13-2019 06:05
From: Stephen Duncan
Subject: Landed an opportunistic job!
Cory, wonderful advice from Margie! I highly recommended TuneLab piano tuning app. It's $300 for a onetime purchase. I tuned aurally for over 30 years. Purchased TuneLab about 7 years ago. It does a pretty nice pitch raise.
Good luck
Stephen R Duncan
Piano Technician, CVPA,
UNC-Greensboro
336-847-6310
Original Message------
Cory,
Please do not volunteer to do repairs without pay. This sort of thing has been known to backfire. You think you're doing the right thing, and I understand your zeal to make things right, but once you do that, you set yourself up to be taken advantage of. I think there is a better way to approach this.
You say the contract is for "tuning only." Are they monitoring your work that closely? I'm assuming not, since the administrators don't seem to be up to speed on what university pianos need, which is comprehensive service, not just tuning. You don't mention what tuning method you use, but if you're using a good pitch raise program, go through the piano only once, as quickly as you reasonably can. (If you're not using Cybertuner or one of the other pitch raise programs, you should invest in one. It will save your sanity.) It won't be perfect, but it will be a big improvement, taking care of the low tenor fluctuations, the treble break wackiness and lousy unisons. If that takes you 25 to 30 minutes, you'll have another 30 or 45 minutes (the amount of time you would have spent on perfecting a tuning) to put out other fires, like loose hammer heads, bobbling hammers, missing strings, pedal problems, etc. Once you get the repairs under control, later you can do better tunings.
At some point it becomes hard to do a good tuning when there are so many technical shortcomings. The pianist suffers just as much (or more) from mechanical failures as from an out of tune piano.
Bottom line: make this job your own. You are the expert, not the administrators. You determine what each piano needs. It won't make any difference to you or the administrators in terms of time and pay, whether you're tuning or repairing. Assuming they're not looking over your shoulder, take the bull by the horns and make big improvements to the pianos. Little by little, you'll get there.
Margie Williams
pnotuner@pacbell.net
"We, the willing, led by the unknowing, are doing the impossible for the ungrateful. We have done so much for so long, with so little, we are now qualified to do anything with nothing." (Unknown)