Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex – Chapter 12
Carnegie Hall
This story included my first experience singing at Carnegie Hall. The hall has an interesting history, which you can read HERE. I didn’t know that the opening performance of the hall in 1891 was directed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky himself. Also interesting is that the hall was scheduled to be torn down in the 1950’s as the New York Philharmonic moved to Lincoln Center. It took a great deal of work by a lot of people to save it, among them Isaac Stern, who then had the main concert hall named after him.
For me, it was a privilege just to see the inside of the hall, where so many great musicians had performed. The acoustics were tremendous, especially compared with Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center, where we performed the following evening. Avery Fisher Hall was renovated twice to try to help the acoustics, without significant benefit. Also, it was not visually attractive at all, especially compared with Carnegie, which was beautiful beyond compare with its ornate gold and white trim.
For years I wondered why the New York Philharmonic moved, especially as the new hall seated fewer people than Carnegie. I can only guess, but from reading the history of both, it sounded like Carnegie needed renovations that were so expensive that it was scheduled for demolition, so the Philharmonic made a multi-year financial commitment to Lincoln Center before it was finished, expecting that a new hall would have good acoustics. Now Carnegie is a National Historic Landmark.
Rehearsals in Boston
When we started rehearsing Oedipus Rex again, Sam Wanamaker was brought in to teach us new stage directions. He was a delightful person, who had an interesting history himself. He feared being blacklisted in the 1950’s, so he stayed in England to make a living as an actor. While he was there, he spearheaded the effort to recreate the Globe Theater as it would have been in Shakespeare’s day. He received many accolades from the English people for his efforts.
Tanglewood
Once we were at Tanglewood, we had four days to complete the preparations. We were working with Wanamaker for our movements and a choreographer for our dance steps, and we were overwhelmed. It did not seem possible that we could muster a polished performance in that period of time. At one point, one of the chorus’ premier Russian basses got so frustrated that he put down his cape, excused himself, and started to leave. Sam Wanamaker rushed over and put his arm around him and smoothed things over so he could return. In the course of all that, it didn’t occur to me that we might have a spectacular performance. I was just trying to cope with all the demands. With all the stops and starts, I had not had any experience of the spectacular nature of the music. As a result, it was a complete surprise to me how powerful the musical experience was. The performance was wonderful. I understood why Ozawa later made recordings of it and performed the piece all over the world.
Peter Nero plays “Gershwin in Hollywood” – Chapter 25
Chapter 25 tells of tuning for Peter Nero and giving him information about the premier of Rhapsody in Blue. Nero had always wondered what had happened to Aeolian Hall, where Rhapsody in Blue was premiered. I found the information on the internet for him. Here are some links to information on that premier and to a later concert that attempted to recreate the original performance, which is thought to have had more elements of jazz than later performances:
Here is a link to Nero’s biography:
It was an honor to visit with such an accomplished musician.
Sometimes Things Get Complicated – Chapter 26
Chapter 26 tells of preparing an older Steinway piano for a concert. Here is a LINK to a very good video for observing how a grand piano action works. In the video, the various parts are isolated, and then the entire action is shown moving. At that time, you can observe the pivot point of the hammer shank. It appeared as just a hole in the wood when the hammer was isolated. That hole is lined with a red cloth bushing which is reamed to a specific setting so that there is a specific slight resistance to movement when a metal pin is inserted. That pin is known as a “center pin” and acts like a hinge pin for the movement of the hammer shank.
You may recall that older Steinway pianos had the wooden parts dipped in a liquid paraffin which wicked down into the red cloth bushings. The paraffin would react with the nickel of the pin, creating a green substance that gums up the bushing, restricting movement. The story in Chapter 26 told of reaming out each of 88 hammer action centers, in order to remove the verdigris, the green substance which was gumming up the hammer shank action centers. This would be only a temporary fix, as the paraffin was impregnated into the wood of the hammer shanks, and it continued to wick down into the bushings.
Here is a LINK for an analysis of how difficult it is to play the Liszt B-minor Sonata. Included in the article are opportunities to hear the different themes of the work. Here is a LINK to hear a spectacular performance which has the printed music on the screen, so you can read it as the sonata is played. At about 7:30 minutes in, you may notice a number of delicate passages and trills that require perfect regulation of the hammer action centers. You can imagine how impossible the piece would have been to play before the piano was repaired.
I hope you enjoyed the recording.
A Gift from Mom – Chapter 27
Chapter 27 described the purchase of my Kawai grand piano, pictured on the cover of Piano Dance.
The Ray Charles Band
You may recall that the home where I found the piano was diagonally behind Ray Charles’ house, although no one could recall if Ray had ever played it. About ten years later, I had the opportunity to tune a concert piano for the Ray Charles Band. These gentlemen seemed to be in their 80’s and 90’s and were touring again with a young man replacing Ray on the vocals and piano. After rehearsal, many of them were hobbling up and down the hallway outside the Green Room, to keep their joints mobile. They were a lot of fun to talk to. I asked them if the movie Ray was accurate in its depiction of the events of the time. They agreed that it was.
New Ownership
My fiancée and I had many happy hours playing that piano and singing songs with it. After I had owned it for about 8 years, we decided to move to Florida. The cost to move the piano was more than I could afford, so I reluctantly put it up for sale. Fortunately, a colleague of mine recommended the piano to a client of his. The mother and ten year old son arrived and the boy immediately went to the piano and started playing quite advanced classical pieces from memory. He was clearly loving playing the piano. After a while his mother said to me, “We’ll take it.”
While she was writing me the check, her son stopped playing, and said, “Are we buying this!?” He couldn’t believe his good fortune. I was extremely happy to be selling the piano to someone who appreciated it that much. I have never had any regret of selling it, seeing how happy he was and knowing that the piano supported development of his significant talent.
Maury – Chapter 28
Chapter 28 tells of the extraordinary achievements of Maury, a friend of mine, who was in my class at piano tuning school. Maury is not his real name. In Piano Dance, for most of the people who are not famous, I changed the names to respect their privacy. The one exception is Kelly, the piano teacher in Chapter 32. He gave me permission to use his actual name.
I had lost track of Maury over the years, so I searched the internet to find a way to contact him, in order to ask if he wanted me to use his real name in the book. I read through numerous postings on the internet and found an old phone number. I called it to see if he still had the same number and he answered the phone, as he was standing on a street in Mexico. We had a great time catching up on the last 40 years, and he agreed to read this chapter about him. I gave him the opportunity to refuse to have his story published, as well.
After he had read the chapter, we talked on the phone. His reaction was, “I can’t believe you recalled so many details about my life.” I said I found it pretty easy, because it was so interesting. I asked him if I got anything wrong, and he said I got some of the things out of order, but the only thing that was inaccurate was the color of the shoes he wore when he conducted the jazz band in Sanders Hall at Harvard. He recalled that although the group was called, “Composers in Red Sneakers,” he wore purple Converse Allstars when he conducted. Then he said an interesting thing. He said, “It’s not important that every detail is actually accurate. The important thing is that all this is your memories. That is what is important.” I appreciated that advice. As a result, you will find that the story in Piano Dance still has him dressed in red sneakers, not purple.
I asked if he wanted me to use his real name in the story, and he declined. I accepted that and didn’t ask why. I didn’t want him to feel like he needed to defend his choice. For one thing, he hadn’t read any of the other stories in the book, so he couldn’t know whether he wanted to be part of something of unknown quality. Also, we all know now, that privacy is a big issue on the internet. So I don’t know the answer, and I’m willing to live with the mystery.
Moving Forward – Chapter 30
Chapter 30 described an older pianist who gave challenging annual concerts on her birthdays for her friends. She was a wonderful role model for living life to the full as long as one can.
Here is a link to a performance of one of the pieces she played, Chopin’s Nocturne #7 in C# minor, Op. 27 No.1: LINK
As I age, I have found that learning new music is especially renewing to my cognitive ability. I am fortunate that I can also sing, so memorizing the words and performing both the piano and song together make even more demands on my brain. It’s amazing how it clears the fog. I find it very encouraging that I can keep learning even at an advanced age.
Getting Paid to Have Fun – Chapter 31
Chapter 31 was about meeting a musician with knowledge of a beautiful area of the coast of Maine. I sang for him the chorus of one of my favorite songs about Maine coastal life.
Here is a link to Gordon Bock singing “Old Fat Boat:”
Here is a link to wooden boat builders in Brooklin, Maine: LINK
Here is a link to the wooden boat builder that my brother-in-law worked with: LINK
And here is a link to Wooden Boat, which has classes on boat building and links to Wooden Boat Magazine: LINK
And here is a link to Noel Paul Stookey’s website, listing upcoming concerts: LINK
Work Hard, Play Splendidly – Chapter 32
Chapter 32 told of a retired gentleman who pursued a life-long dream of learning to play the piano, and of his experience playing in a student recital where he was the only adult.
I included this story in Piano Dance, because I have met numerous adults who wished to learn to play the piano. I wanted people to know the patience and effort it might take, if they did not study piano as a child. The other side of that is that I wanted parents to know how important it is for their children to have the opportunity to study piano as a child. If they do not have those early connections in their brain, it is very difficult to establish them as an adult.
It is well established that studying piano helps children in numerous other pursuits. Playing piano requires complicated connections in the brain that no other activity has been found to create. Children who study piano have been found have improved accomplishment in math and language skills, and greater accomplishments in their adult lives. Also, there are now studies on senior citizens showing that piano study delays the onset of mental decline. Here is a link to one study: LINK
Ultimately, though, I wanted to tell the touching story of Bill, who accomplished a life-long dream to be able to play beautiful music on the piano. I hope you enjoyed it. It was a privilege for me to be part of such an endeavor. Also, I wanted to point out the importance of a skilled and enthusiastic teacher. Bill’s teacher, Kelly, has had students rank in international competitions, but his students love him for allowing them to study in the way they wish, not pushing them to take part in competitions. He encourages them to play at the level they wish, without judgement, so they can bring their personal joy to their playing. The importance is not to play better than someone else, but simply to play for personal enjoyment and self-expression.
You Never Know – Chapter 33
Chapter 33 told of the turns of fortune that led me to study singing and to take up piano tuning for a trade. In previous chapters, I told of experiences that led to my interest in performing, such as seeing my mother perform frequently. Another influence that I recently remembered, were 78 rpm records that I played numerous times each day. They depicted theatrical scenes, such as in Tubby the Tuba and Robin Hood. I do not know what happened to the Tubby the Tuba record, but I found the Robin Hood record. It sounded like so much fun to make such a production, that I can see why I grew up wanting to be part of it. Here is a link to the recording:
Robin Hood Recording
A History of the Piano Tuning Trade – Chapter 34
Chapter 34 was largely based on oral histories that I had heard from tuners I had known. Not much was told to me about African American tuners, so I looked on the internet recently. African American tuners haven’t had much publicity, as you might imagine. Recently a highly respected blind African American tuner died in the Pacific Northwest. His obituary was written in the Piano Technicians Guild Journal for April, 2023. His name was John Grace, one of seventeen children of a sharecropper in Georgia. When he applied to attend the Piano Hospital in Vancouver, WA to learn piano tuning, the state of Georgia resisted paying his tuition since the school was not segregated. He became one of the most successful graduates, working on pianos for over 50 years. He was a charter member of the Puget Sound Chapter of the PTG, where he had a massive impact on the profession in that area.
Another recent success story is that of Warren Shadd. He is an African American piano builder whose pianos are used in the Vatican and in concert halls around the world. You can read of his upbringing and success at this LINK.
Here is a LINK to a site with Piano Technician demographics and statistics. Some of the interesting statistics are that the profession is only 12.7% female, with women earning 90 cents for every dollar a man earns. The profession is 72.7% European American, 12.5% Hispanic, 6.4% African American, 4.9% Asian American, and .4% American Indian and Alaskan Native. If you are not familiar with the term “European American,” here is a LINK to an explanation. I question the accuracy of these statistics, however. I think they are based on tax records of people who are employed, whereas the average piano tuner is self-employed. The reason I think this is that their statistics say that there are only 780 piano technicians in the US. The Piano Technicians Guild has more members than that. The only explanations I can think of are that either they did not look at tax records of self-employed tuners, or that number is a typographical error, or both. Elsewhere on their website, they show that many tuners in a single state. The information is still very interesting and may be representative as far as proportions. I hope you find them useful.