Reading the posting with the same topic in the today's MMD, it
reminded me of what I experienced some years ago.  It's a story which
characterizes a typical attitude of great artists.

For many years I have organized classical chamber music concerts in
a small baroque castle nearby.  The interesting thing with this job is
not just to enjoy great music, but in addition I enjoy the contact with
artists (musicians) from all over the world and to get some insight
into their professional life as well as in their private life.

Once we organized a series of concerts, entitled "Portrait of an
ensemble: The XY-Ensemble".

The first performance happened in springtime; the most important
musician was a famous lady playing the harpsichord.  In the afternoon
before the concert, after we had set up the stage and the illumination
and all the instruments, this lady asked me, "I have a small problem
with my harpsichord.  I have to control two levers of the instrument
with my knees but the distance is too high.  Could you please organize
a small foot bench in order to get my knees a little bit higher,
Christian?"

After some tests and measurements we agreed that this foot bench should
be exactly 4.5 cm high.  I went back home into my workshop and started
to built a nice foot bench, fitting the lady's wishes as well as the
design of the harpsichord.  In the evening there was a great concert;
the audience was happy, the lady was happy, and I was happy.  Knowing
that the lady will come again to play the same harpsichord four months
later, I took the foot bench and cared for it until the concert in late
summer came up.

In the afternoon before the concert, after we had set up the stage, the
illumination and all the instruments, this lady asked me: "I have a
small problem with my harpsichord.  I have to control two levers of the
instrument with my knees but the distance is too high.  Could you
please organize a small foot bench in order to get my knees a little
bit higher, Christian?"

I was so proud and brought the foot bench from the springtime concert.
"There it is. You can be happy, I cared for it since the last concert
and so you can be sure that it will fit exactly!"

The lady sat in front of her harpsichord, started to play some cadences,
stopped playing and complained, "Sorry, I can not control the levers
with this foot bench, it is at least 2 cm too high!"  I was surprised;
how could this happen?

Her answer was, "In springtime, I was dressed differently and I wore
different shoes.  My shoes today are somewhat higher than those of the
last concert".

Fortunately my saw at home was strong enough to solve the problem
within a few minutes.  The foot bench -- not the shoes -- was altered
to the right measure.  This lady was really a great artist and again we
had a great concert!

Regards from Bavaria
Christian Greinacher

 [ "Greinacher der Bankmacher" -- Wunderbar!  ;-)  -- Robbie