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o you know your Stradivarius from your Steinway? Or your
Page 34
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horns from your wind section? Yes, don't worry, you are still reading Commercial Motor. But all hauliers need to know their cargo inside out—be it aggregates, clothes or soap powder—and that rule applies to those who transport musical instruments. Driving for an orchestra is a multi-faceted task. First you need to understand the vulnerability of the instruments you are handling; then there's the logistics of how to get them to the venues on time. This is often made doubly hard by the fact that many London theatres have inadequate access.
"A lot of theatres were not designed with 45ft vehicles in mind, more for horse and carriages, so it's often hard to get the instruments to the stage doors at all," says Michael Cousins, owner of independent transport company Orchestral Manoeuvres, based in Woolwich.
Cousins' main work is for the BBC Concert Orchestra, which puts on up to 120 concerts a year and also tours abroad. He also handles the instruments of visiting US and European orchestras when they're touring the UK.
Cousins began work as a lorry driver at the BBC 27 years ago, mainly moving props and scenery, then moved on to the music side of things. "I wanted to do something different, and could see there was a niche market for specialising in orchestras," he says.
The company currently employs six full-time drivers and an "abundance" of people it can call on for loading and unloading. "I give all employees special training in instrument handling, which means consideration for what you are handling and being au fait with flight cases, along with basic stage management and stage setting tenniques—what goes where and why," says Cousins.
Smaller instruments
His ,,t mprises two 38-tc.. lveco EuroTechs with 45ft temperature-controlled trailers, two Iveco 7.5tonne boxvans and a brace of Mercedes Sprinters which are used for smaller instruments and percussion. He also has a 3.4m trailer specially buitt for London's Barbican venue, which has particularly tricky access.
The Barbican, it appears, poses problems for most orchestras. Brian Kirk, senior stage manager for the BBC Symphony Orchestra, explains: "Any lorry over 3.6m tall can't get to the stage door, so many orchestras have to unload in the street at the top. You always get to it somehow but it can be chaos—you literally have to block the street."
Kirk started out as a "bog standard" BBC lorry driver 24 years ago before the job of driving for orchestras came up, and he worked his way up from there. "The experience is really gained on the job," he says. "Most of the instruments are flight-cased so they're easy to handle, and when you get to a venue everything goes in roughly the same place for each concert."
But when it comes to handling, extra care is obvi. ously required. Many musical instruments can be badly damaged by extreme temperatures so they must be kept at between 1820"C while in transit. String instruments can be particularly vulnerable to heat as it can cause the wood to expand and the glue to melt. And when you're dealing with instruments that are over 300 years old and very valuable, you can't take any chances when it comes to insurance. "We just have goods-in-transit insurance," Cousins explains. "The orchestras themselves generally cover their own insurance, putting particularly valuable instruments on separate policies."
The job of moving instruments can become even more specialised when you're focusing on a single type of instrument. Over at Steinway Pianos in London, concert and artist manager Colin Turner uses his trusty Mercedes Atego to go all around the UK. "We take pianos to recording companies, orchestral concerts, festivals and other concerts," he says. "Occasionally the artists themselves will come to Steinway Hall in central London where they will test a selection of pianos and decide which one they want to use before we get it to the venue."
With the largest piano in the range—the Steinway D Grand—weighing in at a massive 480kg and not t easiest of shapes to handle, some specialist training obviously essential. "Our truck has a tail-lift back, a straps and bars to keep the pianos in position," sa Turner. "I've got three permanent guys who are rea just lorry drivers who have become specialis They've all learned the techniques on the job ci% some years.
"You learn how to push and pull the pianos by watc ing the others. We don't do the piano tuning, howeve he adds. "They go along independently as requir before a concert or recording."
Classical artists
So this is a niche that involves working with top classii artists, handling priceless antique instruments, tour the world—have we discovered a glamorous side trucking? "It's not glamorous at all," says Ken Graham Ken Graham Trucking in Surrey, whose bread-and-b ter work comes from the London Philharmo Orchestra. "You arrive at one venue, get your he down for seven hours then drive off to the next c Sometimes the schedules can be horrendous, an( can be quite nerve-wracking."
Graham worked for the LPO for 10 years before decided to buy his truck from them and set up on own. Through word-of-mouth he also got work fri other visiting orchestras and is now known as one oft main players in the business. Recently back from tour the US and Japan with the LPO, he clocks up around dates a year with the LPO and handles around a dm tours a year for other orchestras. Graham uses c tract drivers as and when he needs them. His fl includes a Renault Magnum 420, a left-hand-drive Vc FH16 470 drawbar rig which was originally used to tra port flowers in Holland and two temperature-control trailers. measuring 45ft and 35ft. When it comes to logistics of touring, Graham says that this job absolutely time critical.
"It's not like general haulage because you've gal be at the venue at the exact time, since 'the show m go on' as they say. I can't afford to have clapped trucks; they've got to be serviced well and be kept Lir date. On a three-week European tour you could asked to be in Vienna one day and Madrid the next.. orchestra expects you to get from A to Occasionally though, you'll have to tell an orchestra t its schedule just isn't possible, which then throw back in its court and it'll probably have to go by instead," Graham adds.
Despite the demand for his expertise. Gran feels he's got quite enough on his hands right nosA don't want to get any bigger... I don't know how Ec Stobart manages it. I like to be hands-on and in con myself—it's big enough now."