My parents give us the piano I learned on as a child when we lived in our Grafton house. Since then it has moved to two different houses, but was never tuned.
Both Caroline and Julia are now taking piano lessons and I thought it might be best to finally get it tuned. I asked the music director at our church for a name of someone. They have the church piano tuned three times a year and she does hers at home once a year. She gave me the name of someone she trusted and said was good.
The piano tuner came on Wednesday when I was home with Sarah. We had a great time watching as he took apart the piano and worked to make it sound good again! I was able to ask some questions along the way.
How out of tune is the piano? As much as it can me. The most a piano can go out of tune is a 1/2 step and that's what your piano is.
How did you learn to tune pianos? I did an apprenticeship and worked for the company for 10 years before starting my own business.
How many pianos do you tune in a day? When I worked for the other company we did a school district and sometimes did 5 in a day. That's hard on your body, hands and arms, as you are pounding on the keys while tightening the strings.
What's the oldest piano you've tuned? It's a piano collector that lives in the area who has 30 some pianos in his house. The oldest is from the "Gone With The Wind" movie set. It's from the 1800's. (He went on to tell me that the piano really should be kept as a showpiece more than anything because it was hard to get in tune and no matter how much he tried it just didn't sound the best.)
Is tuning pianos a dying trade? Well not really. There are still thousands of pianos in the world and they need to be tuned. I get new customers and then some fall off as their kids don't play anymore. (I asked a sales person at the music store in town-when I was picking up Julia's clarinet-about the pianos they had in the store. He told me they were all digital and had a casing around them to make them look like a real piano. He went on to say that they've come a long way in the touch and weight of the keys along with the sound. However, he said that most performers will always want a real piano and not a keyboard. The digital sound is still not there yet.)
How many pianos do you have? Right now I have three. If someone gives me a free piano I will tune it and fix anything wrong and sell it for just my labor. There are 20 new postings every day on Craigslist for pianos so there really isn't money to be made on them.
How old is this piano? Hmm...let me see. I have a book here. It's from 1956.
Overall he said the piano was in good condition and he was able to fix a key that has been broken since I was a child. The sound is amazing! I was shocked at the difference it made and have actually dusted off some of my old music to try and play. I have a long way to go to get back to where I was in college, but the kids still were impressed with what I can play.
Both Caroline and Julia are now taking piano lessons and I thought it might be best to finally get it tuned. I asked the music director at our church for a name of someone. They have the church piano tuned three times a year and she does hers at home once a year. She gave me the name of someone she trusted and said was good.
The piano tuner came on Wednesday when I was home with Sarah. We had a great time watching as he took apart the piano and worked to make it sound good again! I was able to ask some questions along the way.
How out of tune is the piano? As much as it can me. The most a piano can go out of tune is a 1/2 step and that's what your piano is.
How did you learn to tune pianos? I did an apprenticeship and worked for the company for 10 years before starting my own business.
How many pianos do you tune in a day? When I worked for the other company we did a school district and sometimes did 5 in a day. That's hard on your body, hands and arms, as you are pounding on the keys while tightening the strings.
What's the oldest piano you've tuned? It's a piano collector that lives in the area who has 30 some pianos in his house. The oldest is from the "Gone With The Wind" movie set. It's from the 1800's. (He went on to tell me that the piano really should be kept as a showpiece more than anything because it was hard to get in tune and no matter how much he tried it just didn't sound the best.)
Is tuning pianos a dying trade? Well not really. There are still thousands of pianos in the world and they need to be tuned. I get new customers and then some fall off as their kids don't play anymore. (I asked a sales person at the music store in town-when I was picking up Julia's clarinet-about the pianos they had in the store. He told me they were all digital and had a casing around them to make them look like a real piano. He went on to say that they've come a long way in the touch and weight of the keys along with the sound. However, he said that most performers will always want a real piano and not a keyboard. The digital sound is still not there yet.)
How many pianos do you have? Right now I have three. If someone gives me a free piano I will tune it and fix anything wrong and sell it for just my labor. There are 20 new postings every day on Craigslist for pianos so there really isn't money to be made on them.
How old is this piano? Hmm...let me see. I have a book here. It's from 1956.
Overall he said the piano was in good condition and he was able to fix a key that has been broken since I was a child. The sound is amazing! I was shocked at the difference it made and have actually dusted off some of my old music to try and play. I have a long way to go to get back to where I was in college, but the kids still were impressed with what I can play.
