Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Tuner-Technicians Forum Best way to learn piano tuning and repair?

I am not willing to give up on people who want to learn.

I have seen once one customer who learnt to tune his piano
using tunelab. He owns a recording studio, and the piano is often played and recorded.

I was impressed.

But he also had techs (me included) come in for regulation and guidance.

Unisons go out so quickly, in a studio environment, it is a must to be able to at least get those right.

Hearing them can be both a blessing and a curse.

When playing music most musicians are not listening to the tuning, they are playing. Enjoying the moment.

I am not saying we should not strive to provide the best tuning, but at a certain point only we hear the difference.

When I learnt tuning, there was no such things as etd, stretch, or 4:2 or whatever. You just had to make it sound good. The piano would tell you.

So, any musician who is curious about how his instrument works, that's fine by me.

But any fly by night person who thinks that, after 2 weeks, having tuned a total of one piano three times starts charging, just as a hobby. Karma will work itself out.

Thank you for all the kind replies. Like I said, I am employed full time and am not looking to make a career out of this. Sorry, I mean no disrespect to the professional piano technicians in this forum. I was mainly looking to do it for informational and personal education. I didn't mean to put it like I would be offering my services and doing shabby workmanship and giving piano technicians a bad name. That's why I thought maybe there was a decent self study course that would allow me to experiment and play at home.

Oh, I want to live in that world!

I have taught many students piano tuning. I can tell you that every single one of them comes away with a new found fascination about how it is done aurally, and how hard it is to do a good job, and how much practice it takes to be good. Some never tune another piano. Some save a few bucks by tuning their own. Some continue their studies and keep trying to get better and make a career from it. Very very few, if any, have tried to charge more than they are worth. There are some dishonest people out there who will do that, but there are dishonest people everywhere. They get what's coming to them in the end, IMHO.

One of the greatest services to our profession, as I see it, from students taking a course or trying to learn on their own, is the new found respect that we, as piano technician, get. Read what one doctor wrote after taking a piano tuning course:

"The program [I have just taken, has] helped to shed light onto so many things for me. For the first time I understand what makes a truly superb tuning and appreciate why this requires considerable time and perseverance to really master. Great tuning is a remarkable process but once understood and appreciated anything less becomes unacceptable.

Likewise, I finally have an [improved] understanding of the piano action which had previously been only a labyrinth of confusion for me. The patience of your expert instruction was so important to me and helped me in so many ways to achieve a deeper understanding and knowledge of the piano and its workings.

I would unhesitatingly recommend [a] program for any aspiring student of the piano. In fact, I now consider it mandatory for anyone interested in the instrument whether it be from the stand point of a performer or a technician.

Sincerely,

Dr. Frank C."

Ha ha. It's a good thing I have this handy dandy DIY sarcasm meter. How did you get it to peg like that?

I see no need to discourage someone who wants to learn piano tuning as a hobby (and possibly later as a part-time income).

And I see hobby tuners as no threat to professionals. (Although I sometimes think that some pro's do - judging by their reactions in threads such as this one.)

For my part, I've been studying and practising piano tuning and repair sporadically for about 3 years, in order to tune my own pianos at my leisure (I LIKE being my own worst critic). I also offer tunings (hitherto all of them free) to friends, my church, or my wife at her teaching studio - all of this in exchange for the chance to learn something new on a different piano each time.

I find it fascinating and rewarding (inwardly, not necessarily financially) to combine mechanical and acoustic/musical aspects, because I have some aptitude in both, and to me, fascination and inner reward are more than enough reason to keep at a hobby!

I still return to my copy of Reblitz's text regularly, and some techs on this forum (and a German sister forum) have been a great help.

The only "missing link" for me is a mentor. But I'm working on that.

Those who haven't been in the business very long will eventually understand why our usual sunny effusive personalities take a turn when someone comes on the forum and asks how to learn to be a mediocre tuner.

As well as the Reblitz book, it's worth considering the soon-to-be-released new book by Mario Igrec, "Pianos Inside Out". www.pianosinsideout.com
Feedback from those who have seen the manuscript (not me) is very positive. This new book may be as much of a leap forward as Reblitz was in the mid 1970s.

Oh, and also very much worth mentioning is the Haynes Piano Manual. It's in full colour throughout and is copiously illustrated with photos, and not very expensive.

The OP lives in IL yet no one yet has suggested the Chicago Piano Tech School ?

www.PianoTechSchool.com I think is the website. I am sure they give tours so you can drive up and take a look around.

One of the biggest encountered problems are opinions on how to do things. 5 people 5 different opinions. Go up there and look around.

There is also another great school in RockPort Maine which is just woodworking. You may just be another Piano Guru and not even know it until someone inspires you.

JC
Nashville Piano Rescue
www.NashvillePianoRescue.com
Since 1918
Lascassas TN

The best way to learn piano tuning and repair is to do it. Every tech I talk to has a completely different story of how they got started and how they got to where they are today.

Never know where the path will take you.

I'm still a novice but maybe I can help you with a way to start. Talk a tuner into showing you how to tune. You might have to knock on some doors, so to speak, but I am sure there is someone out there that will spend 2 to 3 hours with you to show you the basics.

Then find a piano and practice unisons. You can find a piano at a piano store. Maybe one in the back that is destined for the heap. Talk to the owner and ask to practice on it a couple times a week. Spend about 2 to 3 hours each time. I used a chromatic tuner when I started which should be fine just to get something close to the correct pitch.

Buy a pair of earplugs. Amazon has the ETY ones.

Well, yes, kind of. The best way to learn tuning is to do it ... under the guidance and tutelage of a mentor.

Under the right circumstances, a good student can attain basic skills and experience after tuning perhaps as few as several dozen or maybe 50 pianos. We see this at the North Bennet Street School in Boston, where after one year the students pass the PTG tuning exam, demonstrating a basic proficiency in tuning.

For most others in a less than full-time schooling situation, the learning curve is slower and longer, probably in the order of way over a year and several hundred pianos. It takes that long for most (including myself) to acquire the skill and experience necessary to tune a piano acceptably good enough to begin charging money.

Sorry to put off anyone hoping to dabble a bit, but that is the plain truth.