Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum Tuners who play vs tuners who don't

A call? Definitely. If I expect to be running more than 10-15 minutes late, I call and apologize. Discounts... unlikely.

Okay! No discounts, but I would appreciate a call

I think anyone would; it's common courtesy. Unfortunately, technicians aren't always good at PR skills (and I'm certainly guilty of this to an extent, sometimes). Fortunately, technology is making it a lot easier to plan our days than even five years ago.

Put me in the same camp with Bob. I can play a few pieces well enough, but I'm not a proficient pianist (I play mostly Scott Joplin). When I tune, I play a few pieces in different keys as a final once-over at the very end. It doesn't necessarily make be a better tuner/technician; it just gives me a different perspective.

Also, as Rich said, one doesn't necessarily have to be a pianist to be musical. My musical forte is singing; I'm a professional opera singer. I'm fairly certain the musicality that comes along with that is what makes me a better tuner/technician, including the areas of voicing and regulation, even though I'm a mediocre pianist.

One thing about regulation: Achieving the optimal performance and responsiveness from an action is more technical expertise than musicianship; knowing the proper specifications and applying the proper adjustments, and understanding what physically takes place when the key is depressed - and how it should feel, count more than being a player.

As far as reciprocity between players and tuners is concerned, I can't tell you how many times otherwise excellent pianists were unable to communicate what was wrong with their piano because they understood almost nothing about how it worked. Do I gripe about their lack of technical knowledge? No, I try to help them understand their instrument a little better (if they're open to it), and do my best to make them happy with their piano.

Its certainly a very interesting question/discussion!

It would seem to me that learning to play half decently would be a pretty good way for a tuner/tech to learn to hear and feel whats going on in the instrument, and the development of control would certainly be useful. I'm not sure its the only way, or even a particularly efficient way though. I can imagine that with the same amount of time/effort devoted to direct learning of how things should feel and sound as one would spend becoming competent at playing, a tuner/tech could be at least as good if not better at his/her craft.

I can certainly see why many tuners/techs would be inspired to learn to play (or have been inspired by playing to learn to tune), and why some customers would enjoy hearing their tuner play. I also think the point made about intimidation is interesting/important. I can see it coming across as, "here's how good your piano should sound if you play it right." I can imagine offering to let the customer play first would reinforce the "I'm hear to make you sound your best" relationship, and then offering to play something if they are shy or would rather just focus on listening. "Aw, what a nice/thoughtful/talented guy/gal."

I see an interesting parallel to the engineering world here. There is a constant debate over "reference designs", ie designing a sample end product to show off the part you actually specialize in to potential customers. For some customers this is a great way to seal the deal by demonstrating real world performance, for others its a big put off. Its perceived as "here let me show you how to do your job so you don't screw up our nice part." Interestingly its usually the more competent customers who have the later reaction, and the clueless ones who love the reference design.

Rob

I have a tuner/tech who I think does a superb job. It took some time to find him. He always plays before he tunes, as well as after. About the third tuning, I asked why he played before tuning. He replied that he needed to remind himself of the personality of my piano. Great answer - Instant trust!

Yes, pianos do indeed have their own personalities, for better or worse. In fact, that personality can change from morning to evening!

Rick

Do customers want to pay me for the 15 to 20 minutes of playing time I would enjoy when I come to service their piano?

It is better to play before you tune and service because that tells you what the piano is like and then you can ask the customer if they notice the problems you do.

A lot of problems go away with tuning. So you have to check before and after.

Okay, I’m going to throw this out there as a matter of conversation… I have no hard data or statistics to back this up and it is pure instinct/intuition/gut feeling on my part. I’m thinking that there are more tuners who play the piano to some degree, (and some quite well) than there are who don’t.

My reasoning is that, based on what I have read and learned here on PW over the years, and my own personal experiences, many piano players become interested in piano technology just as many piano players become interested in buying and selling pianos, or being piano teachers. It’s all related in some way.

Many piano dealers are also players (but not all) and many technicians are players (but not all) and many piano teachers are players (but not all ).

Just my .02

Rick

I play before and after. Before the tuning is more of a quick chromatic scale, a few chords, evaluating pitch, repetition, regulation, and voicing while getting the history and any current problems from the customer.

Afterwards, I play chords, arpeggios, and songs to check the tuning, regulation, voicing. I can get the client to applaud after 5 min of playing - 15-20 minutes is excessive, unless it's a very nice piano, and I've got the time....In that case, I get out some sheet music, and don't charge the customer for that.

Clients often say "my piano never sounded so good" or "will it play that well when I sit down" or "let me open the windows so my neighbors will think it's me".....being able to play the piano, even if it's the same songs at each tuning is an advantage. It sets you apart. People remember it. If I don't play a bit after tuning, I'll get comments "oh, I was waiting for you to play".....and I'll have to sit down and poke at the keys for a bit. I don't play well, but clients enjoy it anyway.

True, but at the same time, some pianists who become tuners get something I like to call "piano saturation". For example, after that WHOLE STEP pitch raise I did last week, the last thing I wanted to see was another piano! I find that the more I tune, the less I want to play.

Very true…

I honestly don’t refer to myself as a tuner, per-se, but I’ve learned that tuning and servicing pianos can be very tedious, painstaking and time comsuming. I have spent as much as 8 hours + at one time tuning and servicing my piano. The results were great, and worth it, but at the end of that time I was not in the mood to spend a few more hours playing. So, I can relate to what you are saying.

In fact, if you can aford it, find an excellent tuner to tune your paino as often as needed, and just consentrate on playing!

Rick

I think it's clear from this thread that it's not necessary to play the piano at all or play the piano at a high level to be an excellent tuner. This is evidenced by the fact that it seems that people agree that some very excellent techs have no or minimal playing ability.

OTOH I also think it's possible that playing skills at various levels could add qualities to a tuner's ability that could not be there without those playing skills. I don't think those specific skills have been mentioned so far.

I think the other skills(more specifically regulating and voicing) besides tuning also need to be discussed in relation to anything that playing skill might add.

So I'd like to hear answers to the question:

What specific skills, if any, do you think a piano tech (at various levels of playing ability) have directly because of that playing ability that would not be possible for a tech without those playing skills to have?

PL.. Can you repeat that question please?

I believe that a technician doesn't need to be a pianist in order to do great work. Some of the best technicians can't play at all. I can't imagine regulating an action without being able to see, yet we all know about the incredible work being done by technicians who must do everything entirely by feel. They excel despite a handicap. But I have to say that being a pianist is a definite advantage, and I exploit that advantage in every possible way. I can put a piano through it's paces and evaluate its performance in ways that can't be achieved by a non-pianist. I've finished tuning a piano, and then sat down to play it afterward to discover things I didn't notice during the tuning. There are piano compositions that are very hard to play if a piano's action isn't regulated properly. I can determine things in a few seconds by playing that I can't imagine doing any other way. But it's only an advantage, and not something required to do my job.

I wonder if that advantage makes a good tuning a great tuning.

To me I would think so...

Why? I think it's pretty clearly phrased as is.

It seems as thought Mark was talking mostly about regulation and not tuning.

That's one reason I said I think it makes sense to specifically discuss other aspects of tech work besides tuning. My guess is that evaluating the regulation might be the main area where techs who are excellent pianists may have some advantage but I'm not at all certain about this.