Hello all, I'm a piano technician and I was asked by a local piano teacher association to give a class to piano teachers on the technical side of piano.

My questions is, if you were to attend a class with a piano technician, what would you like to learn? or things you wished you knew earlier?

So far I'm considering two main categories:
1) knowledge to answer students' questions, such as how to buy a used piano, how to inspect a piano before buying, spinets vs old uprights, pricing, craigslist, digital pianos, etc.
2) knowledge for teachers' own benefit, such as understanding voicing and touchweight, and how they can be customization for the player; common regulation issues and how to fix them; keeping piano healthy, etc.

do these interest you? what are some topics that you'd like to learn?

thanks!

I teach all my students how the piano works using an old store demonstration action or an actual upright or grand piano itself.

I show them how the hammer never stays on the string when a note is played, and how the damper works both with the damper pedal, and with each individual key.

IMHO, these are very important things for students to see. For the damper pedal, I believe it helps them to better use it, especially with half-damping, rather than have some mysterious event occur someplace inside the piano.

1) You don't want to answer that. Just give out business cards and tell parents to refer these questions to you. It's more of a liability thing.

2) How to control temperature and humidity. Where to put a piano in the house. When to file hammers. When to replace strings.

I am not a teacher but if I were I would welcome information on both your categories. I think it is a welcome initiative by the association.

I spend a lot of time on what to look for when buying a used piano.

Just last week, I spent some time with a parent going over some pianos on the resale app explaining why I would not go see this one and why I would go check this one out if I were the one buying a piano.

It would be nice to hear what a technician has to say about the same topic.

Hi

I think it's great that you are going to give a talk about pianos. I would like to learn as much as possible about how to help parents select a good piano.

Many people do not realize that a piano has thousands of moving parts and parts that wear out. Things to watch out for would also be helpful. Like, don't buy a piano that is stored in a non-temperature controlled garage. A piano with chipped and broken keys, or is grossly out of tune.

I once went with a student who was looking at a grand. I played 1 key (the A440) it was over a whole tone low. The owner said he had been tuning the piano himself and it didn't matter because it was in tune with itself

I have a pretty good idea of a good piano but things to look out for would be good including brands to stay away from.

I have no intention of becoming a technician. It is way out of my area of expertise so I defer to you all.

Thank you all, I very much appreciate the input! I've been a pianist all my life, but until I became a piano technician, I never knew the capabilities of my piano, so I thought it should be something that every pianist should know!