Michelle, Being able to tune with either hand is a real asset. It is good to listen to your body and also find a way to tune with stability. What follows is another article written for the Partial Post, newsletter of the North Shore Chapter. The Weird Stuff: Becoming “Lefty” I have been right handed all my life. I learned to tune pianos right handed too. At some point, a tuning teacher suggested that it is best to tune grands right handed and verticals left handed. While some theoretical advantages seemed likely, I was just starting to get tuning basics down and that kind of change was out of the question. One big change I did make was from tuning verticals with my trusty extension lever to tuning with a Mehaffey impact lever. I started slowly, using it for pitch raises first, gradually fine tuning the bass, then mid section, and months after starting, finally tuning the treble with the impact lever too. Shortly after that, it started to feel awkward crossing my right arm way over to the bass tuning pins. It made sense to tune with the left hand in the bass. I quickly found out that tuning lefty was really hard! My coordination and strength were just not there. This was a challenge to overcome. I thought of one of John Cage’s stories from his book Silence. He was visiting an artist friend and noticed her painting with her left hand. He knew she was right handed and asked why she was doing this. She said that she worried about loosing the use of her right hand and wanted to be prepared. John Cage pointed out that she might loose the use of that hand also. The next time he came to visit her, she was holding the paint brush with the toes of her right foot. I have not tried to tune by foot yet. After becoming comfortable tuning the bass left handed, I started into the mid range. My main motivation was just a tired right arm and hand, especially when tuning a bunch of school verticals pianos, sometimes sixteen in two days. Again, I had to build up strength to use that heavy Mehaffey impact lever from pin to pin. The coordination to tune with good speed and accuracy also required more time and work. It came slowly. Then early last December, I was playing kickball on the driveway with my boys and fell. I fell over Nathan, five years old, trying not to hurt him. I fell on my right hand and sprained the wrist. Of course, I could not just stop tuning, so I modified my technique to reduce the pain. On grands, I started holding the ball end of my Falk titanium lever, and on verticals, you guessed it, I tune completely left handed. Several months later, the pain is minimal, and the techniques I am using now are easier on my whole body! A few months ago, I was on the phone with our former Regional Vice President, Bob Russell. He gives his dad credit for his long tuning career, his dad taught him to tune grands right handed and verticals left handed. Over the long run it makes a difference. Pay no attention to the Italians who may call you sinister, or the French calling you gauche. It may be weird, but becoming “lefty” just might be good for you too! Bruce Dornfeld, RPT bdornfeld at earthlink.net -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/20071129/1aad58cd/attachment.html
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