Confessions of a "Lookerson"

[Alan Barnard]

Bless me, brother, for I have sinned. 

I, too, am a Lookerson. Ask any telephone or appliance repairman, carpenter, electrician, roofer, chef, or any other skilled tradesperson. It fascinates me what people know and can do. So I watch, I talk, I ask questions. It's all just curiosity and a desire to learn (and maybe I don't have to call them the next time <g>).

Welders and Roto-Rooter men are on their own, I DON'T watch THEM.

Alan Barnard
Salem, MO

----- Original message ----------------------------------------
From: "Steve Brooks" <smbrooks at sprynet.com>
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Received: 2/11/2008 11:42:48 PM
Subject: Confessions of a "Lookerson"


>I've been following the "Lookerson" thread with great interest because 
>I'm ... one of them.

>As a youngster, I never missed a minute of the tuner's visit. I never 
>said anything, but yes, I watched intently. My mother usually provided 
>cookies and lemonade. After I left home, playing weekend gigs helped pay 
>the way through college. My major was economics, not music, but I 
>infiltrated the music school's practice rooms to work on my book. Later 
>I switched focus to the guitar but as time went by I felt I needed a 
>keyboard to help learn music theory. Because I moved frequently as a 
>young man I needed something portable and contented myself with a Fender 
>Rhodes (I talked a tuner friend into tuning it once during its 10 year 
>history) and later with a Roland weighted midi-controller and a 
>succession of synths; all selected for their approximate fidelity to a 
>true piano sound.

>When my career matured and I could afford it, I bought a 6' Kawai 
>Pramberger grand. I was never satisfied with it and went through a 
>succession of tuners trying to get the sound I wanted out of it. One of 
>those tuners is a distinguished contributor to this list. I would take 
>time out from my professional work to sit quietly and read near the 
>piano while it was being tuned. You see, I never caught on to the fact 
>that y'all were listening to beats. It seemed like magic to me. Johnny 
>Smith taught me to tune a guitar using harmonics but I never transferred 
>that insight to piano tuning. I would listen very intently to each tuner 
>trying to understand what made each one's tuning slightly different. In 
>deference to a working professional, I didn't want to interrupt his work 
>by asking questions. I wonder what they thought. Perhaps - "This guy 
>doesn't have any life at all if he can sit there wasting time listening 
>to me tune!" I've since significantly upgraded my piano because the 
>sound I wanted just wasn't in it. It was a brave and honest tuner who 
>broke the news to me.

>My curiosity began to overwhelm me to the point that I got serious about 
>learning the craft well enough to tune my own instrument, (boy, that 
>took longer than I expected). The more I learn, the more the craft 
>intrigues me - I read these postings every day. The astounding 
>generosity of certain members of PTG has provided me with steadily 
>improving skill and a richly rewarding pastime. Of course, now the 
>"magic" is gone but my respect for talented tuners has increased even 
>more. I still haven't created a tuning that, as Ron Koval says "is right 
>in the pocket." But one of these days ...

>Steve Lookerson

>-- 
>"The masses have never thirsted after truth.  Whoever can supply them with 
>illusions is easily their master; whoever attempts to destroy their illusions is always 
>their victim."  Gustave Le Bon from his 1896 book "The Crowd"



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