Full of themselves

[Tom Myler]

>I have one woman teacher, whom I like a lot, who has her Steinway L
>serviced regularly. After every tuning, she checks the lowest octave, one
>note at a time, slowly. She's listening to single strings, one at a time,
>and saying, that's in tune, that's not in tune. Or she'll play two and
>say, that's not a half step. She is a bona fide musician, too. So I stand
>there, wiggle the hammer on the pin, changing nothing, and she smiles and
>likes it. It's a ritual by now.



My turn.

I was called for tuning by Jane Doe,  a prominent, extremely prestigious
piano teacher.    Two grands.   Some of you here in San Diego may figure out
who I'm talking about.  At the time (about 15 years ago) she was in her mid
to late 70's-early 80's, and now you all know where this is heading.     She
had used the same tuner for years,  then had switched to a different one
about a year before she called me.   I knew both of these tuners quite well.
Older, high-profile, "prestige" tuners.   So I had an idea of what was in
store for me.

After the usual introductions and bonding, she took me to her primary
teaching piano, a Mason & Hamlin BB (not that it matters).

Before I even touched it, she started giving me an earful of how
disappointed she was with the previous tuner, who she named.  Now  before
any of the Boy Scouts out there start giving me grief, let me assure you
that I did NOT solicit any of these comments from her.  I had kept my
conversation to how pleased I was to meet her, and so forth.

Anyway,  she informs me that Mr. Previous Tuner was obviously losing his
hearing, because he had "left the last four or five notes a whole tone
flat".    And I'll never forget the next thing she said:  something to the
effect of how she knows whereof she speaks because.... "and I have ears like
a greyhound".   Her tone of voice suggested that this almost went without
saying, as if the fact was common knowledge.

OK, nothing new here (except for the "greyhound" detail), but I'm already
thinking "uh-oh".    Then she sits down and plays in the last octave for me,
and whaddya know-   everything is fine until she gets to about F#7, from
which point upwards the unisons are still clean but easily a whole-tone
SHARP.

Now I'm thinking "UH-OH".
                         ^^^^^^^^


I mumbled a non-commital "Hm",  then sat down to tune.   What to do?

I couldn't try mis-tuning sharp to suit her failing ears;  my predecessor
had already done so, and even his whole-step sharp octaves sounded a
whole-step flat to her greyhound ears.

I didn't have the moxie to even *consider* asking The Great Jane Doe if she
was sure she hadn't meant to say a whole-step *sharp* instead of "flat".

I figured it was a no-win situation.  So I just tuned correctly, and brought
down that last half octave to a level that I considered highly  stretched
but still correct.     To my surprise (and relief) she didn't try out the
pianos before I left.  I guess she was pretty confident that I was The White
Knight.

I assumed that I wouldn't hear from her again.    I didn't.     Oh well.  So
it goes.




Legally Accurate,


Tom Myler

"Several More or Less Satisfied Customers for Quite Some Time"