The Bad News

[Billbrpt@AOL.COM]

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In a message dated 3/17/01 10:43:38 AM Central Standard Time, 
LHSBAND440@AOL.COM writes:


> The bad news is that this is soon to be the future of the piano tuning 
> industry.  With ETD's becoming more and more accurate, the common piano 
> player will be able to tune a piano to the same accuracy of a good piano 
> tuner. 


LOL.  As Bobby McFarrin (a musician I went to school with and worked with in 
my teens and early 20's) wrote, "Don't worry, be happy".  And as Jim RPT 
says, "It ain't gonna happen".  What the guy who wrote that "paper" doesn't 
know about piano service would fill an entire bookshelf.

"Accurate" Electronic Tuning Devices (ETD) have been around for ages.  Even 
now, with the kind that you hook up to a laptop computer and all, the never 
ending discussion about how *best* to tune a piano continues.  There are no 
books or ETD's which describe or permit anyone who doesn't know what I know 
to tune the piano the way I do. For that reason, people call me because of 
the very special way I handle their pianos (which is not at all limited to 
tuning).  None of the people I have or ever will work for would ever even 
think of trying to do the work I do themselves.

The skills and work output it requires to do this work are not compatible 
with playing fine music.  Being a fine musician requires practice on an 
instrument which is well prepared.  Yes, it's true that a really good piano 
tuning (regulation and voicing too) don't last long.  Neither does an oil 
change, a car wash, a house cleaning, a window washing, a lawn mowing, a snow 
plowing, etc...  

A fine musician is not going to change his own oil, wash his own car, etc. 
because his/her time is better spent practicing the finer art.  The use of 
muscle groups doing these other activities may well interfere with 
musicianship.  Have you ever noticed that there are relatively few piano 
technicians who are very good at what they do who are also extraordinarily 
good pianists?

Good piano service can only be performed by a very well trained person of 
many years experience.  No ETD is going to change that.  The most they can do 
is help the skilled practitioner be more consistent and produce higher 
quality work quicker with less stress.  Most technicians who write on this 
list would have 2, 3 or 4 pianos done with much better results in the time 
this fool with his "revolutionary" ETD would take to mess up a piano badly 
enough that any serious musician wouldn't have it.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day.  Have some green beer and keep on doing what 
you're doing come Monday morning.  The pianos will still be waiting for your 
attention then and every year thereafter in which you still wish to continue 
working, electronic keyboards and ETD's notwithstanding.

Bill Bremmer RPT
Madison, Wisconsin

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