techicians or tooners

[Leslie Bartlett]

I am certainly limited in my keyboard skills. I have a couple "pay me"
things I play when I'm finished. But I talk a great deal with people who
play, ask them to describe how their action feels to them, tell them I need
to learn to speak a foreign language (as in "the bass is wonkie").  But
after a few thousand tunings on pianos of every ilk, there does come some
understanding of what is going on, and my final judge is the customer.  I
will often ask if such-and-such concerns the owner. If it does, we explore
the issues involved, and what can be done. If it does not, then I say, "if
it doesn't bother you there's nothing to mess with. If it does become of
interest or concern, then we can talk some more about it."   I use the
expertise of excellent pianists in their craft by spending a lot of time
questioning how they define different aspects of touch, responsiveness, how
they feel about their ability to draw music out of the piano.  I am quick to
say they have expertise I don't and I am using them to become more sensitive
to their needs.  I have done action work for a few major players, and have
always gotten highly favorable responses.  I attribute that to never
assuming anything until I have asked a question several different ways, then
mirroring back what I think I have heard, then making very conservative
changes on a few keys, and asking the pianist to play and respond as to
whether changes positively reflect my interpretation of their descriptions.
Thus I can use their knowledge to help me help them.
les bartlett 

-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of Annie Grieshop
Sent: Saturday, June 02, 2007 12:50 PM
To: Pianotech
Subject: techicians or tooners

When I received Michael Spreeman's email, I was just about to sit down and
write an addendum to my previous posting because I never meant to imply that
non-playing technicians are inferior (and I was pretty sure somebody was
going to take it that way).  Obviously, I should've been more clear the
first time around. <g>

My question referred to the recognition of non-tuning issues by those who
don't play the piano.  I know wonderful technicians who have a very limited
repertoire on the piano, so I certainly know it's possible.  Observant,
careful, and conscientious craftspeople can diagnose and correct problems
without being pianists (sort of like male gynecologists <g>).

And what I meant was that the difference between a piano technician and a
piano tooner is exactly that ability to reach beyond personal experience and
do extra-ordinatry work.

I do wonder what it's like to work on an instrument you don't play.  I
wonder how that changes the relationship.  Guess I should try repairing some
band instruments, as the whole blow-air-to-play-tunes thing (without reeds)
just bamboozles me.

Annie Grieshop


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