My mom and I had a wonderful relationship until the day she passed away at 60 years young. I had the privilege of speaking at her funeral. As I prepared my speech, I began to realize something very profound: Everything wonderful in my life was given to me. As much as I would have liked to say that I achieved this or that it was always someone else who gave me what I have. Yes, I worked hard for things, as I did with tuning stability, but that is mysteriously not how I achieved anything in life. From my mom I received the gift of music and faith in Jesus along with many other wonderful things. I just now remembered that she also got me my first job at a music store when I was 17. Chuckling to myself right now thinking about this.
Even the fact that I am a piano tuner came from someone. I explain more about that story in another blog. But some doors are opened by others. That is how the Lee University gig came my way. I was working hard to learn the craft of piano tuning, working toward the Register Piano Technician (RPT) classification with the Piano Technician’s Guild. I was trying to honor my customers with quality work and I was trying to provide for my family. Tuning stability worthy of concert level quality was beyond my imagination. I was tuning in homes and for many teachers, serviced pianos for the local Steinway dealer for 5 years and was now working with the Yamaha dealer. I had been tuning pianos since 2002 and was coming along but had not the faintest inclination that I was concert worthy.
One day the Yamaha Institution Rep, French, called the store and asked the manager, Larry, if he had any recommendations for piano tuners who could tune a piano and it would stay in tune through a whole concert. We call this tuning stability. Larry put my name in the hat that day and I happened to be in the store floor-tuning for him. He gave me the heads up that I would be receiving an email from French. I asked Larry if he was sure, and he encouraged me that he has heard everyone’s tunings and mine were the best.
French and I connected and set up an audition tuning with Dr. Cahill Smith at Lee University. Cahill and I met in a practice studio over a Steinway B. We had a very nice conversation and I asked him what he needed the most. Responding quicky he said, “We need the piano to stay in tune.” He told me that they had used everyone in town and none of them had tuning stability that would withstand a whole concert. “Many times the pianos had unisons out of tune before the show began”, He said. Two of these tuners were “Steinway Trained”. As an aside they also had problems with these techs not being able to regulate and voice at a high level either.
Btw, something we all should know about “Steinway Trained” is that Steinway did not give exams at the end of their classes. I haven’t heard if they have changed that. So, sadly many technicians who take these classes are not actually able to perform what they had just been taught but they get to wear the time-honored badge. There are many who are wonderful techs, however. But regarding certifications like this, skill and quality is just something a customer will have to verify some other way. The RPT exam administered by the Piano Technicians Guild is one such way!
And to be clear, I love a good Steinway as well as many other brands. One of the finest pianos I service and rebuilt the action on is a Steinway B. A Nashville session player who lives in Lookout Valley Chattanooga owns it. You can listen to some recordings of it here.
Dr. Smith left me and the 6-foot-ten-and-a-half-inch beast to wrestle alone. Installing my felt and reaching for my tuning hammer, I got under way pounding each note to settle strings as I had read, “pound, pound, pound’. I even reached out to some seasoned tuners who gave the same advice. I didn’t hear anything from Cahill for two weeks. Almost biting my nails, I was sure I had failed to impress. Eventually he did call and told me they had their hardest hitter beat on the piano for two weeks and it was still in tune! I was astonished as much as they were.
They invited me to tune for the summer festival and competition, which sadly they no longer host at this time. I hope they bring it back soon! I tuned 22 pianos and one very special piano, a Yamaha CFX. Marvelous piano and is the line of Yamaha pianos that caused Dr. Cahill Smith to change from being a Steinway artist to a Yamaha artist. I tuned it at the beginning of the week, and it stood up to many master classes and a competition. When I showed up on Friday to “touch it up” for a performance that evening French was there, fully impressed and complimented the tuning stability-it was still in concert worth tune!
After the competition all went back to a normal routine for a month when finally, the phone rang again. This time it was Dr. Bill Green, the Dean of music at Lee. He invited me to meet with him in his office and a few days later we did. He offered me the job as their concert tech. I was to prep and tune for every event and take care of about 20 important teaching and practice pianos. All Steinway, Boston, Yamaha and Kawai pianos. The best Steinway Concert Grands in Chattanooga and Cleveland are right here in Lee University’s performance halls. The best B’s, with exception of the one owned by Hale White are the best too.
Since then, I continue to learn. Eventually I passed the Register Piano Technician Exam with an absolutely perfect tuning stability score. 24 notes are tested with an electronic tuning device with an accuracy to 0.1 of a cent. The test involves a 12oz weight dropped from about 3 inches above the key-equivalent to a triple forte blow. My scores show that nothing moved! I have been able to hone my regulation and voicing skills here at Lee as well, which I am able to bring to any piano.
So that was how I got the job. My mom gave me music. An old boss gave me piano tuning. Larry put my name in the hat. Others wrote articles. A few gave me personal advice. Lee University gave me a chance. And I pounded away!