Piano Tuning in the time of COVID
These are challenging times to say the least. The global pandemic has shut down or altered almost every industry in the world, and piano tuning is no exception. Here in Massachusetts we got hit very hard in the spring, shutting down everything. I did not tune a piano for two months after averaging about eight a day for sixteen years. The work is trickling back in and I am grateful for both my customers willingness to have their pianos serviced, and for our local officials who have managed to at least contain the outbreak in our area. As I have started getting more calls and going into people’s homes to service their pianos, I’ve realized how important the act of making music is. For the longest time the piano industry, and the music industry, which I am also a part of, was battling against the forces of new technologies. Streaming music, digital keyboards, Youtube, Netflix, etc.. they all gave people a reason to stay at home and disengage from more creative endeavors. What i’ve come to realize is that when people were locked in their homes for a few months, and all they had was this digital forms of entertainment, they eventually craved something more organic. I was surprised that once my state started to open I started to receive lots of calls. Some returning customers, but also a fair amount of new customers. The digital entertainment that we all worried would destroy our industry had grown stale and people wanted the connection to a more organic way of creativity and entertainment. If there is any silver lining to this time it would be rediscovering this connection. Making art, making music, or enjoying someone in your home making these things in front of you will never be replaced by something on your tv or computer. It is a process that any one, at all skill levels, or places in life can enjoy.
One of my favorite parts of being a piano technician was being able to “organize the chaos”, basically take a piano that sounds horrible, that plays horribly, and make it sound and play great. Seeing a customers face after i’ve tuned their piano and they say “I didn’t know it could sound so good!”. That connection to real music is becoming stronger than ever now that we don’t have the luxury of going to see a live performance, or even our children’s piano recital. As hard as this has been it makes me very happy to at least contribute a small part of bringing music back into people’s lives.
The above picture was taken while I got to work on a beautiful Mason and Hamlin Model ‘A’. You can see the precautions I take while i’m working in someone’s home. This piano had an amazingly responsive feel and tone. It would react to a soft touch with a really nice pianissimo tone, but could easily explode with a robust forte tone when played with more force. It’s always a pleasure working on such a nice instrument.
