the piano tuner is here!

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I LOVE HIM! he has stepped straight out of vienna c.1910!

i have opted for old-style german concert pitch 337 as "the frame might not take the pressure"!! (i imagine this means it would go out of tune easily not that it would IMPLODE VIOLENTLY)

he pointed how the felts were worn down on the upper notes: "this piano has been loved and played a lot!" -- really it needs a restored mechanism and resetting, apparently :(

"these rollers are square! should be round!"

my grandad's brother wz not a professional concert pianist, but could possibly have been if he hadn't become a GP instead -- he was given this piano (= schiedmayer boudoir grand, made in the 30s) as a gift for passing his medical exams i think -- it has sat in a cold damp room for decades, though the damp (says the tuner) has helped preserve the felt

― mark s (mark s), Monday, 20 November 2006 19:36 (nineteen years ago)

http://images.allmoviephoto.com/2005_Unleashed/2005_unleashed_006.jpg

― R_S (RSLaRue), Monday, 20 November 2006 19:41 (nineteen years ago)

Sorry, I just watched a movie with a prominent piano tuner character this weekend.

― R_S (RSLaRue), Monday, 20 November 2006 19:42 (nineteen years ago)

I wrote a story about piano tuners just earlier this year. There's a lady in my hometown (Portsmouth, RI), who's tuned for Springsteen, Billy Joel, the David Letterman Show, the Who's farewell tour ("Well, one of them," she said) and many more.
She told me her father thought it was a strange career choice for her. "My dad didn't think piano tuning was for anyone who wasn't male, old, speak with a European accent and walk with a limp," she said. "'You don't fit the bill,' he'd say."

― Jim M (jmcgaw), Monday, 20 November 2006 20:08 (nineteen years ago)

BTW Mark I'm sooo jealous that you have a grand. I just acquired a Young Chang console. I couldn't even afford 88 keys (it's got 85). But the price was right ($450) and it's in mint condition with great action and sound. I had a big old Jewett upright (circa 1915) but it was practically unplayable.

― Jim M (jmcgaw), Monday, 20 November 2006 20:13 (nineteen years ago)

i am psyched! i am SOOOOOOOO out of practice but i realised i wz finger-drumming FINGER-STRENGTHENING EXERCISES on the table in the pub on fri

also nice = going through all the sheet music -- mostly my grandfather's, some of it my mum's from when she was at school

songs that my grandparents had bought when they were young married, for him to play and her to sing (she studied for opera for a while, but mostly they are from musicals or edwardian salon music hits)

― mark s (mark s), Monday, 20 November 2006 20:26 (nineteen years ago)

my mom got a piano a few years ago, and also called the piano tuner to come fix it up -- and he was also out of another era. He did fix the old piano though, and even left her with something of a scrapbook detailing everything he did and some background info about her piano. It was pretty cool.

― Dominique (dleone), Monday, 20 November 2006 20:37 (nineteen years ago)

Who is this and whom did you write it for? I love watching Bill Calhoun, the guy who tunes pianos at the Newport Jazz Festival, running around like a maniac tuning three pianos on three outdoor stages in the middle of summer heat, wind and humidity. I got him into my review last year (I believe it was).

― Rick Massimo (Rick Massimo), Monday, 20 November 2006 21:22 (nineteen years ago)

Rick -- Her name is Barbara Renner, and I wrote it for East Bay Newspapers. Her husband, Jack Renner, was CEO and chief recording engineer for Telarc Records before retiring last year. He's won 10 Grammys for engineering, his most recent in 2005.
Barbara is also the chief piano technician for Telarc, so she travels frequently to recording sessions for jazz and classical artists.

― Jim M (jmcgaw), Monday, 20 November 2006 21:51 (nineteen years ago)

all done! except for the stuff that needs doing for restoration to former excellence -- he will send me (vast) quote :/

besides bein a little old man from vienna c.1910 he has a little blue-light phone earpiece in all the time like star trek ng -- and talks on it most of ther time, either to other clients or his wife or ALIENS

― mark s (mark s), Monday, 20 November 2006 21:52 (nineteen years ago)

when is the recital? :-D

― xyzzzz__ (jdesouza), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 12:50 (nineteen years ago)

A story goes that the great concert pianist Vladimir Horowitz was to give a concert in the small Italian town of Bari. Posters went up; the town was abuzz. Many great arrangements were made. It transpired, in the week prior to the performance, that Horowitz insisted the concert grand to be used in the recital be tuned by a reclusive old man who lived half an hour's drive into countryside, a man with the curious name of Luigi Oppernockity. The director of the concert hall visited the old man's cottage and rapped on the door. A little bespectacled face appeared at the door. The director relayed the message that the great Vladimir Horowitz had personally requested his services for the performance. The tuner didn't look surprised; he said he would accompany the director that very day to make the necessary adjustments, and he did so. On the afternoon of the performance, great rains sprang up. The town was blasted with gales. The lighting crew was putting the final touches on the ambience of the hall and the stage, and refreshments were loaded into the bar. One of the stagehands, absently sipping on a can of beer as he focused one of the fresnels that would light the great Horowitz, left it on the lid of the concert grand, where water slowly condensed and began dripping slowly down the sides, and into the instrument. Five minutes later, the stagehand retrieved his beer, but the damage had been done. The great Horowitz arrived some two hours before showtime and could instantly tell that something was amiss. "What is the meaning of this?" he demanded of the director of the hall. "I specifically required the services of Luigi Oppernockity!" The director assured the great Horowitz that all had been arranged as he requested, but it was no use. Horowitz would not play. The director, in a panic, fled for the parking lot and drove as fast as he could through the rain to the little cottage. He bounded towards the door and rapped loudly on the door. Again, the little face with the spectacles appeared. The director breathlessly related all that had transpired, and the man shook his head slowly. "I am sorry, signor director. Opperknockity only tunes once."

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 13:16 (nineteen years ago)

five years pass...

Joseph Ferrante had his first guitar as a Christmas present when he was nine years old. Since then he's been learning all kind of music styles so as to apply them to his guitar playing. He is mainly a Rock musician.
Pod's Blues, After Obsession, The Beasts, The Primitives, Ferrante's Experience, Silver Shadows, The B3, Yesterday, Bowen West, Rock Ltd., etc., etc., are some of the bands he's played with.

He worked as a piano tuner and technician for Chappell, Yamaha and other firms, perfecting the art of making and repairing pianos.
Amongst his usual customers you could find The Royal Albert Hall, The Westminster Cathedral, The Royal Scots Guard Band, The BBC, The London Symphony Orchestra, The Queen Elizabeth Hall, George Harrison, etc., etc. He also worked for the National Artists Association, attending pianos on the national tours of artists such as Maurice Hasson, Judith Jaimes, etc, etc.

He stopped giving live performances with bands and is now exclusively dedicating himself to studio work. Ferrante uses real instruments, avoiding the use of computers, sequencers, etc., etc.

Three main reasons guided his life: God, Music and Romeo and Juliet. His major musical influences are: God, Yes, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, E.L.P., Jimi Hendrix, Beethoven and Bach.

His "Shangri-la" CD is a mixture of styles and tendencies including Rock, Ballads, Classic Choirs, Latin Music, Impromptus, Reggae Fusion, Tropical Bachata, Fox Trot, Swing, etc., etc.

The land of forever..."Shangri-La"...the magical dreamplace far away beyond the mountains...the Kingdom of eternal youth, gave the title for this work.

― rdr777, Wednesday, 4 April 2012 19:23 (fourteen years ago)

lmao

― shur fine (am0n), Wednesday, 4 April 2012 20:13 (fourteen years ago)

this is really the best of these posts

― God, Music and Romeo and Juliet (DJP), Wednesday, 4 April 2012 20:14 (fourteen years ago)

nine years pass...

He was just here, says he needs to remove the soundboard in the near future and take it with him to tighten the hammers. Is this a thing?

― Working in the POLL Mine (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 11 May 2021 16:06 (five years ago)

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