October 18- The Piano Guy

Without a piano I don't know how to stand, don't know what to do with my hands. Norah Jones

Well Nora Jones, if you love the piano that much you will likely know a good piano tuner. I have an in-house tuner and I can be pretty picky about the wibbles and wobbles of sound. After some years of teaching piano, my husband investigated tuning as a part-time job. He is one of those people who can figure out anything and who has the detailed oriented mind to stay on task until the job is done. My teaching and his tuning came together like chips and dip. I referred my students to him and he recommended me. 

A good tuner has tenacity and skill. Personally, I can't abide the pounding on one note that he must do to hear the pitch gradations.  

  With access to a truck from his day job, Mark started moving pianos with the help of our three boys. They have some funny stories to tell, like when they went off island to move a piano and on the way home the back door came open and they ramp slid out on the freeway. Yikes, I guess that is more dangerous than funny. Or the time a grand piano keyboard, which was taken apart in the back of the truck, lost all the keys onto the floor and my son worked like mad to put them all back in before they arrived. Here is another piano moving tale.

   "Our client wanted us to move her neighbor's piano, across four backyards, into her home. The homes were water-front  and the terrain was flat and it seemed feasible to "walk" the piano. It was raining that morning and I asked if she had informed her neighbors. She excused herself to find a camera. As we laid our plywood sheets across the second neighbor's yard the angry owner came at us. 

   Putting myself in his shoes, if two complete strangers came into my yard dressed in military camo rain gear pushing along a tarp covered box on three sheets of plywood I would object, too. I tried to mitigate his anger by extending my hand. He stood and listened to my explanation. It wasn't until our client, his neighbor, came running up with a camera that he relaxed. We sent her ahead of us and slowly continued the parade of three people trudging through the rain with a piano."

   Although my husband is no longer moving pianos he is still perfectly in tune with bringing my piano and others into alignment.

Piano Tuner: I’ve come to tune the piano.

Music Teacher: But we didn’t send for you.

Piano Tuner: No, but the people who live across the street did.

I am writing for 31 days this October about Island Life. Click here to see the other days of writing.