Aural Piano Tuning Myths

This site is for people interested in learning to tune pianos by ear. 

Most people start with the desire to learn to tune by ear but because of the difficulty they have learning, many quit or revert to using a machine or computer called an Electronic Tuning Device (ETD). 

Why?

There are a few reasons but the biggest in my opinion is the wrong information taught. 

My next few posts will be the Myths of Aural Piano Tuning – the wrong information that makes learning how to tune a piano by ear more difficult than it needs to be. 

A Review of YouTube Videos on How to Tune a Piano

There are quite a few videos on YouTube showing you how to tune a piano. The problem is, most of them are made by people who are not piano tuners, or are professional piano tuners, but not experienced teachers

Here are some typical examples of videos I have found on YouTube describing how to tune a piano.

This guy has been tuning his own piano for two months. Listen at 6:03 where he tunes a unison by ear. There is an audible beat of about 1Hz which is unacceptable.

Clean unisons are the most important element of a good tuning; they are the most common source of complaints from piano tuning customers.

This guy’s method involves first recording each and every key into his own software product. That alone could take an hour.

A moderately experienced piano technician should be able to tune a whole piano in that time.

This guy is obviously a professional piano tuner, but not a teacher; he uses no diagrams or visual aids to help explain his method and the tuning system. His explanations move slowly and are hard to understand.

An experienced instructor is one who has been teaching for many years and has refined their explanations and pedagogical technique so that the method is concise and easy to understand, while at the same time presenting a professional and precise approach to the subject.

Yes, it is difficult, and that is why it takes so long for someone to acheive this level of teaching skill. You see, the best way to learn piano tuning is not just from a professional piano technician, but also from an experienced teacher. Both areas require expert skill for you to learn the fastest way possible with the best outcome.

I have been teaching tuning for many years and have yet to find a YouTube video that is clear and easy to understand and accurate. If you are a musician and are interested in learning to tune pianos, please consider subscribing to this blog. I am currently creating articles and videos that explain my personal method for tuning that I have developed over eight years of teaching piano tuning and repair professionally. My method is directed specifically towards musicians and teaches advanced aural tuning techniques without using any computers. Aural techniques are rewarding to learn and have the potential of producing superior results after some practice. Advanced techniques give you ways of producing highly precise tunings early on, and musicians grasp advanced techniques easily. This has been the most effective approach for my students and the one which has produced the best results.

I hope you decide to subscribe. I am looking forward to helping more musicians learn to tune their own pianos, or other people’s pianos for money.

Different Piano Tuning Pedagogy

You would think that with all the different types of people out there, that there would be a wide variety of teaching methods from which an aspiring piano tuner could choose from. Here is a break down of your choices:

1) Learn from a Mentor.
Pros:
Real life on-the-job experience.
Hands-on instruction.
Can be inexpensive, maybe even earn a small wage.

Cons:
It is very difficult to find a technician who is willing to teach you.
Most that are interested, do not have teaching experience or skills.
Many just want to get some free labor.
They will also be hesitant to teach you how to be their competition.
They may prefer to teach you how to do the mundane tasks so they don’t have to, but leave the real meaty stuff out, like the actual tuning!
They have their style which may not fit yours.

If you can find a mentor who is a good teacher, is generous with their time, and will teach you all they know just so you can start your own business being their competition, you have found a very special human being.

2) Correspondence Courses.

Pros:
You can read and take lessons at your own pace.

Cons:
It can be very lonely when you run into trouble.
The quality of tools and lessons varies widely, from adequate to down right sloppy.
There is no substitute for hands-on instruction from an expert piano tuner who is also skilled at teaching.

3) Formal School.
Pros:
The promise of comprehensive instruction.
Forced learning (Con?)

Cons:
Expensive in money and time.
You have to commit to a year or more to take all the courses.
Most of the time is spent practicing, and you get to pay them for you to do it!
Most technicians eventually find their niche; not all technicians are interested in rebuilding, historical temperaments, harpsichords, etc, but you have to pay to learn how to do it all, even if you are not interested. (As a technician, there is no rule that says you have to know how to do every repair or  tune historical temperaments. A technician who refers work to others because they recognize their limitations, is rare and respected by their customers and other technicians.)

4) Short courses.

Pros:
Inexpensive.
Do at your own pace; pick and choose what you want to learn, what you are interested in.
Because instructors go through their course material many times per year, as they teach each group of students, they get to see what works and what doesn’t work. They refine the course material so it is as effective as possible, as opposed to a correspondence course that doesn’t get the same kind of live direct and indirect feedback, or a formal school that has to wait a full year to modify course material.
You get to “try out the waters” so to speak, see if piano technology is something that you would like, without spending too much money. (Short courses are the least expensive and best value for your money if the instructor has a good reputation.

Cons:
You have to research the instructor’s reputation to make sure they have a high record of success.

Mark Cerisano has been teaching piano tuning and repair in a crash course format since 2007. His courses are now geared especially for musicians who want to learn how to tune pianos.
Mark’s Piano Tuning and Repair Courses

Where are They Going?

Today, I tuned a piano at a mansion. Before I got to the door, I looked up the appoinment, and there was a note that said “Recommended new strings and pins, pins loose.”

Now, maybe because I am having a cash flow problem right now (Single income, homeschooling four kids), I felt a little arrogant and thought to myself “If these people are not going to take care of this instrument when they (appear to) have so much money, I am just going to drop them as customers because, one, they don’t care about their piano, or two, they don’t trust me.”

As I was tuning this piano, I started having different feelings. I was starting to feel sad for this piano, because if these people don’t rebuild the piano, it will probably end up in the dump. I spoke to the owner about the future of her piano and she seemed uninterested. “Oh well, my kids will probably take it after we’re gone. They’ll probably just junk it and get a new one.”

How are we, as a society of piano technicians, supposed to educate people? How are we to get the word out that $10,000 to rebuild this awesome instrument, will result in a better instrument than a new Yamaha U1 at less cost? And in 50 years, this instrument will still be around and the Yamaha will be toast. Of course, these are just my opinions and we won’t really know for sure until 50 years have passed. But from the current condition of 50 year old Yamahas, compared with some 100 year old uprights, that is where I make my judgement.

Also, wealthy people will think nothing of buying a luxurious sports cars at $50,000+, only to have it rust away in 15 years and be worth little, whereas, a rebuilt piano will hold its value for years to come, and also produce beautiful music, add beauty to a room, and exist as a work of art in its own right. These same people will hem and haw and try to squeeze piano rebuilders to get the lowest price possible from a piano technician who may not be a savvy businessperson. This kind of predatory activity is what pushes technicians out of the rebuilding business. I’ve seen too many shops go bankrupt.

There are so many reasons to rebuild old pianos, someday I will write an article describing them all. But the main reason is that, a part of our history is being bull-dozed off tractor trailers into city dumps as we speak. A rebuilding friend of mine burnt FORTY pianos this summer at his cottage in the country because they were taking up too much space in his workshop! This is musical genocide and very few people are taking notice. I know this is not a world issue relating to poverty or economics (there may be a connection here) but it still makes me very sad to think that the only things left to remind us of a different time, a time when people joined together in song around the piano, a time when the whole of society recognized the value of consistent effort and had all their kids take piano lessons, a simpler time when pianists transposed in realtime by ear instead of by a button, are disappearing forever. To look at an old piano and imagine its better days is like looking at our own future. Where are these pianos going? Where are we going? Shouldn’t somebody care?

So, if you have an old piano. Do me a favour and get a qualified technician to look at it and give you a realistic opinion of its potential. Then if you can afford it, and it has potential, have it rebuilt properly. You will end up with an exceptional musical instrument that will not be thrown out. It will not be thrown out because it will have value. At least for another 100 years anyway.

Evaluating FREE Used Pianos

There’s good news and bad news.

The bad news first. Pianos are going out of style. Due to the exceptional quality and workmanship in the early 20th century, and the huge proliferation of the instrument, there are perhaps hundreds of thousands of old pianos in the world that are not being used, sitting in people’s basements, waiting for the dump. Add to that, the fact that the demand for pianos has dropped, competing with video games and digital pianos. It’s hard to imagine that at one time, the lowly piano was the King of the home entertainment world.

The good news is, many of these pianos are still good instruments, and with some time and knowledge, you can pick up a good instrument for cheap. How does FREE sound? Go ahead and check it out. Go to kijiji.com or craigslist.com in your city and look up “free piano”. You’ll see what I mean.

Why are these pianos being given away? Surely they must be garbage, right? Remember what your dad said? “There’s no such thing as a free lunch, son.” Well, your dad was right. Except in this situation, you get your free piano (less moving and tuning and minor repairs) by spending your time looking at many different pianos, armed with knowledge, until you find that special piano, the one that will make an awesome instrument that the owner doesn’t want anymore.

Why would someone give away a piano with value? Well, there are a few reasons for this:

1) They don’t know the value of it. It may have been given to them by a relative who passed away. They’ve kept it for a while for sentimental reasons, but now they want a new flat screen T.V., right where the piano is!

2) They have to sell it fast. There is a small demand for pianos, and a huge supply. I tell people who call me about selling their piano, that if they need to sell it fast, like in less than four months, I suggest advertising it for free on kijiji or craigslist.

I created this checklist for my customers so they could evaluate their own pianos and see if there is any value in them. You can use it to find out if a piano for sale has any value and may be worth picking up for a dime, or enlisting the services of a qualified piano technician (Go to ptg.org and click on “Find a Technician”).

I hope you find the list helpful. I wrote it so anyone could use it. No need to know anything about pianos. It will help you increase the chances of finding that diamond in the rough, but will not elliminate the possibility of buying a dud. Make sure to get it checked out by a qaulified technician to be sure.

Click the link below to view the document.
Used Piano Check List

Becoming a Piano Technician, and Why We Need You!

Many people ask me what they need to do to become a piano technician. I jokingly say sometimes “Just call yourself a Piano Technician!”

I wish this sad but true fact was not so true. I have had students come to my home for lessons, not take any of my advice, and not practice, and then go out and tell people they are piano technicians and that they were trained by me!

The proper question should be, “How can I become a good Piano Technician?”

Notice I did not say “Great”. That is because the world needs more good technicians. We have a lot of great technicians, taking care of concert instruments, doing fantastic rebuilding work, etc. The problem is, these technicians, all too often, price themselves out of the average piano owner’s budget, or reduce their availability so much that average piano owner’s have to wait weeks to get an appointment for a piano tuning.

That’s where you come in. If you are interested in learning this trade, here are a couple of tips and requirements that will improve your chance of success.

1. Being a formally trained pianist helps greatly, but being a musician is very important. Knowledge of the basic theory of intervals is important.
2. Mechanical aptitude. Many times you will have to figure out how to repair something that you have not been trained to do. A mechanical mind will help.
3. Realistic knowledge of skills. This goes with number 2. When you do not know how to do something, or do something well, it is very important for your reputation to know that and defer to another experienced technician. This will make you more respected in the eyes of your customer and other technicians.
4. Enjoy working with people
5. Self learner.
6. Organized.
7. Punctual.
8. Pleasant and polite.
9. Clean appearance.

Some of these things are not critical, but if you can reduce the number of reasons someone might not want you as a piano technician, the better.

Stay tuned to my blog for other posts on how to become a piano technician, or if you have any questions, drop me an email and I would be happy to answer them.