Piano Tuner and Technician, Musician, Author, and Bloggist.

Note: The names in the following dramatized story have been changed, but the events described are basically as told to me by one of the people involved.

Don’t Forget Me

Forgotten Keys

Jeremy and Catherine were excited to move into the old house downtown. Part of a string of older side-by-sides on a short back street, the house was dwarfed by the tall buildings all around, but retained its’ old world charm. If you stood in the middle of the street and looked at their home, you could almost imagine you were back in 19th century Toronto, where horses still pulled delivery vans, and the houses were heated by coal and wood. Of course if you then looked up or behind you, the illusion vanished in a maze of concrete and steel.

Sure, the house needed some work, as all 100 year old houses might, but those repairs would have to wait, for their priority at the moment was their new-born child.

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This year, as in quite a few years gone by, its been my absolute pleasure to tune the Wolf Fortepiano for Opera Atelier. A beautiful little thing, it takes not only a keen ear, but an extremely gentle touch. Its a joy.

The opera itself, one of my favorites, is also a joy, and I heartily recommend it. Its the first production Ive seen where not only was it musically right, but managed to do to three remarkable things: I liked the character of DG (usually Im a little disgusted by him), he became unlikable in the second act enough for me to understand his end, and the underlying sexuality was fun AND believable.

Kudos to Marshall and the cast, and… Bravo/Brava/Bravissimo!

Today, I received an e-mail from a client who asked, among other things:

“I’ve read about Yamaha’s warning about seasoning of the wood for different humidity levels (Japan vs North America). But to me, the reality of living in Toronto is that it is horrible for all pianos because in the summer it will be hot and humid (we do not have air conditioning) and it is dry in the winter (although we have radiant floor heating so hopefully not as dry as a forced air house).”

I thought this might be an opportunity to explain about these so-called “Wet Yamaha’s”

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On Thursday, October 13th, the following article appeared in The Toronto Star:

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5. Piano Strings are steel wires under a tremendous amount of pressure, and they stretch.

4. Wood reacts to Humidity changes. When it is damp it swells; when it is dry it shrinks.

3. The pitch of a Piano (the tension of the strings) is not arbitrary. The Piano must be kept at proper pitch in order to sound the way that the manufacturer intended.

2. A Piano that is tuned regularly stays in tune longer.

The Most important reason of them all:

1. A properly tuned piano is essential for good musicianship.

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