11/20/2023 0 Comments Become a piano technicianOver the past five years, employment opportunities for piano tuners have risen by 34.4% and will remain steady through 2017. Alternatively, some tuners prefer independent self-employment and take on projects on an individual basis. You might have to take on work late evenings or on weekends. Much of the work is done in residential or commercial structures such as churches, schools and people’s homes. There are both full-time and part-time positions available. There are rare circumstances where you will also be responsible for rebuilding pianos based on the customers’ requirements, so spending time in a workshop would be required in that case.Īverage weekly hours for this role full-time is 45.2 hours. Since most of your work is on-location, much of your day is spent traveling to different locations to tune pianos. Tuning a piano takes around one hour and generally, piano tuners can tune up to six pianos per day. While the main task is to tune the piano, other repair work might be required such as using tools to adjust strings, monitor the tension of the hammers, or fixing the piano keys. Piano tuning involves adjusting every string that is attached to a key, at the same frequency level. Pianos are delicate and affected by aspects like temperature, humidity and the amount they are in use, leading to variations in daily workload. Take apart and reconstruct piano models to their original condition or as per customer specifications.Īs a piano tuner, your day will involve making service calls on-site.Put rubber or felt strips between piano strings to mute them for testing.Repair or replace any broken strings in the piano using up to 13 specific tools.Assess and adjust the pitch of each note to ensure that intervals like the fifth or third sounds good.Use a tuning fork or hammer to tune A or C in the middle of the piano, as well as other notes of the central octave.After years of working in the sales department and selling millions of dollars worth of instruments, I decided that I wanted to change gears and dedicate my time fully to pursueing a career in piano service & rebuilding.A piano tuner plays an important role in the musical instrument repair industry, including executing the following functions: I also quickly realized that to sell pianos they need to sound and play at their best, so I worked very closely (and became friends with) the extremely talented technical staff that worked for my firm. I started to get involved with tech work because of my background with music technology and recording arts. I had an office in their flagship store in one of the wealthiest counties in the world. During this time I was also offered a position as a consultant at the exclusive Steinway dealer here in Michigan. I went on to play in bands in college where I majored in Music Technology and Jazz Studies. I grew up at the keyboard and had always marveled at its complex mechanics and craftsmanship. I have been playing the piano for over 23 years. You are judged to a high standard when you are an R.P.T.Īs for why I became a piano technician. Then there is a technical exam, and a tuning exam. The first is a written exam covering many different facets of piano technology. My suggestion if you are interested is to contact your local chapter of the PTG and inquiring about attending a meeting.Ī "Certified" technician is a tech that has gone through training and subsequently received a certificate from a piano technology institution or program.Ī registered piano technican is a membership classification in the piano technicians guild that has passed three rigorous exams. It has taken me 7 years of industry experience and 3 years of constant study and tech work to prepare for my exams (the last of which I will be taking in July). (Registered Piano Technician) status in the the PTG. A good bench mark to shoot for though is R.P.T. I paid my dues working on the floor as a top consultant of one of the largest and most prestigious piano houses in the world -ultimately resigning to start my own piano service company earlier this year.īecoming a good piano technician is a serious undertaking - both from a time standpoint and financially. I've been studying piano technology and been working full time in the industry for over 7 years. Well, the best way to go about it is to apprentice with an accomplished piano technician/rebuilder, join the piano technicians guild, take piano technology seminars and go to PTG conventions, go to piano technology schools, work in piano stores, read everything on tuning and tech work that you can.
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