Servicing Pianos in Higher Education: Experiences from the University Setting

Last week, I wrote about servicing pianos and the relationships we have with our churches in the Central Kentucky and Southern Indiana regions. Today, I want to talk about servicing our college and university clients. After completing my piano tuning and service apprenticeship. In 1998, my first big client was Campbellsville University School of Music in South Central Kentucky. They had just constructed a new recital hall, band and choral room, along with several new practice rooms. They also bought a new Steinway concert grand, a Yamaha grand, and several studio pianos for the new facility. I learned many things about servicing pianos at the university level and how to work with various music professors in my nine years with the university.

I have been privileged to tune and service pianos for Indiana University Southeast, the University of Louisville, the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Centre College, and Western Ky. University. Tuning for Universities has its own unique set of challenges and

rewards. Usually, the colleges and universities need their fleet of pianos serviced before the start of each semester. This means each piano is tuned, bench bolts are tightened, broken strings are replaced, and keys are wiped down, to name just a few services. During the semester, concert grands are tuned before each performance and major rehearsal. It is customary to tune a piano the day of a concert and sometimes touch up the piano again before a nighttime recital or concert. I have tuned for concert artists and student recitals. Near the end of each semester, seniors and graduate students give recitals. Music students who take lessons for a grade perform at juries for a part of their grade to finish off the semester.

In the day-to-day servicing of the university pianos, we have the opportunity to work with the music professors, particularly piano professors, and build special relationships with them. We get to learn their preferences for how they like their pianos to perform. In the case of the larger universities, they may have 3-4 Steinway “D” concert grands to choose from for their recitals. Some piano professors may prefer the sound of one grand over another or the touch of one over another. Some may choose a different piano than the one they played on at a previous recital because they have music of a different composer on their program and prefer the specific tonal palette the piano provides. Piano professors can give us very helpful feedback on how a piano is performing and to dial in a particular voicing issue or adjust a note that is not repeating at its optimum speed. The ability to receive constructive feedback and differing perspectives on music performance aids in improving our service.

All in all, this process produces musical growth in the piano technician. One of the most rewarding things about tuning for colleges and universities is the number of opportunities I have had over the years to attend recitals and hear the performers make music on the instruments we service. On a few occasions, I have gotten to speak with the performer after a recital and been thanked for providing such a wonderful piano to perform on. There is a great satisfaction in knowing that I played a small part in helping

the performer to achieve their best performance.