Being a professional piano tuner for the last 10 years, I thought I might share some things about my profession that you may find interesting.
First, you should know that I have had a love affair with the piano since I was about eight or nine. I went on to study string bass in college, and orchestral conducting at the master's level, but all along I have never lost my admiration for the piano (and great pianists). I share this because I have met other tuners that give the impression that what they do is just a job - that there is no real love for the instrument they work on. If these impressions are correct, I think it is sad for those tuners and for the pianos they have serviced.
I am an incredibly slow reader when it comes to reading piano music, so I am useless as an accompanist, but I have enough facility on the instrument to have taught myself seven of the Joplin rags (original editions - I hate, hate, hate simplified versions of Joplin's music). My reading is so pathetic that I have to learn the rags one hand at a time and then put them together - slowly. By the time I am able to play a piece smoothly, it is memorized, and I put the music away. So, I never reinforce good reading habits. When I want to learn another rag, it is the same, slow process.
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One morning in 1998, a CPA wife asked her musician husband if he could "find more work." He said, "Okay, honey." That same morning, the musician's piano tuner came over and sat down at the piano. Out of the blue, the tuner began to talk about how he had more work than he could handle and that he was looking for someone to train and hire. Presto! A piano tuner is born.