Floods, concerts & more...

Despite the flood in the cottage that has severely compromised Zelda's action, there's been a lot of positive energy related to Keys Tuning of late.

But first, let's dispense with the flood.

I was hurrying to squeeze in an additional appointment two Saturdays ago to meet with Mrs. Ford before tuning a gorgeous grand a few blocks away. The meeting was to discuss rebuilding her 1919 upright -- amazingly, still under consideration despite my assessment of the piano's condition and its potential value; that is, it would cost more to repair it than it'll ever be worth from a financial standpoint. There had been, apparently, a family conference to discuss the matter. The practical son had weighed in on the financial merits and the daughter who grew up learning to play on the instrument in its better days still saw value in its repair. After my meeting, it's likely the piano will not be returned to its former glory; but we left the matter open. Sentiment is yet a strong motivator.

In my rush to get there I unknowingly left a trickle of water running where I'd washed out Ranger's bowl and I left the bowl in the basin. The combination of the two -- small continuous flow and drain blocked by bowl -- resulted in approximately two inches of water throughout the cottage when I returned four hours later. Zelda just hasn't been the same since.

The surge of humidity at her feet swelled all the felts; most noticeably none of the damper felts seat properly anymore. Every note rings for three to four seconds after it has been played -- making for an unbearable cacophony. After about two weeks they are drying out a bit -- the ring has reduced from several seconds to just a second -- arghh -- so for the moment, the old girl is only good for plunking out the melodies I'm rehearsing for my next concert. And, of course, now I've another skill set I'll need to add to my list of things to learn -- repairing dampers.

I'm keeping up with tuning pianos -- several really nice grands lately; but more importantly, a lowly spinet, not tuned in over eight years, taught me something really important.

The spinet was miserably out of tune. In the treble it was a full pitch flat and most of the bass and tenor was at least a semi tone flat. I had to do a pitch raise to get it close before tuning it and was quietly cursing myself as the tuning was one I'd donated for a charity auction. My normal first-time 3 hour tuning quickly became five and half hours. Still, when I was done -- besides the obvious relief on the part of the family that I would soon leave -- there was a moment.

Mom played the piano for a moment, smiled broadly. But before she could say 'thanks', her 10 year old daughter ran over, hugged her knees and laughed "Oh, mommy, when we sing, it won't sound like a funeral anymore!" It was the best thank you I could ever have expected.

Every piano -- grand or spinet, great condition or poor -- deserves to be the best it can be.

Having said that, I admit to looking forward to my assignments this coming week -- a 9' Boesendorfer concert grand and a 7' Steinway grand.

After the next week of holiday related tunings, I'm hoping to hunker down to the books and start working on Yuri again. The goal now is to pass my exams at the Piano Technicians Guild annual conference in July 2011.