In arranging this interview, it was obvious that you work a lot of hours and that your schedule keeps changing. About an hour for each tuning, although I've done it in 10 minutes when that's all the time I've been given. I prefer to focus one-on-one with the piano when I'm tuning it.Ī. There are tuners who do excellent work with machines, and there are even computer programs for the laptop, but for me it puts a third party in between me and the piano.
lot of tuners use electronic devices, but I've never used one. Then I lock the tuning pins in place so that they'll stay in tune during the performance.Ī. I play the notes with one hand and I'm tuning with the other hand by tightening or loosening the corresponding tuning pin. I start setting a temperament, which is setting one octave in the middle of the piano, so it's correct, and from there tuning all the other notes by octave. If it's very high or low, it's going to take twice as long. The first thing I do is take out a tuning fork and check the pitch of the piano. There was one fellow doing it for seven years, but the work load got to be too much for him.Ī. I share symphony tuning responsibilities with four other piano tuners. Also the area's only Steinway dealer, "The Beautful Sound" in Burr Ridge. The Chicago Symphony, WFMT, the Jazz Showcase, the major recording studios in town, the major downtown theaters, and Grant Park in the summertime. I became self-employed about two years after I started.Ī. So he sent me over there, and as soon as I finished tuning the piano they said, "You're staying." In those days, there were people doing jingles every day, and they recommended me to the other studios, and in a few months I was working at all the major recording studios. Sweet got an emergency call from a recording studio downtown, their piano tuner couldn't make it. I worked half time for them and half time for Ken Sweet of Evanston.Ī. As soon as I finished the course I started working for Marshall Fields, which had a piano turning service.
Piano tuner chicago how to#
You bought the course book and got a piano and learned how to take it apart and put it back together again. It was the only one approved by the Piano Technician's Guild. At that time it was probably the best one available. Jeff founded Chicago Piano Service Inc. a company that provides piano repair, tuning, regulation and maintenance services for Chicago area Institutions, performance venues and private owner’s pianos.A.
Theodore Steinway Academy in New York and participated in the Comprehensive Training Seminars at the Steinway & Sons Piano factory and is Steinway Factory Trained. Jeff has served as an education leader and program director for the Chicago Chapter. Jeff is an RPT or Registered Piano Technician in the Piano Technicians Guild ptg.org and is a past president of the Chicago Chapter. Jeff founded the Cappelli Institute of Music in 1980 and serves as director. Jeff has been piano soloist at Unity Temple, with the Symphony of Oak Park and River Forest, and Cantigny Concert Series, and performed his own concerts in the Chicago area. Jeff’s many awards include first place honors in competitions sponsored by the Society of American Musicians and the Illinois State Music Teacher’s Assn., the Geneva competition and the Steinway piano competition. He attended Indiana University and was a recipient of a scholarship from the MacDowell Artist Society, and earned Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees with Distinction.Īs a graduate student at IU, Jeff served as Assistant Instructor of Piano at the Bloomington campus and the Columbus Indiana extension campus. He was a concerto soloist at Oak Park River Forest High School with the student orchestra and received the Frederick Chopin award.
He received additional instruction from Alex Joseffer of Chicago and the late Donald Isaak of Northwestern University. He began studying piano with his parents, Dr.
0 kommentar(er)
