Tuning or caring for the piano

     I have been in Chicago now for a week working with some customers I have known for many years and meeting some new families.  I did enjoy teaching but this job does have some very unique rewards.  One day I am in a suburban home and the next in a high rise with a beautiful view of Lake Michigan.  The pianos I work on run the gammit too from beautiful grand pianos at home in a concert hall or one of those luxury condos on the lakefront or a more humble instrument in a modest home.
     Tuning is a beginning of the job.  Piano care involves much more.  With many customers the piano is not only an instrument but a piece of furniture.  You don't put in a case and then into a closet like a trumpet when not in use.  Pianos are made mostly of wood  snd so changes in humidity can have a devistating effect on a piano placed in a bad place in a room.  The rule of thumb for piano placement is never on an outside wall or next to a direct heat source.  I sell a great line of polishes and can offer on my web site beautiful woven coverings  for a piano top that can protect a finish from the dreaded potted plant that have left rings on some very fine pianos. 
     For some of the families that I serve the piano is a new addition to the family and the hope is that the children taking piano lessons will learn to play well forever enriching their lives and perhaps creating a family tradition of fine players.  The piano is a complex machine and if I do my job well the customer will develop confidence in my work and look to me for advise about piano care and perhaps direction about an upgrade to a better instrument when the player  or players have that need.
     Piano care can be expensive, however and if the choice is make a house payment or tune the piano a piano can sometimes get neglected even when everyone understands the need for the care.  I once had a customer with a player piano which the husband loved and wanted to press ahead with an overhaul until the wife said in my presence " it's the piano or me".  I don't know if that piano is still around but differing views about  spending money on a piano and just the finantial realities of the household can effect piano care.
     There are many fine tuners offering tuning and technical services but I think another very important part of my task is to listen carefully to my customers and provide education about the machine and how it works and then respond to the level of care desired by the customer.