Tuesday 4 September 2012

Piano Tuners make the News!

It is not often the Piano Tuning profession makes the News. The BBC News Health pages report on a study that is looking into the structural changes within the brains of professional piano tuners. 


Piano tuners who use their ears (as opposed to those who rely on electronic devices) focus their hearing on what most listeners do not even notice. The pinnacle of the tuner's art is the 'setting of the scale' accurately. 

This 'setting of the scale' is the laying down of the central octave so that each note is in a correct relationship with the others. Starting with only a single tuning fork, tuners learn to balance the complex inter-related pattern of intervals in order to fix the 12 semitones that make up the central octave. Once this stage has been reached, tuning the octaves up and down the keyboard is relatively easy.

To set the scale, the tuner listens, not to the dominant pitch given out by the various notes played, but to the harmonics these vibrations generate. Once you get the hang of it, it is not really so difficult, but to the uninitiated, it is like listening to an unintelligible language.

Any two notes played at the same time create a chorus-like sound. Since the texture of the sound is difficult to describe in words, it is fruitless to attempt a definition beyond saying that in setting the scale, harmony is achieved when the intervals (mainly the 3rds, 4ths & 5ths) are nicely balanced.

The study mentioned above, does not address the detail of what goes on in the tuner's brain, it simply records that something occurs in there that is different from what goes on in a non-tuner's brain.

Interesting to note that it was observed that the difference is more pronounced among the more experienced tuners - further proof that this is a job in which one has ever more to learn and gain from experience

Tuner's Journal

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Wednesday 22 August 2012

Broadwood Grand Pianos

Broadwood Pianos have been around since 1728. Not many examples of an 1860s Broadwood piano survive to this day, and even fewer of these are in good working order today. When new these pianos were stunning examples of high-quality, English craftsmanship. A hundred and fifty years takes quite a toll on a piano and ordinarily, I am not a fan of these relics of the 19th century but it is refreshing to be surprised by good examples when they are met with. I have come across 2 such pianos that deserve mention. 

1980s Broadwood Letterhead
One of the pianos must have been at least 7' 6" long - if you sat at the keyboard and squinted a little, you could just about make out the far end of the piano! I did not expect it to be up to pitch, but it was only a quarter-tone flat. The strings had been replaced at some point but the wrest pins were still the old, oblong ones that were fitted when new. One of the pins in the bi-chord section of the bass strings had snapped off, so instead of two strings on that note, there was only one.

The hammers had been recovered, but not terribly well - the high treble hammers jammed against the front edge of the wrest plank. Not too much of a problem for most players, but we fussy old tuners like all the notes to work! 

The rich colours of its rosewood case, made it a very fine-looking piece of furniture. The flat wooden pedals always look odd to modern eyes but at least they are the 'real thing' - if they had ever been replaced with modern pedals, it would no longer look the part.

The ivory keys were still white and still had a shine to them. Some were worn thin in the middle of the playing surface, but this is not surprising after more than a century of use. So often, the original ivories are yellowed with age, and more often than not a few of the originals have been replaced with ill-fitting substitutes.

So there it was, this remarkable old piano, in a charmingly renovated house that was even older than the piano, - a perfect setting for an instrument so well-preserved. The fascinating thing is that after 150 years, this piano is still regularly played, loved and appreciated. John Braodwood & Sons certainly knew how to build a piano that would last! 

The second piano is another grand - the serial number of this piano does not fit neatly into any of the categories listed in the Pierce's Atlas, but I reckon it must have been made about 1860. 

The case, for its age, is stunning - the rich Rosewood veneer still boasting the bold stripes of the grain. The polish has been preserved to the point that most would not think it in need of any particular attention.

But from a tuner's point of view, the most remarkable thing is that it is only a little flat in pitch - (I believe when this piano was built, the standard pitch was a little lower than A 440.) Over the years, 2 bass strings have been replaced, and couple of treble strings - apart from these, the strings are those fitted when new! A few treble strings are absent. The original oblong tuning pins still holding firmly in the original wrest plank! 

The piano is regularly used to accompany singers, occasionally for concerts but is always appreciated by pianists and audiences alike. Live music is still a wonderful social phenomenon that dates back to long before this piano was made.

The action is one of the odd incarnations of Broadwood's own design but still playing acceptably and capable of expression and colour. The tone is the one big give-away, but even here, the sound is extremely good for its type.

These grand old pianos are from a time when serious craftsmen built everything to last, a time when gentleman tuners wore hats. If I had a hat, I would take it from my head as a mark of respect, a salute to the beauty of  esteemed craftsmanship. These pianos are works of the piano-maker's art.   

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