FW: Do you play piano?

[Annie Grieshop]

Sent to me by Michael Spreeman, who didn't hit the Reply All button.

-----Original Message-----
From: Michael Spreeman [mailto:m_spreeman at hotmail.com]
Sent: Saturday, June 02, 2007 12:28 PM
To: annie at allthingspiano.com
Subject: RE: Do you play piano?


Although playing is a tremendous asset to being a technician, there a few
(of the best of the best) concert techs/ rebuilders I know who don't play,
or have only learned a song or two along the way. How do they do it?  It
doesn't seem to make sense, but one doesn't have to play to be a brilliant
tech.  Isolating and hearing partials in order to tune, hearing tonality in
order to voice, or analzing an action or belly assembly for problems are all
skills whcih can be mastered without playing. Musicianship is another
matter.  The really good techs I know who don't play piano usually play
other instruments.  I think the question Gregor posed is,, "why".  Why would
someone want to become a piano tech without knowing how to play?  We would
have to ask each of them for the real answer, but generally speaking,
there's a technical, artistic, challenge as well as a love and appreciation
for the comlexity and beauty of pianos that attracts people to the
profession even if they don't  play.  I also know several audiophiles and
very high level recording engineers who are not musicians, or I guess I
should say that they do not play what one would typically consider a musical
instrument, yet they have exeptional abilities to assess the complex
components of musical sound.  Again, playing the piano is very beneficial to
being a piano tech, but not a mandatory requirement. And, yes, I play,, but
not nearly as much as I should or take time to!



                Michael C. Spreeman
http://www.spreemanpianoinnovations.com



----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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> From: annie at allthingspiano.com
> To: pianotech at ptg.org
> Subject: RE: Do you play piano?
> Date: Sat, 2 Jun 2007 11:41:18 -0500
>
> The tuner who used to work this area didn't play a note, which apparently
> amazed his customers as much as it did me. And I've picked up quite a bit
> of regulation work, etc., that he might have noticed needed doing, if he
had
> played. Most of the techs I know can play at least enough to test the
piano
> and show off their work to their customers.
>
> That's the part I don't get: how do you know whether the piano works
> correctly if you can't play it? Maybe that's one distinction between a
> "tuner" and a "technician".
>
> I've been playing since I could reach the keys, and now play in bands, for
> weddings, church, etc. One of the reasons I'm moving is to get back to my
> old band buddies, where I'll have opportunities to play for contradances
> more than a couple times/year. It'll be the first time in 5 years that I
> won't have a regular church gig, and that will be nice, too, as it will
> mean I can go dancing, myself, without worrying about going to work in the
> morning. <g>
>
> Annie Grieshop
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org]On
> > Behalf Of Gregor _
> > Sent: Saturday, June 02, 2007 10:51 AM
> > To: pianotech at ptg.org
> > Subject: Re: Do you play piano?
> >
> >
> > >From: piannaman at aol.com
> >
> >
> >   >I noticed how badly I need to employ myself on my OWN piano.  I can't
> > afford me though....:-)
> > >
> >
> >
> > That´s funny, because that´s true for more or less every job. Ask a car
> > mechanic...........
> >
> > I started to play piano when I was 15 and always played in bands
> > since that
> > time. Today I have a band with good old friends and we play just cover
> > versions, sitting and talking and drinking a lot of beer in the practice
> > room. Yeah, nice hobby!
> >
> > Would anybody like to give a rough estimation on how many percent of the
> > techs you know don´t play piano? Just curious.
> >
> > Gregor
> >
> > _________________________________________________________________
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> >
> >
>


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