In 2016, I was again invited to Yamaha to attend their intensive, phenomenal Performance Piano Service Seminar, where I acquired invaluable skills to apply to my piano work from their top technicians. To further my skills, I attended the Little Red Schoolhouse, Yamaha’s famous week-long piano technology seminar, in 2011, where I received comprehensive, hands-on service training for Yamaha’s traditional acoustic pianos, as well as Disklaviers, Yamaha’s state-of-the-art line of player pianos. After completing my training and receiving my certificate in piano technology in 2006, I worked as a piano technician at Classic Pianos in Portland, Oregon, where I tuned, repaired, regulated, and whatever else the 300-plus pianos at the store needed, trained and supervised apprentice technicians, as well as coordinated with the sales department to ensure that the service department had the pianos, both sold and on the floor, in tip-top shape for over six years. Little did I know at the time that pianos would be responsible for my journey from Buffalo, New York (Go Bills!) to Ithaca College, where I studied music, to the (now defunct) Emil Fries School of Piano Tuning and Technology in Vancouver, Washington.Īt the Emil Fries school, I received a thorough education in aural (by ear) tuning, repair, regulation, rebuilding, and voicing of both upright and grand pianos. I began lessons at the age of 5, after my family and I had moved to a bigger home a couple miles down the road. One of my earliest memories involves unharmoniously banging on a piano when I was three, right after the walnut polish Steinway and Sons upright that my parents had just purchased was delivered and squeezed into our tiny apartment. Pianos have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. But rather than any of my clients having to camp out overnight and wait in line for a certain piano a la Black Friday, we take care of any and all of the adjustments our clients need in the comfort of their own homes, on their own instruments.
This is all to say that no two pianos are exactly the same, and no two clients are exactly the same as far as what they want and need out of their pianos. Everyone was looking for something different, yet equally important - perhaps one person liked the piano with a consistent touch, perhaps another loved the acoustics of a particular room, while yet another loved the rich tone of That One in room 1306. The competition was so fierce that a couple of my classmates actually hid and stayed overnight in the music building to be first in line at one point. One of my greatest joys was restoring 52 pianos in Namibia and South Africa for missionaries that dedicate their lives to bringing joy to the people of Africa.Funny story: At the beginning of every semester back in college where I was a music major, there was a practice room sign-up day where the students could request to reserve certain practice rooms at certain times for the duration of the term. I attend and/or teach at countless national and regional conventions with the music industry and Piano Technicians Guild, and keep up on the latest tips and techniques in piano technology. I have also attended classes on regulating, voicing and concert prep by Steinway, Bosendorfer, Kawai, Renner, and other major manufacturers.
I have made two trips to Japan and been through multiple instrument manufacturing facilities. In the last decade I have also been to all trainings for Disklavier Piano repairs and the ‘Concert Level Training’ by Yamaha. I am a graduate of the Little Red Schoolhouse, Yamaha's elite training, which is a ‘by invitation only’ school. It was a privilege to know and work with such a master of his craft.
He also headed up the prestigious North Bennet Street School of Piano Technology. In my younger years I apprenticed under Bill Garlick, one of Steinway’s most celebrated piano technicians and head of Steinway’s Technical department for 17 of the glory years.
I have been working with pianos since 1986. I began my career in piano service at Cascade Piano in Portland OR more than thirty years ago.
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