Music Trade Review

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Patient, Intensive Training Brings
Success to Blind Tuners
HAT blind tuners can make a
lucrative living after intensive
training is manifested in the
words of Emil B. Fries, Instructor at
the State School for the Blind, main-
tained at Vancouver, Wash.
"It is surprising to me," said Mr.
Fries r e c e n t l y ,
"that in these war
days of peak em-
ployment and high
w a g e s that the
best p a i d among
our g r a d u a t e s
f r o m the Wash-
ington School for
the Blind are two
tuners with 1944
earnings
above
$5,300 a n d s i x
o t h e r s receiving
b e t w e e n $2,000
EMIL B. FRIES
and $3,000 a year.
These eight tuners include only
those who follow their work on a full
time basis in either stores or private
clienteles and who completed their
training since June, 1932. Two other
graduates who learned their work in
T
40 years' experience
in cooperating with
makers of fine pianos
to
the
end
o f . . .
BETTER TONE
STANDARD
Piano Hammer Co.
(Not inc.)
820 North Kedzie Are.
CHICAGO 51, ILLINOIS
26
the same period should be mentioned
for they are employed as musicians in
a roller rink and night club and do
tuning on a part time basis which
yields them $80 and $125 per month
respectively.
"Back in the depression years of the
early 1930's when piano store after
store closed for want of business and
piano manufacturing slowed to a stand-
still in 1932, many tuners and dealers
viewed the entire piano industry as a
permanent casualty of the depression
and frankly advised against further
teaching of piano tuning. Their ad-
vice was heeded by many teachers of
the blind and especially by some super-
intendents of residential schools.
"The sign posts for the pessimists
were most convincing, for there were
idle tuners, bankrupt piano stores,
closed factories and player pianos
abandoned for radios. These mount-
ing facts could not be ignored by even
the most optimistic, but to them there
were also some bright sign posts.
"The plainest sign post to see, was
the fact that interest in pianos was in
direct proportion to interest in music,
and ample evidence showed that popu-
lare interest in music was on the in-
crease in practically every community
in every state of the nation. Another
discernible sign was that while the ra-
dio was dealing death to the player
piano, it was bringing music to homes
and entire communities that had never
previously had it.
"Still a further sign was the truth
that the child is the center of interest
in every home, and the average Amer-
ican parent wants his children to ap-
preciate music and to ulay some in-
strument. In view of these encourag-
ing signs, combined with the facts that
very few young men were learning
piano work and many middle aged
men were quitting the business, we in
Washington
State
determined
to
strengthen our tuning course in every
way possible. Thus, in the depression
low of 1932 when tuning was on the
way out in many places, it was being
strengthened in this school by letting
the present instructor devote his entire
time to the teaching of piano servicing
and the building of a tuning clientele.
"Before much progress could be
made it was necessary to know what
factors had contributed most to the
success of tuners, both blind and
sighted. Equally essential or of even
greater importance, was the necessity
of knowing the causes of failure among
both groups. This study showed that
the successful tuners not only were
men of ability, but that they were
trained and equipped to service as well
as tune both grand and upright pianos.
In addition, they possessed sales and
business ability for conducting a tun-
ing business of their own. The study
revealed that usually in the unsuccess-
ful tuner either or both technical train-
ing and salesmanship were lacking,
and professional ethics existed only in
slight degrees.
Study of Tuning Schools
"Another phase of the study was
schools of piano tuning, including the
few special ones and those in schools
for the blind. In the main, reputable
piano men and successful tuners, both
blind and seeing, agreed that most
schools of tuning served best as diplo-
ma factories because the training of-
fered was largely impractical and in-
adequate.
"An important cause of failure
among tuners, especially the blind, is
the difficulty of keeping abreast with
progressive methods and with the in-
vention of new tools and materials.
The above study made it clear that if
the tuning course was to measure up
to its full responsibility, it must some-
how eliminate all the criticism and
shortcomings leveled against it by suc-
cessful tuners and reputable piano
dealers. By the time I had completed
my study I was convinced that the
only way to justify a piano tuning
course in the future was to stress re-
pairing and regulating, which seven
out of ten pianos require for tonal and
mechanical efficiency.
"In comparing schools of piano tun-
ing with schools of auto mechanics it
was evident that the former tended
to be theoretical and somewhat unre-
lated to actual day to day problems of
the piano; whereas schools of auto
mechanics were conducted on a more
practical basis by permitting students
to service automobiles in need of re-
pairing.
Equipment Essential
"In any tuning department basic
laboratory equipment and tools are es-
sential for teaching fundamental con-
cepts and skills. As soon as these are
fairly well mastered, the student must
have the opportunity to demonstrate
his skills and knowledge on actual
problems that exist in pianos needing
both repairing and regulating. Unless
the tuning instructor has a steady sup-
ply of actions or entire pianos to be
serviced, his course is bound to become
bookish, monotonous and meaningless
to the ambitious student. In the Wash-
ington School for the Blind, this prob-
lem has been met by bringing in ac-
MUSICAL MERCHANDISE MAGAZINE, AUGUST, 1945