Music Trade Review

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PRACTICAL PIANO TUNING
By ALEXANDER HART
Formerly with Steinway & Sons Tuning Department, Instructor in
Piano Tuning, Teachers College, Columbia University, N. Y.
Registered Member of the
National Association of Piano Tuners
Notes of Interest on Tuning
QAHALLEL and in keeping with this
• column. I have decided to devote
this month's space to an account of an
organization which is playing a major
part in developing and furthering our
fine art of Piano Tuning and Servic-
ing in the United States—(not to men-
tion far-off points as Alaska, the West
Indies, Hawaii and Israeli). This or-
ganization is right here in New York,
namely: The Piano Crafts Department
of the New York Trade School, in
Manhattan, under the tutelage of Earle
M. Turner.
Many of you readers will recognize
the name of Earle Turner, for he is
"Piano Man" to the core, a man of
great ability and wide experience, hav-
ing spent more than forty years in the
business, twenty of them traveling con-
stantly with great artists. He is a man
who holds strong ideas about Tuning
and about what's right (and wrong)
with the piano business in general—
and who has the courage of his con-
victions. As a matter of fact, when I
asked him if I could do a piece about
him and the school in my column with
a picture of him included, he smiled
wryly and said, "I guess I'm one of
the most-hated men in the piano busi-
ness. Because I teach men to be tuners
and make their way in the piano field,
a lot of piano men think I'm taking
bread and butter out of their mouths
—at a time like this, when there is a
shortage of 5,000 technicians right at
this moment! You're welcome to a pic-
ture of my boys (the class) but I'll be
happier if you leave me out!" Mr.
Turner is a graduate Electrical Engi-
neer, and is one of the few piano
tuners in the country who can success-
fully challenge the Stroboconn . . .
which speaks for his ability.
Trade School 73 Years Old
The Mew York Trade School itself
has a fine record of 73 years of teach-
ing young men how to work with their
hands and their heads, and how to
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW, APRIL, 1954
THE PIANO CRAFTS CLASS AT THE NEW YORK TRADE SCHOOL
apply that work. Each instructor is
required to complete the State Teach-
er's Course at the University of the
State of New York.) It is the oldest
trade school in the U. S., being en-
dowed and non-profit making. Not
only does this endowment maintain the
school; it actually contributes to the
cost of each student's tuition. With
its fine record of service, it is not
strange that when the leading piano
manufacturers decided to start i
school for technicians they chose the
.New York Trade School to sponsor it.
Being acquainted with the School,
and particularly the Piano Crafts De-
partment, and knowing what it is,
what it does, and what it means to a
student to be under* the guidance of an
outstanding instructor like Mr. Tur-
ner, I can well congratulate students
who have graduated as Piano Tuners
and Technicians from the New York
Trade School; dealers throughout the
country can be sure that when they
need a good reliable man. all they
have to do is order him and put him
to work; for the breadth of instruc-
tion offered these young men is typi-
fied by the sign which first meets the
eye on entering the Piano School:
"Everything that happens in the
Piano world happens here."—And
graduates arc found in every branch
of the business, from chippers to store
owners and agents handling our finest
makes of pianos.
Begins Ninth Year this month
The Piano Crafts Department begins
its ninth year this month (April, '54).
It occupies 5,124 sq. feet of floor
space, divided into shop, lecture room,
action-regulating room, and seven
tuning booths. The shop is equipped
with work benches, cleaning tables, ac-
tion racks, booths for small work,
machinery and spray gun equipment.
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