Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Teachers Forum disaster piano - what would you do?

Some people literally have a "tin ear" and thus no clue that the piano sounds horrendous.

I once went to look at a console piano that was for sale. It was about 10 years old or so, looked nice, and was in the living room of nice home. I thought it would play ok.

Wrong. It was completely out of tune, so bad that it was unplayable. But I played a few measures of something, stopped because it was so horrible, and the lady asked why did I stop, it was sounding so nice. I was flabbergasted.

Literally eh?

hmmmmmm I don't think so

Well, whatever they have seems to function like one!

Couldn't resist pulling your leg... - and yes, I agree with you: many people might as well have a tin ear for all the good theirs do them.

Thats cool!

Statements like this always raise my hackles, especially when the "tuner" hasn't looked at the piano! Often times it means he can't do the work, or won't. Not disparaging your tuner, but other piano techs would listen to your description and say, "Let me have a look. Many times, those things are easily fixed." So, I agree with Monaco. If your tuner's assessment is a dead piano, you might want to lobby the family to get a second opinion. I believe giving a teenager with musical ability and an affinity for piano a less than stellar instrument is better than having no instrument at all.

I say this as someone who, as a young tween, had a mom who bought an upright piano for a dollar and had it moved into our garage, where it stayed for a time until the weather changed. For several weeks, I practiced with a mitten on one hand to keep it warm while I played with the other. I went inside every 15 minutes to warm up and change hands with the mitten. It took us a while to to get the piano moved into the house. Then, we saved up to get the tuner/tech to put it into shape. It had sticking keys and was out of tune, too. Had lessons every week in spite of the bad piano and have lived to tell the tale!

(BTW, I learned to play guitar on an instrument with a severely warped neck which was given to me for free. By the time I moved to a legitimate guitar, my fingers were strong! I think the neat thing about teenagers is, sometimes they are very strong willed, don't know any better about instruments anyway, and forge ahead by sheer passion at the joy of bringing music into the air! Give me a pickle bucket and some sticks, man! I want to PLAY! )

I think your email is well written , tactful and offers reasonable options.
Perhaps you could suggest that she seeks permission to practice on a piano at school, during lunchtime or after classes ?

I must admit to laughing at the suggestion of letting anyone enter your house while you are not there, nevermind leaving the key in a designated place . House insurance null and void when burglary occurs ? I cannot see anyone in Scotland even considering that option.

Ha-ha! It is commonly done on this side of the pond. As a tradesman of sorts myself, I often have people say, "Well, we won't be home, but we never lock the house anyway. Just let yourself in!" It depends on where you live, though... I also have customers who have ranks of locks on the door like Scrooge before his conversion!

Thankyou for all responses. i did think carefully about writing, and realised that I hadn't been clear enough with her, but held back by the fact that the kid was there and I didn't want to put the mum under pressure while the kid was listening.

The word here is 'piano tuner'. I have only hear the words 'tech' and 'technician' on PW. A piano *tuner* worth his or her salt will not only tune but fix any fixable problems. I trust the person I recommended to her.

That I could have suggested playing a piano at school at lunch, or hiring a piano, etc - for me it's important to draw a line under what my responsibilities are. Or the possibility of the tuner coming round while she is out - I just don't want to get sucked into these details. I had this feeling when i was last there and she was telling me all the reasons why she hadn't phoned the tuner, like I was the teacher listening to why the dog ate the homework, and I just didn't want to let that continue.

I will await events.

I suppose the reason I posted here was I was wondering what kind of responsibility others take. E.g. I routinely ask new student if they have an acoustic, and when it was last tuned. Does everyone do this? And if they can't remember when it was last tuned - do you ask again in a few weeks to see if it got done? I'm curious because I suddenly noticed the problem, and if I hadn't been at her house, I would have missed it.

In the USA, we have tuners and then we have techs. While I was teaching in Germany, I realized that "tuners" were actually highly trained technicians. Very highly trained. This may be true throughout northern Europe and the UK as well. FWIW, one of my tuners apprenticed at Steinway (Hamburg) for a number of years; the other did that and also trained at Grotrian in Braunsweig. I suspect either could have built a piano in their sleep!

Great letter, I think you handled it perfectly.

I never teach at peoples house anymore. This post makes me realize I should be more conscience of what condition my students piano is in. Thanks for bringing it up.

I do not doubt this. The only reason I said what I said is because attitudes about what constitues a dead piano can really vary, and there are those who simply will not work on certain pianos they consider a waste of time. Others will assess the whole situation (family/needs), and make repairs by degrees.

Best wishes with it all, ten left thumbs!

Good points!

Now that the thread is basically over lol, It inspired me to write a new blog post. Hopefully at least one parent might find it and say 'hey, MY piano is just like that!'

Practicing on Frankenstein's Piano.

*Nevermind, wordpress is acting up again, you won't see anything*