   PIANO TUNING AND REPAIR: STILL A GOOD CAREER FOR THE BLIND
                          by Buddy Gray

     From the Editor: Buddy Gray is a member of the Tuscaloosa
Chapter and the state board of directors of the National Federation
of the Blind of Alabama. He is also a piano technician who is
concerned that a good career opportunity is being overlooked by
young blind people today. He and other piano technicians met at the
NFB convention in New Orleans to discuss common problems,
aspirations, and concerns. After the national convention he
submitted the following article to the Braille Monitor:

     Long hours and determination have enabled the blind to venture
into fields previously thought restricted to the sighted, but the
piano technician career field (a lucrative, respectable, and
public-oriented job) may be overlooked too often now as an
employment opportunity for the blind.
     After tuning pianos for twenty years, I have a business that
is steady and financially rewarding. Although the electronic music
boom has decreased the sales of acoustic pianos somewhat, there are
still millions of pianos to be tuned, repaired, or restored.
     At an average of $45 per tuning in less than an hour, this
field can also be a very profitable part-time second job. A
technician may set his own hours, own his own business, and thus
determine how much money he makes.
     A well-trained technician needs only a few tools,
transportation, and a driver who can assist with paperwork. Some
married couples choose to work as a team, tuning and repairing.
     The skills needed are fine-tuned. Not everyone can hear the
difference between right in tune and a little off pitch. Few people
(sighted or blind) can put their fingers right on the troublesome
part of the hundreds of parts inside a piano. It requires practice,
but once you have been properly trained, you will immediately win
the respect of a large portion of the human race--music lovers.
     Perhaps the most important aspect of the piano technician's
job is the public contact. People still respect hard work. The
blind technician says to the public that he is willing to pull his
own weight. Plus, traveling from house to house is an opportunity
to meet children who can be influenced early in life to look past
blindness. It is also a chance to meet community leaders who can
put issues important to the blind before the public.
     Although we always want to strive for bigger and better lives
for the blind, let us not be too proud to consider a career as a
piano technician simply because it is a traditional career for the
blind. Schools for the blind and rehabilitation centers should take
a hard look at this career and ask why a field once dominated by
the blind is now becoming a sighted career, while the blind are
unemployed or assigned to menial tasks.
     If anyone is interested in becoming a tuner or piano
technician, please contact Buddy Gray or Amye Rice at Buddy Gray
Music Center in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, at (205) 345-1296.




[PHOTO/CAPTION: The Visually Impaired Piano Tuners International
conducted a meeting at the 1991 convention of the National
Federation of the Blind. Stanley Oliver, the president of the
group, is pictured here seated at the head table. Al Sanchez
(standing) is a long-time leader of the NFB of Washington and
director of the Emil Fries Piano Hospital and Training Center in
Vancouver.]

                WORLD BLIND TUNERS MARCH TOGETHER
                        by Stanley Oliver

     The modern blind piano tuner commands one of the highest-
earning fields among employed visually impaired. Thorough training
and some mechanical skills are necessary. In 1988 a group of
successful, determined tuners got together with a purpose in mind--
to preserve and enhance the long established field for newcomers.
The Visually Impaired Piano Tuners International was accepted early
this year as an active participant within the World Blind Union.
Today it has some eighty members and correspondents scattered among
several nations. Contacts range from Australia, New Zealand,
Thailand, Korea, Japan, Canada, England, and Spain to the U.S.S.R.
Differences in language have not been an insurmountable problem.
     An increasing number of tuners use computer equipment to keep
track of clients, send out reminder cards, etc. Voice synthesizers
and screen readers are very much in the picture. A sizable number
of colleges across the U.S. and Canada employ blind tuners for
total care of large inventories of expensive instruments. The
called-for skills of restringing, new hammer installation,
regulation, voicing, and tuning to artists' standards are being
done currently to the expressed satisfaction of many educational
institutions, dealers, and concert halls. Learning the field well
and being continuously updated is an absolute must. The finest
school encompassing the technical and business areas needed to earn
an excellent living is the Fries Piano Hospital and Training Center
in Vancouver, Washington. Of some 200 graduates, some eighty-five
percent are very successfully employed. This is a far cry from what
regrettably often occurs--terminal rehabilitation and study without
the dollar reward at the end. The recommended course could run some
eighteen months. Much depends on the learning ability of the
applicant. For full particulars, including a print and cassette
catalog, contact the school at 2510 East Evergreen Boulevard,
Vancouver, Washington 98661; phone (206) 693-1511.
     The Piano Technicians Guild (the 3,700-member professional
body covering the piano field) has around one hundred blind
craftsmen and includes all the world's major piano makers. The
technical standards for membership are identical for every entrant.
In its history, it has had a blind national president, executive
director, regional vice presidents, and innumerable local chapter
officers. The blind tuner is thoroughly accepted as a competitive
equal. A monthly technical journal replete with detailed "how-to"
articles is available from the PTG home office: 4510 Belleview,
Suite 100, Kansas City, Missouri 64111; phone (816) 753-7747. The
periodical is $85 annually and worth its weight in gold for its
practical value.
     The 1992 convention of the Piano Technicians Guild takes place
July 22-26 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, Sacramento, California. We
expect Bo Jung Lee, director of a tuning school, Seoul, Korea; and
Enrique Perez Bazan, Madrid, Spain. Aids Unlimited, managed by Hal
Bleakley, will have a large exhibit of some of their 300 devices
useful for the blind homemaker.
     Visually Impaired Piano Tuners International is presently
involved in updating the data on tuning, past and present, carried
in the U.S. Department of Labor publication, Occupational Handbook.
The PTG is the source closest to the rapidly changing economics in
the field. VIPTI issues a cassette newsletter. If you are
interested in entering the field, wish to correspond with tuners in
foreign countries, or wish to become a member or exchange technical
data, contact VIPTI, 1965 East Outer Drive, Detroit, Michigan
48234; phone (313) 891-9226.

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