Piano tuner

Piano tuner

Imagine belonging to a music profession in which demand exceeds supply and you are greeted only with joy by those who hire you. Plus, you don't have to race madly from one physically taxing gig to the next and you can decide how many hours you work every day. Where can this idyllic job be found? Just ask your local piano tuner.

There's a catch, of course: in the UK, training opportunities for new entrants to the piano tuning profession are few and getting fewer. With fewer tuners entering the system, demand is high. It's hard to know exactly how many tuners there are in the UK, but with the Pianoforte Tuners' Association (PTA) membership at 220, an educated guess might put the number at just over 1,000.

'Virtually every place in the country could benefit from more tuners and it's going to get worse,' says Nigel Donovan, a Cambridge-based tuner-technician and vice president of the PTA. Donovan himself studied at Newark and Sherwood College, which, after a recent takeover by Lincoln University, has shut its piano technology programme, leaving the field clear for London Metropolitan University to host the only UK-based programme.

Unsurprisingly, the PTA is concerned about the lack of training opportunities. The organisation has considered following the example of the United States, where many tuners are trained through correspondence courses, but has discarded that idea as 'not good enough': 'In the first year or two you need someone looking over your shoulder,' says Donovan.

'Tuners only tune; technicians do repairs and restorations'

One place that still boasts in-house apprentice training is Steinway & Sons in London, which employs six tuners, various apprentices and some technicians. They are kept busy. 'We do day-to-day tuning at concert halls, houses and studios,' explains John Anstey, a tuner at Steinway. 'We do minor repairs and attend recording sessions.'

Anstey provides the answer to an important question about his profession: what's the difference between tuners and technicians? 'Tuners only tune; technicians do repairs and restorations,' he says, adding that most technicians are workshop-trained. Anstey calls himself a tuner, and he's worked on instruments played by the world's greatest pianists.

Donovan calls himself a tuner-technician. After he left Newark and Sherwood College he set up as an independent technician working in schools, where he tuned all the pianos at a school once a term. It was an excellent opportunity for a novice tuner, but government funding for these contracts has since dried up and tuning regimes are now set by each school.

Once established, a freelance tuner such as Donovan can choose his or her hours. 'I know some who do seven pianos a day, six days a week. I know very few tuners who haven't got enough work,' he says.

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