He comes into your life and he makes a difference,” said Maddie Carter, who met Wilson one year ago when she called on him to tune her piano. “He’s a wonderful person and has such a great heart. I got something I want to talk to you about.' And we talk,” Wilson said. I’ve even had people call me after I’ve tuned their piano and say, ‘you know Wendell, I’d like to talk to you. “I’ll take time and listen, but I will not divulge it to anybody what they’ve said. I’m just a piano tuner, so they open up,” Wilson said. And I will get into homes and have people that have nobody to talk to. With ears wide open, his attentiveness goes beyond the keys and chords. So I learned to tune by ear,” Wilson said. “When I started, they didn’t have apps in your phones, they didn’t have machines. “When I was 17 years old, I was at an academy and they had a piano in the parlor, and I would just start picking out songs and I would do ‘Three Blind Mice’ and it went from there,” Wilson said. That’s how I started,” he said.īut even before that, the piano was Wilson’s passion. “Bought an old piano full of mice, I cleaned it out. This year I’ll do about 25,000,” Wilson said.Įncouraged to tune pianos by a church parishioner way back when, Wilson hasn’t stopped since. I went to Williston North Dakota, I did Sidney, Glendive, all this area. He’s a traveling piano tuner, with license plates that read “ILTUN4U”. “I’ve been tuning pianos for 60 years,” Wilson said. Wendell Wilson, 85, has made it his life’s work to tune pianos and get pianos in tip-top shape. Loyd adds, “Anyone that enjoys music, repairing instruments and improving the overall quality and function of things will enjoy the piano technology field.BILLINGS – As Christmas approaches, families will gather, some around the piano, listening to beautiful Christmas tunes. That’s a whole other subject, though.”īecause of all the years of technical training required to become a Tech, anyone who aspires to the profession must be passionate about it. “As a professional musician, I have toured with country artists, pop artists, and rock ‘n’ roll bands and continue to do so. This was the foundation of my understanding pianos from a technical understanding. ![]() During that time I worked for a Piano Rebuilder as a full-time job for nearly two years. ![]() “I lived and worked in New York City for nearly ten years. For me, I have been familiar with pianos all my life the function and adjustment of the instrument were a natural curiosity for me. He says, “I have played piano since I was a child, and work professionally as a musician and piano player/keyboardist. Like many Piano Technicians, Loyd grew up with the instrument. Piano tuning does not require perfect pitch, but it helps to have a musical ear when tuning by ear.” ![]() Nearly the entire piano is contracted of wood therefore, woodworking is an essential skill in repairing and building pianos. In addition to musical skills, Loyd says, “Woodworking and musicianship are things I would say are good skills for a Piano Technician. They spend more time in a workshop, where the piano is, in fact, brought to the shop and rebuilt in various stages based on the customer’s wants/needs.”īecause of the wide range of places where pianos are found, Piano Techs work with all kinds of people, including Musical Instrument Builders, Concert Hall Managers, Nightclub Managers, Orchestra Managers, Composers, and musicians of all sorts. Some Technicians work primarily in the field of rebuilding pianos. Therefore, the Technician must often travel to the location of the piano. “Pianos are large, heavy, and not easy to transport like a guitar or flute. Piano Techs work in homes, concert halls, large venues, small venues, clubs, churches and anywhere pianos live! ![]() “Primarily, Piano Technicians are called in to tune the piano, but other repairs and services are commonly needed in addition to tuning. “A typical day for a Piano Technician would be making house calls and ‘on location’ service calls,” says Nashville-based Piano Technician and musician Jon Loyd.
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