Piano History

So I've been thinking about this. Now-a-days, piano tuning is more or less a second (third, fourth, etc.) career, many times a "retirement" career. But, it wasn't always this way. I know back in the old days it used to be a family business primarily, where a father would teach his son the trade starting at a young age, say 10 or so. I've seen several of the early twentieth-century journals that talk about this, as well as a few other articles over the years. 

Somewhere in time, piano tuning went from being primarily a start-young lifelong career to primarily a secondary career. My question is, does anyone know how the trade made this shift? And, is there a period in time we can point to where this happened?

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Benjamin Sanchez, RPT
Piano Technician / Artisan
(805) 315-8050
www.professional-piano-services.com
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You can start by reading the many vintage (starting in 1920s?) piano technician journals several members have scanned and uploaded (somewhere on the PTG site). There's Emil Fries' autobiography "But You Can Feel It" (sight impaired tech who ran the Piano Hospital tuning school).
The many piano factories over a hundred years ago had many employees who free lanced on their own time. Music stores were abundant.
A different world!

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Patrick Draine
Billerica MA
978-663-9690
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Original Message:
Sent: 12-04-2020 00:09
From: Benjamin Sanchez
Subject: Piano Tuner History

So I've been thinking about this. Now-a-days, piano tuning is more or less a second (third, fourth, etc.) career, many times a "retirement" career. But, it wasn't always this way. I know back in the old days it used to be a family business primarily, where a father would teach his son the trade starting at a young age, say 10 or so. I've seen several of the early twentieth-century journals that talk about this, as well as a few other articles over the years. 

Somewhere in time, piano tuning went from being primarily a start-young lifelong career to primarily a secondary career. My question is, does anyone know how the trade made this shift? And, is there a period in time we can point to where this happened?

------------------------------
Benjamin Sanchez, RPT
Piano Technician / Artisan
(805) 315-8050
www.professional-piano-services.com
------------------------------