Fine Tuning
By Christa Habegger
One day in July between afternoon sessions of senior music camp, I stretched out on the sofa in my studio for a short snooze. Ten minutes later I was surprised by a knock on the door. Two men, part of the University’s piano maintenance staff, explained that they needed to remove the action from the Chickering grand piano to give it a makeover. Five years ago such a scenario would not have played out. No, I am not implying that I didn’t need naps five years ago. I am saying that overhauling a piano in an out-of-the-way voice studio by our own staff during the slower-paced summer months is a new development.
BJU has approximately 200 pianos in 21 campus buildings. Several years ago the rates charged by an
outside company to maintain the instruments rose significantly. Ed Rea (‘79) of the university piano faculty
began using his skills as a piano technician to make minor repairs and adjustments to school pianos, helping to
ease the budget crunch. In order to stay informed of current trends in rebuilding and remanufacturing,
Ed joined the Piano Technicians Guild, the primary resource for the worldwide piano industry. Now he
oversees the assignments of four men, each of whom is a trained technician who brings to his work a sense
of ministry along with his expertise.
Brian Knox, completing an undergraduate degree in piano performance in December 2007, is the son of missionaries to Japan. He has always been curious about what goes on inside the piano. He is working through a comprehensive and up-to-date home study system of piano technology and is planning to pursue it as a career. Kevin Adkins, a mid-‘80s graduate in Music Education with a principal in piano, has returned to the University after 20 years in Christian education and church music ministry to pursue a master’s degree in church music. His graduate assistantship is in piano technology. Bill Maxim trained privately as a piano technician in Rhode Island in the ‘50s while a college student majoring in organ. He makes his home in Columbia, S.C., and visits the campus 20 times a year for two-day tuning stints. Warren Mack (’50), small of stature but long on skill, good humor and dedication, was for many years a beloved member of the BJU piano faculty. Since his retirement, he has devoted his time to maintaining pianos on and off campus. At 83, he is a veteran of World War II and has devoted a lifetime of service to BJU and to his local church; yet he continues to be an enthusiastic and eager student of his trade, constantly improving and updating his tools and finding new ways to ensure successful tuning and regulation of numbers of instruments.
Members of the Piano Technicians Guild want the rest of us to know that “tuner” does not adequately describe the technician’s role. The work of a trained piano tech involves everything from tuning and voicing to hammer shaping and aligning misaligned parts. To help Ed track the maintenance records of all of the pianos, IT established an Access database for the techs’ use. The piano that gets the prize for “most frequently tuned” is the Steinway D (1893) in GFAC 224, which is tuned at least once a week. As pianists notice problems on either performing or practice instruments, they can request the needed work via an intranet website link. Each of the men who works for BJU as a piano technician is invested in carrying out Ed Rea’s mission to see each piano, including those in the “practice shacks,” perform at the highest level.