{"id":1725,"date":"2014-05-04T15:58:33","date_gmt":"2014-05-04T07:58:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tongtuning.com\/wordpress\/?p=1725"},"modified":"2021-09-19T19:07:03","modified_gmt":"2021-09-19T11:07:03","slug":"history-of-piano-tuning-training-and-apprenticeships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tongtuning.com\/wordpress\/1725","title":{"rendered":"History of Piano Tuning \u2013 TRAINING AND APPRENTICESHIPS"},"content":{"rendered":"<h5><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: none; overflow: hidden;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FPiano.Technician.HK%2Fphotos%2Fa.770794476272210%2F772230459461945%2F%3Ftype%3D3%26av%3D188148231203507%26eav%3DAfZYUmbsQawYBtpThLWN0BY8H4VyoKNzM7tOYv7vbP_SmqPvlOigJiGsh35tb5zjTlg&amp;show_text=true&amp;width=500\" width=\"500\" height=\"600\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/h5>\n<h5>Most piano tuners were <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">trained in the piano factory over a period of between five and seven years.<\/span>\u00a0 The Broadwood historian, Dr Alastair Laurence, whose family have worked for the firm since 1787 has said that:<\/h5>\n<h5>The general practice at Broadwood was for the tuners to carry out a five-year apprenticeship and thereafter, if they chose, to remain with the firm, they did so on a piecework basis.<\/h5>\n<h5><!--more--><\/h5>\n<h5>One of the earliest books on tuning dates from around 1840:\u00a0<i>The Tuner&#8217;s Guide: Containing a Complete Treatise on tuning the Piano-Forte, Organ, Melodeon and Seraphine; together with a Specification of Defects and their Remedies<\/i>.\u00a0This anonymous booklet published by the\u00a0<i>Musical Bouquet<\/i>\u00a0periodical offers advice to the would-be tuner, presumably aimed at those in the provinces who had difficulty in obtaining the services of a piano tuner.<\/h5>\n<h5><i>The Pianomaker<\/i>, a magazine ostensibly designed to inform the trade of new developments, was very enthusiastic about the apprenticeship system and keen to prevent its extinction.\u00a0 In 1913, the publication featured an interview with Frank Challen, manufacturer, and asked him: &#8220;Had the apprenticeship system utterly died out in the industry?&#8221; and he replied: &#8220;It was very nearly dead and could only be said to exist with any degree of animation in the tuning branch of the trade&#8221;.<\/h5>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: none; overflow: hidden;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FPiano.Technician.HK%2Fphotos%2Fa.770794476272210%2F772230469461944%2F%3Ftype%3D3%26av%3D188148231203507%26eav%3DAfbIo6IuCw-iyGkwBkGOGkdX772Gj0pb0l7qT_qBfoerwGDj7IMPiBjasLC9GB1aVHE&amp;show_text=true&amp;width=500\" width=\"500\" height=\"603\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h5>A subcommittee of the Piano Manufacturers Association had reported on the indenturing of apprentices, and had concluded that:<\/h5>\n<h5>only lads of good character, respectably connected, and who have a good school record, preferably at a secondary school, should be indentured at the age of 15\u02dd or 16.\u00a0<a title=\"\" href=\"http:\/\/www.piano-tuners.org\/history\/piano-tuner-history.html#_ftn20\" name=\"_ftnref20\"><br \/>\n<\/a><\/h5>\n<h5>As to remuneration, they decreed that:<a title=\"\" href=\"http:\/\/www.piano-tuners.org\/history\/piano-tuner-history.html#_ftn21\" name=\"_ftnref21\"><br \/>\n<\/a><\/h5>\n<h5>the workman under whose charge he will be placed may add a &#8220;tip&#8221; of a shilling or so &#8230; the days of the &#8220;half-a-crown-a-week&#8221; apprentices are gone forever<\/h5>\n<h5>The following month, Ernest Gowland , an established tuner, wrote to say that:<\/h5>\n<h5>No lad should be apprenticed to tuning alone.\u00a0 I think a lad should be taught the main idea of pianoforte construction before he is allowed to go forth as a fully-blown tuner.<\/h5>\n<h5>Be a man the finest tuner existing, he may do a lot of harm to a piano in his care purely through lack of knowledge of its construction &#8230; all men engaged at any calling should be masters of their craft.\u00a0<a title=\"\" href=\"http:\/\/www.piano-tuners.org\/history\/piano-tuner-history.html#_ftn22\" name=\"_ftnref22\"><br \/>\n<\/a><\/h5>\n<h5>The south London family of Morleys has been associated with the music trade for many years, both in music publishing and in musical instrument manufacture.\u00a0 Their initial instrument connection was with harps, one of the family having working with Erard at the time of his flight from the French Revolution and subsequently inheriting the Erard patent harp action.\u00a0 One Robert Morley still worked for Erards in 1871 as a piano tuner and following a brief interlude at Broadwoods founded his own business making pianos in Lewisham in 1881.<a title=\"\" href=\"http:\/\/www.piano-tuners.org\/history\/piano-tuner-history.html#_ftn23\" name=\"_ftnref23\"><br \/>\n<\/a><\/h5>\n<h5>Morley&#8217;s apprenticeship system seems to have been a little more ruthless than that of Broadwoods: apprentices were taken on at 14, &#8216;chipping up&#8217; the newly strung pianos roughly to concert pitch. \u00a0 By the time they got to 21 or so they were competent tuners, and were then actually fired, and replaced at the bottom end of the factory system.\u00a0 However, they were generally found work with the factory&#8217;s agent, so the system is not quite as heartless as it might first appear.<\/h5>\n<p>By Gill Green MA<\/p>\n<div class=\"sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled\"><div class=\"robots-nocontent sd-block sd-social sd-social-icon-text sd-sharing\"><h3 class=\"sd-title\">Share this:<\/h3><div class=\"sd-content\"><ul><li class=\"share-facebook\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-facebook-1725\" class=\"share-facebook sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tongtuning.com\/wordpress\/1725?share=facebook\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Facebook\"><span>Facebook<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-twitter\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-twitter-1725\" class=\"share-twitter sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tongtuning.com\/wordpress\/1725?share=twitter\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Twitter\"><span>Twitter<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-jetpack-whatsapp\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-jetpack-whatsapp sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tongtuning.com\/wordpress\/1725?share=jetpack-whatsapp\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on WhatsApp\"><span>WhatsApp<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-linkedin\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-linkedin-1725\" class=\"share-linkedin sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tongtuning.com\/wordpress\/1725?share=linkedin\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on LinkedIn\"><span>LinkedIn<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-email\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-email sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tongtuning.com\/wordpress\/1725?share=email\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to email this to a friend\"><span>Email<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-print\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-print sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tongtuning.com\/wordpress\/1725\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to print\"><span>Print<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-end\"><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Most piano tuners were trained in the piano factory over a period of between five and seven years.\u00a0 The Broadwood &hellip; <a class=\"kt-excerpt-readmore\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tongtuning.com\/wordpress\/1725\" aria-label=\"History of Piano Tuning \u2013 TRAINING AND APPRENTICESHIPS\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled\"><div class=\"robots-nocontent sd-block sd-social sd-social-icon-text sd-sharing\"><h3 class=\"sd-title\">Share this:<\/h3><div class=\"sd-content\"><ul><li class=\"share-facebook\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-facebook-1725\" class=\"share-facebook sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tongtuning.com\/wordpress\/1725?share=facebook\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Facebook\"><span>Facebook<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-twitter\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-twitter-1725\" class=\"share-twitter sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tongtuning.com\/wordpress\/1725?share=twitter\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Twitter\"><span>Twitter<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-jetpack-whatsapp\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-jetpack-whatsapp sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tongtuning.com\/wordpress\/1725?share=jetpack-whatsapp\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on WhatsApp\"><span>WhatsApp<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-linkedin\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-linkedin-1725\" class=\"share-linkedin sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tongtuning.com\/wordpress\/1725?share=linkedin\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on LinkedIn\"><span>LinkedIn<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-email\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-email sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tongtuning.com\/wordpress\/1725?share=email\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to email this to a friend\"><span>Email<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-print\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-print sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tongtuning.com\/wordpress\/1725\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to print\"><span>Print<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-end\"><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"spay_email":""},"categories":[88,58],"tags":[1949,1756,193,1145,947,91,1950,1377,10,216,408,1162,11,142,445,12,13,70,943],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4ik8h-rP","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1803,"url":"https:\/\/www.tongtuning.com\/wordpress\/1803","url_meta":{"origin":1725,"position":0},"title":"History of Piano Tuning \u2013 TUNING MONOPOLIES AND REGULATION","date":"May 11, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"By 1887 Broadwoods were in trouble for excluding tuners who were not employed by them or their agents; Messrs Broadwood admit that they send out men through the country to tune their own pianos ...\u00a0 Messrs Broadwood believe that in certain country districts their pianos have been improperly tuned to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;English Articles&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1700,"url":"https:\/\/www.tongtuning.com\/wordpress\/1700","url_meta":{"origin":1725,"position":1},"title":"History of Piano Tuning \u2013 A NEED FOR TUNERS","date":"May 2, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Prior to the advent of the piano, most musicians tuned their own instruments. \u00a0 This was a necessary part of owning one; to call someone in to tune a harpsichord would have been as preposterous an idea as calling someone in to tune a violin for a professional violinist. \u00a0\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;English Articles&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1740,"url":"https:\/\/www.tongtuning.com\/wordpress\/1740","url_meta":{"origin":1725,"position":2},"title":"History of Piano Tuning \u2013 BUSINESS AND EMPLOYMENT","date":"May 5, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Broadwoods and other leading piano houses began to establish a pattern of service which was quickly followed by the smaller businesses when they could afford to do so. Piano ownership now was common outside London, and Broadwood started to supply piano dealers up and down the country with their instruments,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;English Articles&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1708,"url":"https:\/\/www.tongtuning.com\/wordpress\/1708","url_meta":{"origin":1725,"position":3},"title":"History of Piano Tuning \u2013 SOCIAL STANDING","date":"May 3, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The tuner would appear to have been working in the factory yet not regarded as a factory worker. \u00a0 A plate in Wainwright's book on the Broadwood company\u00a0shows a tuner at work in Broadwood's factory in 1842.\u00a0 He wears what would appear to be far smarter clothes than the other\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;English Articles&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1800,"url":"https:\/\/www.tongtuning.com\/wordpress\/1800","url_meta":{"origin":1725,"position":4},"title":"History of Piano Tuning \u2013 PITCH","date":"May 10, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"It may seem somewhat strange to allocate part of what is predominantly a social study to a technical aspect of the piano tuner's art.\u00a0 However, over the period which is being examined, the matter of concert pitch was a source of perpetual upheaval and strife to the piano tuner. Concert\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;English Articles&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1793,"url":"https:\/\/www.tongtuning.com\/wordpress\/1793","url_meta":{"origin":1725,"position":5},"title":"History of Piano Tuning \u2013 TOOLS AND EQUIPMENT","date":"May 9, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Such an enormous variety of pianos meant that the tuner had to be equipped with a very wide range of tuning-hammers.\u00a0 The tuning crank as used by modern tuner, comprises a threaded steel shank inserted into a wooden handle which takes one of a small range of 'heads' with a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;English Articles&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tongtuning.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1725"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tongtuning.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tongtuning.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tongtuning.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tongtuning.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1725"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tongtuning.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1725\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tongtuning.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tongtuning.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tongtuning.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}