Piano tuning strikes a chord with retired teacher
Oct. 22—ASHLAND — Some tickle the ivories, but Carl Taylor goes much deeper: He tightens the strings.
Taylor, 79, spends his retirement from teaching music at Boyd County High School traveling the Tri-State tuning pianos for schools, churches and anyone else who needs his services. He also does small repairs, like sticking or broken keys or broken strings.
He learned the skill in 2000, when he trained under Jim Geiger, a piano tech at Morehead State University, where he tuned and cared for the 65 pianos at the school.
"I haven't learned yet," Taylor said of his training. "Most of the guys I know feel like they have never arrived. There's always a new challenge. No two (pianos) are exactly alike."
No player
While both of Taylor's sisters, including Stella Shattles who taught Kindermusik for years, are excellent pianists, Taylor can't claim that talent.
"I can't play a lick," he said, noting he played trumpet in the high school band. He also taught choir, music appreciation and music theory and was band director at Boyd County High School. Taylor also founded The Singing Kernals, now known as Eastern Kentucky Harmonic Order.
His interest in pianos, however, goes way back. "I had at least a shadow of an interest since I was a little kid," he said. "Our pastor in Lawrenceburg, Tenn., owned a piano store and I was fascinated."
He recalled a time when at least five in the area tuned pianos, but some died and some retired. He also noted several music stores that sold and tuned pianos have gone out of business.
"I saw there was a need and thought, 'I believe I could do that,'" he said.
Going electric
The need may have declined some, as fewer have pianos in their homes. Taylor said it's likely because of the coming of the electronic piano.
"In 1990 or something like that, one million electronic pianos were sold in this country in one year," he said.
The Industry Census of Music Trades found in 2018, 30,516 new pianos were shipped to retailers in the United States, down 3.2 percent from 2017. The decline of piano ownership, which began in 1979, was caused by the pervasiveness of television, experts say.
New tech
Tuning a piano has evolved technologically, Taylor said. In the past, tuning forks were used, but Taylor said now piano tuners use electronic chromatic tuners.
"I was trained to tune by ear, but this device saves a lot of time," he said, adding it takes him about an hour and 15 minutes to tune a piano; without the electronic tuner, add one hour.
Last year, Taylor tuned 270 pianos. He has done four in a day, but he shoots for two in one day. Nearly 40% of his business is with churches.
"I'm working more now than when I was teaching school, but I don't have to hear a bell ring anymore," he said.
