Keiko Nishizu

We had a really amazing night last night. Got a call from Serena at the end of last week, saying they needed their grand tuned for a concert by Keiko Nishizu.

You might remember, we fixed a damper on that piano last May. Back then it was our first time to take the action out of a grand. This time was our first concert tuning. We've tuned many private pianos, but never one that was then played by a renowned professional pianist.

The main tuning happened on Saturday.

We paused to admire this swanky fallboard. On most pianos, the lid just snaps shut, but not on a beautiful instrument like this.

Yesterday was the night of the concert and we turned up just before to give it a pre-performance check up. They'd moved it across the lobby, so we needed to make sure that the move hadn't affected the sound.

 

 

 

This piano really is a joy to work with. Very easy to tune with a great sound. Though that didn't stop the nerves. Even though Keiko performed a sound check, you still worry that maybe you missed something and a bum note will suddenly reveal itself with a clunk halfway through the performance. Luckily that didn't happen and we eventually relaxed into the performance. It was a really wonderful evening and there's an extreme swell of pride to know that you had a part in that. To hear an instrument you have tuned being played by a professional pianist to an appreciative audience is a really amazing feeling. 

We also learnt that both Serena and Mille Collines have been flying a tuner in from Kenya in the past. Hopefully we'll be able to help them out, because that's a very long way, and a lot of money, to spend on a piano tuner. As our own project progresses, we hope to train a couple of tuners in Kigali so that the city always has them.