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Dan Levitan Study Day

On Saturday I enjoyed the Study Day at Steinway in London. These annual events are sponsored by Steinway and the Piano Tuners’ Association. This year’s event was a day’s seminar with Dan Levitan, Author of The Craft Of Piano Tuning.  It was arranged by Allen Wright, consultant at Steinway and at Period Piano http://www.periodpiano.com/, and facilitated by David Widdicombe, Steinway’s Technical Services Manager.

The content was very interesting and well-presented, with a nice warm and humorous style.  Quite some concentration was required at times to keep up with the theoretical aspects!

Dan Levitan has invented a unique “C-shape” tuning lever, which you can see being demonstrated here http://vimeo.com/37869859

This is the key frame of the Bluthner Patent Action, with all action rails and keys removed. All felt parts are motheaten and need replacement.

What tuning does to the brain

Some interesting recent scientific work has shown that aural tuning of pianos has structural effects on the hippocampus in the brain:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-19398413

An 1890 Bechstein upright which I maintain has an unusual set of wires attached to the first twelve dampers; see photo above.