We had lunch with the Spanish-Uruguayan Federico López, professional piano tuner (also harpsichord) who for fifteen years has been carrying out his job at Clemente Pianos with absolute dedication. A technician who usually always works by ear but without disdaining the sophisticated tuning devices that exist today because, both on the acoustic instrument, as in tuning, craftsmanship and technology are closely linked. Federico Lopez, who has tuned the piano for artists like Bob Dylan, Mountain range, Martha Argerich, I drink Valdés or Elton John, reveals us, between hertz and decibels and with incredible simplicity, the twists and turns of this essential profession so that artists and performers, in retrospect, you can do magic by playing with black and white keys. SERGIO BELLO
Federico, What are the various jobs that technicians can perform in your profession??
I would distinguish, first of all, workshop work: restorations, regulations, repairs, what is a “hand in hand” with the piano, something lonely. Then there is going out to tune clients' pianos: music schools, conservatories and individuals, where there is usually special treatment, of trust and a lot of respect when entering a home for the first time, For example. And then there would be concert tuning (auditoriums, salas, theaters…) in which the level of demand is maximum and there is usually direct contact with the pianist/artist, and there the task is to translate the pianist's requests into the mechanics of the piano, leave the piano to the pianist's liking for that concert.
We assume some qualities in you and in your training to perform your job.: patience, sensitivity, knowledge of wood, ability.
Yeah, you have to be “handy”! The piano is a brutal work of engineering, Many types of wood are used for different pieces of wood., but the key piece would be the piano's resonance board or harmonica, which is what amplifies the sound and requires special treatment... It is usually made of spruce, specimens selected and felled at a certain time of the year, left to dry in the forest and then in the acclimatized chambers. It is all very professionalized, from the artisanal tradition of the first pianos in the 18th century. Germans and Japanese are the ones that monopolize most of the market in the manufacture of pianos, applying the latest technology in wood treatment. In any case, Continuous training and retraining is essential to practice this profession properly..
We know the result, the end... but what is the essence of your work, the real goal when tuning a piano? And what do you use to carry it out??How much intuition is there?, analogy, and heard on the one hand and how much science on the other?
Tuning is basically math. What is learned, educating the ear, is to distinguish the relationship that must exist between two sounds, between two notes, and learn to listen to beats that are generated by frequency differences. Nowadays it is true that there are very precise devices and I think it is good to use them, but I believe that you have to know how to do it well by ear and rely on devices as a complement.
Describe to us what it feels like to tune the piano for an artist who, In addition to being a great pianist (especially in classical), you especially admire his music.
There is always a very powerful extra adrenaline when you tune the piano to an artist for whom you feel admiration and respect., but at the same time you want to have him close, to earn it and to be happy with your work. And of course... the satisfaction of a job well done is capital, Imagine!
What has this profession given you??
Learn how people live. When you enter a house to tune in and go beyond the intimacy that permeates that home, in the end you realize how they live., who are they. Even though we live in the same city, there are many ways to live, many types of family, many ways of being and being in this world. Interesting lives that are intuited from the energy found in each house, and that sometimes they forge friendships as a result of going to tune the same piano in the same house for many years.
