Most piano owners are aware that their piano should be tuned every so often (every six months according to most piano manufacturers). They may not be aware, however, that pianos require other services such as regulation and voicing in order for the instrument to perform at its maximum potential.

Richard Bazemore, a local piano tuner-technician, attended the Randy Potter School of Piano Technology Advanced Hands-on Training Seminar at Montana State University School of Music in Bozeman, Mont., from Dec. 28 through Jan. 6.
At the 70-hour seminar, working piano technicians studied piano tuning, regulating and voicing skills under the instruction of Dave Schwartz, piano technician at Northwestern College and owner of Cory Care Products; Ward Guthrie, piano technician for Yellowstone National Park as well as the greater Bozeman area; and Randy Potter, president of the Randy Potter School of Piano Technology.

Regulation is the adjustment of the more than 9,000 parts of a piano action to compensate for the effects of wear, the compacting and settling of cloth, felt and buckskin, as well as dimensional changes in wood and wool parts due to changes in humidity. A well regulated action will offer discriminating pianists the maximum amount of control and finesse that can be obtained from a particular piano.
Voicing is the adjustment of a piano's tone or quality of sound which can be changed without affecting its pitch. A skilled piano technician can voice a piano to change its tonal personality from mellow to bright or robust to delicate with the degree of change depending upon the piano's design and condition.

In addition to the training received above, Bazemore is a registered piano technician with the Piano Technicians Guild and also a graduate of the Randy Potter School of Piano Technology.

A registered piano technician is one who has passed a series of rigorous examinations on the maintenance, repair, and tuning of pianos offered by the Piano Technicians Guild. Bazemore has 14 years experience in the piano tuning and repair business.

Bazemore lives in Social Circle, Georgia and services pianos in areas along the I-20 corridor from east Atlanta to Lake Oconee and beyond. He established his business, Pianos In Tune, LLC, in 2003.

For more information, contact him at (770) 787-4890 or rick@pianosintune.com.