April 2019

A New Beginning

Nearing the end of my work on this piano, I am happy and sad, but glad to look back and see the results. This resurrected piano will live on, sounding and performing beautifully in every way once more. — Piano Technician Bryce McKay

Let It Go, Let It Go! Let Go My Ego. . . .

Let off is a big deal. Pianists love just the right amount of let off; it makes those pearly whites feel amazing under your fingers as you tickle the ivories. This is how we do it, by putting a magnet against the strings and adjusting the jack so it disengages the hammer 1/8″ from the […]

Huuuuuge Gap!

After bringing up the tension on the new strings, we saw that the pinblock was indeed in need of some care. This was a ton of fun! Taking away the tension in order to clamp down the pinblock with a whole ton of glue. Drilling huge holes. Sanding and shining the new bolts and washers. […]

Flyaway Jacks

Piano work often feels like detective work when trying to figure out why something doesn’t work right. One symptom can have multiple causes. I’ve recently finished putting a new set of hammers on a piano this last week and was surprised to see odd irregularities in my hair line. Turns out some of the jacks […]

How Piano Students Become Historians

How do piano students become historians? Well, that answer takes a little bit of background. Since graduating from BYU almost a year ago, I have felt something of a void in my life. I miss the learning and growth that was such a part of school. I miss the challenge of understanding complex subjects. I […]

A Commission to Teach: A Music Teacher’s Story

By UPC Faculty Member Lexi Monson I’m five years old, sliding off my muddy pink snow boots as silently as I can to keep from disturbing the rehearsal. I have been begging my mother to bring me along all week. I snuggle up with my Winnie the Pooh blanket in an unforgiving wooden concert hall […]

Can You Figure Out How This Piano Works?

A grand piano can repeat 15-17 times per second! (not bad for 300 year-old technology…right?) With this slo-mo video of a grand piano action, see if you can figure out how it works!

What Learning to Knit Taught Me About Teaching Piano

I recently wrote a post about learning to play the ukulele and how that has influenced my piano teaching. This post has a similar feel to it. Since graduating with my Master’s degree last April, I’ve taken up several new hobbies because I now have time for such things, and it is interesting how these […]

Jigs and (Not) Dancing

Piano factories have pretty fancy equipment-large industrial equipment to efficiently make parts consistently. How do technicians replicate that kind of work consistently and accurately? we make jigs: jigs for drilling holes, jigs for gluing things, jigs for cutting felts. What is a jig, other than an Irish dance? It’s simply a tool that aides other […]

This Month in History: Famous Composers’ Birthdays

At Piano Academy, we celebrate a different composer every month by listening to their music and learning about their life. This month we’re focusing on Sergei Prokofiev, a super cool Russian composer who lived in the first half of the 20th century. It turns out his birthday is this month! So that got us thinking… […]

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