For some years past a lack of competent men in the profession of Piano Tuning has been generally acknowledged. This may be accounted for as follows: The immense popularity of the piano and the assiduous efforts of factories and salesmen have led to the result that nearly every well-to-do household is furnished with an instrument. To supply this demand the annual production and sale for the year 1906 is estimated at three hundred thousand pianos in the United States. These pianos must be tuned many times in the factory before they are shipped to the salesroom; there they must be kept in tune until sold. When, finally, they take up their permanent abode in the homes of the purchasers, they should be given the attention of the tuner at least twice a year. This means work for the tuner. But this is not all. Presuming that the average life of the piano is about fifty years, it is evident that there exists in this country an accumulation of instruments variously estimated at from four to five millions. This means more work for tuners. While production and accumulation have been increasing, there has been little, if any, effort made to provide tuners to look after the needs of this ever-increasing number of instruments, no provision for the thorough instruction of the learner of Piano Tuning, outside the walls of the factories, and of the few musical colleges where the art is taught. Doubtless there are many persons who are by nature well adapted to this agreeable and profitable occupationpersons who would make earnest effort to acquire the necessary skill and its honest application if they had a favorable opportunity. Musical colleges in which tuning is taught are few and far between; piano factories are built for the purpose of producing pianos and not tuners, for mechanics and laborers and not for teachers and pupils; furthermore, very little fine tuning is done in the factory; rough tuning is the bulk of the work there, and a long apprenticeship in the factory, with its meager advantages, is rarely sufficient to meet the demands of the would-be-thorough tuner. This may account, in part, for the fact that many who are incompetent are following this profession, and that there is an increasing demand for tuners of skill.
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