As a piano technician, one of my pleasures is getting to know other technicians around the world, both professionally and socially.  Many piano technicians have a background in music performance of some kind, and a love for instruments in general (especially all the beautiful mechanical, historical, and detailed aspects of instrument making and repair.)  As well as tuning and repairing modern pianos of every kind, I personally have a love for unique, historic, and rare pianos, and also mechanical musical instruments.

A colleague and friend of mine, Douglas Schmidt, is a trained piano technician but also one of the world’s great bandoneon players.  He also is trained in music theory and composition, and for the last few years has been teaching in Asia.  We recently learned that he would be coming to Vancouver to perform in the “Accordion Noir Festival” in September 2017.  I took a few days off from piano tuning in Nanaimo and grabbed the chance to connect with Douglas in Vancouver and to see his workshops and performance.  Here’s a photo of us taking apart his beautiful, unique, and historical bandoneon to check out the mechanics of it:

I’m now back on Vancouver Island, ready for the fall rush of tuning and repairing pianos from Shawinigan Lake to Qualicum Beach, and everywhere in between!  Please don’t hesitate to call 250-754-2440 to book your piano tuning appointment.