A tuned piano - and the fun and learning in the process

Megan observing Mr. Wold

 Last week we had our piano tuned which is not normally anything that I would write home about err....  blog about. This time however was quite a bit more fun than normal.

  We were told about a tuner in our area that we had never tried before. He was recommended and ended up was quite a bit cheaper too and was able to come soon so it seemed like a good idea to try him out.

  My kids were as normal quite curious and so they gathered round. I told them that they should probably back up so they didn't get in his way but he said he didn't care. That if they got to close he would simply poke them in the nose. :-)

 My kids have all seem into the working of a piano to some degree but as he was taking things apart to get ready to work they were seeing more than usual and someone wondered something about how it all work and the tuner invited them all to gather round while he explained it all in detail. I well knew the basics that you hit the key, the key causes the hammer to hit the string and then you have a nice sound but he gave a lot more detail then that and showed each step of the way. So fun!

 Then when he started tuning he pulled out his C tuning fork and then invited all the kids to see what it felt like when you make it vibrate (by hitting it on your knee) and then touch the end of it to a tooth. They thought that was great fun as they could feel the sound vibrate all through their head. Then he offered to show another trick and asked if we had a good dinner fork and a glass and showed how you could use your fork like a tuning fork and get a good little buzz all while waving your hand over the glass and pretending the sound comes from there.

Our piano now sounds lovely and the kids know a little more about it too. To finish off the tuning time he played a bunch of beautiful pieces on the piano to make sure it sounded okay. We thoroughly enjoyed the concert! He is a very accomplished musician (he retired from teaching music at a local Bible College).

  It was a fun homeschool day! We did also get some other schoolwork done while he tuned but his being there was a pretty big distraction. That is okay - it isn't everyday that we have a piano tuner at our house.