Always Strive For Better w/ Thomas Zoells And David Graham
In this week's episode, David Graham and Thomas Zoells of PianoForte in Chicago join us. David pays homage to the great Virgil Smith, a renowned piano tuner. The icon of the piano trade still inspires him to this day. Virgil constantly pursued improvement and sought a better way. David would run across people who had studied with Virgil and continued to apply techniques learned for years, only to discover that Virgil's own methods had changed and improved by then. David said of Virgil, "He picked up the tuning hammer, and if he were still alive, he would still be tuning differently."
Our second guest, Thomas, previously spent 20 years in the banking industry. Through his banking experience, Thomas learned how to analyze firms' balance statements and identify potentially dangerous situations. Thomas put this knowledge to use once he had a piano store. In 2004 when the piano market was in decline, it was challenging to sell a piano. At this moment, Thomas was cautious and didn't take on too much debt or inventory, which paid off. The piano business is like any other. You've got to manage overhead and cash flow and pay attention to trends. Tune in to learn from Thomas's savvy perspective.
Here's a little bit about our guests:
Thomas Zoells
Thomas and his wife Darcy founded PianoForte Chicago, Inc. and PianoForte Foundation NFP in 2004. Having grown up in Switzerland and Vienna, he had worked for Ingpen & Williams in London, a classical artist agency, but then had a nearly 20-year career in banking. From being a store with only 4 pianos, all of them by Fazioli, PianoForte has grown into the premier downtown Chicago showroom. PianoForte features the full line of Yamaha pianos, as well as a 100-seat venue and recording studio that has become a focal point for small-scale listening and acoustic music recording and streaming. Visit here: www.pianofortechicago.com
David Graham
His learning as a piano technician began in a class taught by Robert Carbaugh at Moody. It continued when Virgil Smith said, “ I think you can tune well enough to be my apprentice.” The next change of direction came when he was asked: “ Would you like to tune at Lyric Opera of Chicago?” (1982). He’s still there. He began a full-time position at Northern Illinois University in 1983 and continued until recently transitioning to part-time. In 2004 he began working with Pianoforte Chicago on Fazioli and other high-end pianos alongside Thomas Zoells. His current clientele is a mix of private clients and institutions.
𝐉𝐎𝐈𝐍 𝐔𝐒 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐄 𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐓 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐓❗❗
Our second guest, Thomas, previously spent 20 years in the banking industry. Through his banking experience, Thomas learned how to analyze firms' balance statements and identify potentially dangerous situations. Thomas put this knowledge to use once he had a piano store. In 2004 when the piano market was in decline, it was challenging to sell a piano. At this moment, Thomas was cautious and didn't take on too much debt or inventory, which paid off. The piano business is like any other. You've got to manage overhead and cash flow and pay attention to trends. Tune in to learn from Thomas's savvy perspective.
Here's a little bit about our guests:
Thomas Zoells
Thomas and his wife Darcy founded PianoForte Chicago, Inc. and PianoForte Foundation NFP in 2004. Having grown up in Switzerland and Vienna, he had worked for Ingpen & Williams in London, a classical artist agency, but then had a nearly 20-year career in banking. From being a store with only 4 pianos, all of them by Fazioli, PianoForte has grown into the premier downtown Chicago showroom. PianoForte features the full line of Yamaha pianos, as well as a 100-seat venue and recording studio that has become a focal point for small-scale listening and acoustic music recording and streaming. Visit here: www.pianofortechicago.com
David Graham
His learning as a piano technician began in a class taught by Robert Carbaugh at Moody. It continued when Virgil Smith said, “ I think you can tune well enough to be my apprentice.” The next change of direction came when he was asked: “ Would you like to tune at Lyric Opera of Chicago?” (1982). He’s still there. He began a full-time position at Northern Illinois University in 1983 and continued until recently transitioning to part-time. In 2004 he began working with Pianoforte Chicago on Fazioli and other high-end pianos alongside Thomas Zoells. His current clientele is a mix of private clients and institutions.
𝐉𝐎𝐈𝐍 𝐔𝐒 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐄 𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐓 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐓❗❗
Browse more masterclasses and lectures from Piano Tuning Pros here: https://www.pianotechniciansmasterclass.com/
Piano Tech Radio Hour is brought to you by Piano Technicians Master. We provide cutting-edge piano technology instruction from piano industry masters without leaving your home, featuring monthly subscriptions, conventions, single live streaming, and recorded masterclasses. Learn advanced skills:
- How to tune pianos.
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Creators and Guests
Host
David Andersen
David Andersen, owner of David Andersen pianos in Los Angeles has been a professional musician, recording artist, and piano technician/consultant for nearly four decades. He has overseen the restoration and maintenance of hundreds of Steinway and Mason & Hamlin pianos during that time. Beginning in 1975 he apprenticed for two and a half years under Jack Cofer in Atlanta, Georgia; during the 1980s he studied at Steinway facilities both in New York and London.
Host
Eathan Janney
Eathan has 20 years of experience as a piano technician. He studied with Dave Miller, the staff piano technician for the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, New Jersey. Dave Carpenter, the inventor of the Verituner electronic tuning device, provided mentorship for Eathan in Chicago. Eathan also worked with Ken Eschete and Bill Schwarts, the staff piano technicians at Northwestern University in Chicago. In 2009, he founded Floating Piano Factory of New York, a company that allows piano technicians to move from Apprentice to Craftsman level while offering value pricing to clients as technicians progress toward mastery. In 2017 he founded Piano Technicians Masterclasses, an online project designed to offer cutting-edge instruction from piano industry masters to anyone on the globe with an internet connection.