Piano Technicians Guild
WESTPAC - Western and Pacific Regional Conference
February 22-25, 2012
Salt Lake City, UT
Conference and Class Schedule [PDF]
Revised 2/4/12
Voicing Classes
NOTE: Click on an instructor's name to see a bio.
Voicing Without Needles
Zhiwei Huang, RPT and Larry Lobel, RPT
Zhiwei Huang, RPT
Zhiwei
(pronounced "Zeeway") Huang was
born in China in 1954. Both his parents were engineers, and he and his
brothers grew up actually living in the factory where his parents were employed.
From a very young age he learned how to finely craft things of metal and
wood with machinery and hand tools. He is an accomplished violinist,
but conceived a passion to be a piano tuner. He emigrated to
the United States in 1981 and started learning piano tuning and repair
in 1984 in San Francisco. He's been a PTG San Francisco
chapter member since 1992. Mr. Huang has taken advanced technical
training at the Steinway factory
in New York, at Yamaha's Little Red Schoolhouse and at the Baldwin factory
in Trumann, AR. For some years he served as a consultant for Baldwin
Piano Company in China and would travel several times a year to their
Dongbei and Zhongshan factories to advise on quality control and
train factory workers. He is currently the chief technician for
the San Francisco Unified School District, where he has the responsibility
for maintaining and rebuilding 550 pianos. He does high level concert
tuning & technical work and has served as technician for touring concert
pianist Vladimir Viardo. Zhiwei is a creative thinker and has devised methods
of tuning and voicing that don't always follow accepted norms, but achieve remarkable
results. He has taught these in classes for PTG chapters in San Francisco,
Sacramento and Santa Clara, as well as many groups of piano technicians in China.
He is generous with his time and knowledge, and is always eager to share with
and learn from other technicians.
Larry Lobel, RPT
Larry
Lobel, RPT earned a B.A. in music at Hunter College, then started learning
piano technology in New York in 1971 with Robert Fairchild and Steve Fairchild,
Sr. He worked at the International Piano Archives under William Santaella,
designer of Yamaha's CFIIIS concert grand. After a few years with Yamaha Canada
he relocated to the San Francisco area in 1976, where he has a piano service
business. He is a graduate of Yamaha's Little Red Schoolhouse and a licensed
Stanwood Precision Touch Design installer. He first joined the PTG in 1972,
but says he made the mistake of dropping out until he re-joined in 2000. Since
then he rarely misses a chapter meeting or regional and annual conventions.
To most piano owners and technicians, the first things that come to mind with the mention of "voicing" are needles and lacquer, but these should really be the "weapons of last resort." This class demonstrates many other voicing techniques that get quick and dramatic results, and often eliminate the need for jabbing or juicing. Learn how to make a tone more focused, eliminate buzzes and false beats, and make a spinet sound like a concert grand.
Angel Shot Voicing
Zhiwei Huang, RPT and Larry Lobel, RPT
Zhiwei Huang, RPT
Zhiwei
(pronounced "Zeeway") Huang was
born in China in 1954. Both his parents were engineers, and he and his
brothers grew up actually living in the factory where his parents were employed.
From a very young age he learned how to finely craft things of metal and
wood with machinery and hand tools. He is an accomplished violinist,
but conceived a passion to be a piano tuner. He emigrated to
the United States in 1981 and started learning piano tuning and repair
in 1984 in San Francisco. He's been a PTG San Francisco
chapter member since 1992. Mr. Huang has taken advanced technical
training at the Steinway factory
in New York, at Yamaha's Little Red Schoolhouse and at the Baldwin factory
in Trumann, AR. For some years he served as a consultant for Baldwin
Piano Company in China and would travel several times a year to their
Dongbei and Zhongshan factories to advise on quality control and
train factory workers. He is currently the chief technician for
the San Francisco Unified School District, where he has the responsibility
for maintaining and rebuilding 550 pianos. He does high level concert
tuning & technical work and has served as technician for touring concert
pianist Vladimir Viardo. Zhiwei is a creative thinker and has devised methods
of tuning and voicing that don't always follow accepted norms, but achieve remarkable
results. He has taught these in classes for PTG chapters in San Francisco,
Sacramento and Santa Clara, as well as many groups of piano technicians in China.
He is generous with his time and knowledge, and is always eager to share with
and learn from other technicians.
Larry Lobel, RPT
Larry
Lobel, RPT earned a B.A. in music at Hunter College, then started learning
piano technology in New York in 1971 with Robert Fairchild and Steve Fairchild,
Sr. He worked at the International Piano Archives under William Santaella,
designer of Yamaha's CFIIIS concert grand. After a few years with Yamaha Canada
he relocated to the San Francisco area in 1976, where he has a piano service
business. He is a graduate of Yamaha's Little Red Schoolhouse and a licensed
Stanwood Precision Touch Design installer. He first joined the PTG in 1972,
but says he made the mistake of dropping out until he re-joined in 2000. Since
then he rarely misses a chapter meeting or regional and annual conventions.
Learn a revolutionary new technique for dealing with too-loud pianos that have very hard hammers. With this easy, fast and effective method you'll never again spend hours pounding needles into hammers with little effect. You'll give your customers dramatically improved tone at low cost that will delight them and earn their loyalty. This was one of the most popular classes at the Kansas City convention in 2011, and was written up in the December 2011 PTG Journal.
Can I Level With You?
Richard Davenport, RPT
Richard Davenport, RPT, is a concert technician, formerly
a Technical Service Consultant for 24 years with Yamaha. He received advanced
training at Yamaha's concert grand factory in Japan and, more recently, at
the Fazioli factory in Italy. Since 1980, he has serviced pianos for 20th Century
Fox Studios as well as installing a new soundboard, action and pinblock in
their 1928 Steinway D. He regularly teaches PTG chapter seminars, regional
and national convention classes. Richard is a recipient of the PTG 2008 Hall
of Fame Award.
This class features tools, techniques, and ideas to improve grand piano tone without using a three-needle voicing tool. Demonstrations will include use of a newly-invented magnetic bubble level to fit hammers to strings. Many useful techniques will be presented, and tonal changes evaluated. Every technician will come away with new and practical information.
NEW!
Focusing the Hammer on the String
Fred Sturm
Fred
Sturm has spent over 25 years as piano technician at the University of New
Mexico, experimenting, honing skills, and developing procedures to bring pianos
to a high musical standard and maintain them at that level. He has trained
with Steinway, Shigeru Kawai, and Sauter, and has been a frequent contributor
to the Piano Technicians Journal and instructor at national and regional conventions.
He is also an accomplished solo pianist, specializing in music of Latin America.
The key to a focused tone is a focused hammer, one that hits the strings directly, with minimum wobble, and hits all three strings simultaneously. How do we accomplish this? By a systematic approach starting with centerpinning, traveling and squaring hammers, refined filing techniques, string leveling, and finally mating of hammers to strings. Efficient techniques for these steps will be demonstrated on both grand and upright pianos.
Voicing the Renner Blue Point Hammer
Rick Baldassin, RPT and Michael Spreeman, RPT
Rick Baldassin, RPT - Renner USA
Rick received his education and piano technology training from Brigham Young University. He is the author of the book On
Pitch, which was recently re-published. Rick served as the Tuning Editor for the Journal from 1987 to 1991. His teaching has taken him to piano factories and conventions throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Russia, Korea and Australia. Rick has served as the Concert Technician for the Utah Symphony for over 20 years, and has been the Teaching and Technical Consultant for Renner since 1989. He has been trained in the concert and artist programs of Fazioli, Steinway and Yamaha, and has been a consultant to the Falcone, Mason & Hamlin, and Pramberger Piano Companies. Rick also serves as the Technical Support Director for Fazioli in North America. He is a Member of Note, Jim Burton, and Hall of Fame award winner. Rick and his wife Cindy currently operate Baldassin Pianos, a full-line rebuilding and retail showroom located in Salt Lake City.
Michael Spreeman, RPT, Klavierbauer
Michael is the creator of Ravenscroft Pianos and founder of Spreeman Piano
Innovations, LLC. Experience includes: 35 years as a concert technician, rebuilder,
service technician, and instructor. He has also worked as a technical consultant
for Renner, Fazioli, Yamaha, Steinway, and Baldwin. Education includes: apprenticeship
with Jim Coleman Sr., specialized Fazioli concert technician training in Sacile,
Italy, concert technician and Disklavier training with Yamaha Corporation of
America, and music studies at Arizona State University. Michael teaches nationally
and internationally at PTG and BDK conferences. www.RavenscroftPianos.com
In this class, a full set of newly installed Renner Blue Point hammers will be voiced on a concert piano. Rick and Michael will present an effective, easy to assimilate, step-by-step voicing procedure that is the culmination of 70 years of combined education and experience in symphony and university concert work, piano restoration, consulting to manufacturers, and production. This new hammer allows the voicing to be achieved predictably in a very short amount of time. The class will conclude with a short performance, allowing the class an opportunity to hear and evaluate the voicing. The Renner Blue Point hammer is a new product featuring the Weickert Special felt. Renner has been producing high quality hammers using this felt for such companies as Steinway Hamburg, Fazioli, Steingräber, Bösendorfer, Bechstein, Schimmel, Estonia, Ravenscroft and more.