I was very proud to have recently put together a short film about piano restoration work at The Piano Shop Bath. It is a great shop that caters for all needs and budgets, although ‘Shop’ is a small word for a much bigger business that The Piano Shop Bath represents. In addition to selling pianos they provide piano removals services, piano tuning, event hire, valuations and of course, piano repairs and restoration services. Over the last four years I have watched the shop develop and expand into a much larger premises, creating a substantial workshop space. This workshop is now the hub through which all pianos are serviced and restored.
Piano Restoration is a job that requires patience and years of experience. I was asked to create a short film that captures the essence of what this work was about, and to convey the craft that is behind every piano repair. I had the pleasure of observing technicians Marc and Steve while filming them about their work. I was amazed by how traditional the repair work still was, even with modern tools to aid them. Applying woollen felts to the dampers is essentially still glueing bits of high quality felt to wooden hammers, but it needs to be precise and the glue needs to be the right type that works naturally with the wood. If you choose to invest in having your piano restored, you are not just investing in your instrument but also investing in the expertise of highly skilled technicians who carry out the work. It is a specialist craft, and pianos simply could not exist without good piano technicians.
You can check out the video below. I composed some original backing music to aid the flow of imagery, using piano based sounds arranged in a contemporary, fresh setting. If you would like to know more about the video or my composition work, then please do get in touch.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDjPRXINRuY&w=640&h=360]