SAN ANTONIO – In a world full of technology, the piano has taken a back seat when it comes to home entertainment. As piano sales declined over the past 60 years, it became rarer to come across piano tuners, especially those who can tune by ear.
Collin Cornelius has always loved two things: music and working with his hands.
"Piano tuning is kind of a blend of those things," Cornelius said.
He admitted the piano technician industry is a tough one.
"Traditionally the piano was a form of entertainment. But then when the radio came around it took people's attention off of the piano. TV did the same thing. Then with mobile phones, even more so," he explained.
"He's now one of just a handful of piano technicians in town who can tune by ear, without technology," he said.
"I got lucky. A little trade school, a few guys with a lot of experience and I learned everything from them," Cornelius said.
That school and many others like it are closed now, but what Cornelius learned there has turned into a career and craft he adores.
"The very first part of the job is to take some of these strip mutes and mute the outside strings so that when I'm tuning I'm only listening to one string at a time," he said, weaving a long strip of red felt through the piano strings.
"All the strings are wound around a tuning pin, and that's what keeps the strings tight," Cornelius said.
The only tools he uses are a tuning hammer and a tuning fork.
He hits the tuning fork, puts it down on one of the strings and then plays the key, trying to match the two sounds. Then the tuning hammer is set on one of the tuning pins, and it's turned right to make the key sound more sharp and left to make it sound more flat.
"Everything is done by ear after that," he said.
With hundreds of clients, including companies like the St. Andrews Hotel, Cornelius tunes about two pianos a day.
"I love it! Every day is something different," he said.
It's an art, a craft and a science that he works hard at every day to keep relevant.