The piano Tuners of India
December 31, 2023
About six years ago, one fine morning there was a knock at our office door. There was a girl who had walked in to our office. She was very humble, soft-spoken but had a very strong determination about what she wanted to be. And after about one hour of conversation we enquired how she came to know about us, she told us she found a poster seeking for architects. A poster that was published a year ago. Mirra.
Mirra was an integral part of organising and hosting akarma dialogue a weekly session on varied mentors. It is in one of the dailouges that we heard Mirra’s voice for the first time. It was a song that she had learnt in her school and she trained everyone in the dailouge session to sing a chorous together.
As months rolled by in a conversation with shivraj anna about music we learnt that she was a student of Bombay Jayashree. She has been learning music from when she was three years old. Her invocation prayer, ‘Allah tero naam’ in Gandhigram in the presence of Krishnammal Jagannathan, Jaymohen left everyone in tears and silence.
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“Paraa” an initiative started by Mirra hosted a gathering every morning during the pandemic, as an open platform for everyone to express themselves through sounds. Paraa looks at music beyond the conventional and serves as a non judgemental space to experiment and explore one’s idea of what music is. Mirra had also formed her own unique method of teaching Piano to children. Her Piano was always open to anyone who wanted to just come and play with the keys. It was a blessing to all, especially to those who couldn’t afford a Piano. She strongly believes the only way to learn any instrument is to start playing with it and in the process have a conversation with the instrument.
Later she moved to Hyderabad to become the primary Architect for restoring a stepwell at Bapughat. Her dedication and commitment helped in reviving this 400 year old water structure. After the desilting process and the aquifer was yet to be revived Mirra was drawn to the music of the trickling of water from the aquifer present three stories below the ground.
As she reached the aquifer she prayed to the water and started humming a tune in rhythm with the droplets of water, which echoed through time and space. It was definitely a voice which opened up the clogged aquifer’s and filled back the well with brimming water. She found her passion in heritage conservation and moved to do Master’s in University of Edenburg.
Few months later disturbed by the new place and unable to take the silence of being alone she went for a hike alone to a nearby mountain. As the sunset she was stranded alone in the mountain with only a small light of hope that she saw at a distance. She reached there and found an old man repairing Piano in his hut, who she accepted instantly as her Master and joined to be a part of Pianodrome, a space where old pianos are repaired and restored.
In her two years of being in the pianodrome, she had come across varied kind of discarded pianos and has got them back to life. She has learnt the technicalities of how sound is produced when a key is pressed and how to tune to achieve the the tone that sounds just right for the key. She has also made the pianodrome come alive by hosting several musical gatherings.
Mirra is traveling to India in search of old pianos to explore the stories that’s hidden in their keys. If you know of anyone who tunes pianos or who has an old piano or any information about Piano Tuners in India, it would be of great help in this collective documentation effort.
May the keys resonate the legacy, yet again.
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The Pianos of Madras
December 31, 2024
A pair of tender experienced hands rushes instinctively to pick up a white cloth – one of many, as she has covered her furniture for years (it protects them from the dust, you see) – at the first sight of rubbish (treasure?) under the keys of her new, old, piano.
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I’m very glad that my first memory of an outdoor piano was in school, under the big, warm canopy of the Banyan tree. We have both since taken shelter under many more trees, a temporary shed in a playground, within a disused shopping mall and a warehouse bursting with creation.
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It’s important to play [with] your instrument.
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This past year, I’ve tuned pianos in exchange for dedicated time with cats, a hot bowl of soup in the winter, a conversation, homemade kebabs, tea and biscuits, piano stools, and as a last resort, money. I’ve met so many wonderful pianos, each one of a different age, of a different aesthetic and sound and touch.. Each one, nonetheless, a special reminder of our intrinsic need to tune into music. Aged pianos especially have had many stories to tell – they have revealed secrets of forgotten rings and toys, newspaper clippings from years gone by, and markers of repair by the patient and nimble-fingered piano technician. They have resounded with music across decades, almost as if every note we play is not ours alone.
Now, I’m in search of old pianos in Madras. Documenting these instruments would become an important step towards restoring them and experiencing their sound again by musicians and audiences alike. If you or someone you know has an old acoustic piano, please reach out to me, and let’s listen and play together! 🎹
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