HOM E TOWNSHI P HERO T S H E P I S O L E DWA B A ’2 0 B R O U G H T T H E TA L E N T TO B E C O M E A WO R L D - C L A S S P I A N O T E C H . O B E R L I N G AV E H I M T H E T R A I N I N G . B Y C AT H L E E N PA RT LOW S T R AU S S ’ 8 4
here are 12,116 parts that make up a Steinway grand, and beyond that, every piano has its own personality. The instrument presents myriad opportunities to sculpt the feel and sound for individual pianists or even for individual pieces. The distinctive training, time, experience, and mentorship it takes to be a Steinway-level technician is more akin to artistry than craft. Most pianists don’t have a command of what happens on the inside of a piano that makes it sing or sag. So it is the technician’s job to steer a pianist in the right direction— toward a particular instrument or in the adjustments made to one. Technicians at this level must have highly developed musical sensibilities and an incredibly discerning ear. They must establish trust with the pianists they OBERLIN ALUMNI MAGAZINE 2021 SPRING
work with—to hear the artists’ perspectives, then make decisions on how to coax the instrument to respond in the right ways. In 2014, Oberlin launched the Artist Diploma in Piano Technology, developed in partnership with Steinway, to meet a need in the music world—and at Oberlin. The conservatory’s collection of some 234 pianos had amounted to a mountain of annual maintenance. Pianos fill practice rooms, professors’ offices, and performance spaces across campus. Piano students, faculty, and a busy calendar of guest artists require pianos that not only sound good and are mechanically healthy but which are, in many situations, tailored to the specifications of particular performers and repertoire. While Oberlin had been teaching introductory and intermediate piano technology classes to Oberlin
undergraduates for years, the students being trained weren’t capable of helping keep up with the demands of the conservatory’s pianists and instruments. The two-year program grew out of Steinway’s deep history with Oberlin, which has been an “All-Steinway School” since 1877—the longest continuous relationship with Steinway of any institution in the world. The same year the piano tech diploma was launched, and 8,376 miles from Oberlin, in the South African township of Soshanguve, a young man named Tshepiso Ledwaba experienced something of a revelation. The clarinet he played was damaged and needed repair, but there was no one in the area who could do it. Ledwaba picked the brain of a visiting juror for an international flute and clarinet competition taking place at the University of South Africa, or UNISA. 35