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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (March 29, 1978)
Piano man keeps things tuned up | Van Cliburn liked Dave Gustafson's tune-up; Mario An dretti might not. But that’s understandable. Gustafson, 45, who works at the University School of Music, is a full-time “piano technician." An easygoing sort, precision is Dave's byword when he tunes a piano and the approach some times pays off in welcome praise. He recalls the time in 1973 when he carefully tuned the 230-odd strings and checked the 26 key-to-hammer actions of an instrument concert pianist Van Cliburn was to use in a campus performance. "When he walked off after the concert,” Gustafson remembers, “I was standing backstage. He turned and thanked me for a good solid tuning." “A piano must be tuned solidly for use by a performer,” he adds. “They must be able to play a con cert of hard, heavy music and end with something soft and quiet and still have an instrument that’s in tune.” Keeping the University School’s music instruments in tune re quires a never-ending work cycle, Gustafson says. His duties include caring for 84 pianos, six pipe organs, four harp sichords, two clavichords and about $100,000 worth of assorted band and orchestra instruments. By the time the last piano is back on key, others are off and his weekend activities are often inter Rapid Printing Copies CalligraphyoTheses & Dissertations EditingoResumes«Design & Layout* Advertising Cooperative Printing 485-4899 • 762 E. 13th (next to Excelsior) HOURS: 7:30 a m. — o p.m. Monday — Friday 9 a m. 6 p.m. Saturday Open Sunday Noon--5 p.m Delicate Blossoms, Sunshine, A Gentle Breeze On New Leaves Let Gentlewoman Clothe You in Springtime Gentlewoman CREATIVE DESIGN IN CONTEMPORARY CLOTHING 1430 Pearl Street 343-8353 rupted by a trip to the campus to attend to a tempermental instru ment before a concert. Occasionally, he handbuilds replacement parts for damaged instruments (there are about 9,000 parts in a piano, he says) or restrings an older piano. And, al though he complains that he often has to work in a noisy practice room, he tunes about three pianos a day. In addition, Gustafson teaches a University course in piano tuning and repairing. He also tunes the pianos used in the University s student union and those used for rock concerts in McArthur Court. During his own abbreviated col lege days, Gustafson spent his time listening to the crunch of football helmets, as well as to the subtle vibrations of piano strings. A partial football scholarship helped him pay expenses during the two years he studied music at Adolphus Gustavus College in St. Peter, Minn. He later transferee to Indiana University at Gary where he spent a year before draf pressure from the Korean Wa build-up pushed him into the Coast Guard. Four years later, his tour of dut completed, Gustafson returned t< his parent's home in Hancock Mich, where his tuning caree started. “When I came back from th service I wanted to play the pian we had at home, but it was out c tune,” he says. "The only tuner could get said it would be thre months before he could come oi to fix it. That seemed silly to me s I decided to go to piano tunin school and learn how to do it my self.'' There were no cheerleaders at the College of Pianoforte Tech nology in Chicago, but Dave found the studies interesting. After a stint in the Midwest tun ing trade, he moved to the Eugene area to set up his own business. The University became a client 1 and in 1970 he accepted a full time campus position as a state ' Civil Service employee. Nearly 21 years of piano tuning ' haven't dulled his love for the in r strument, Gustafson says. He still likes his job. 3 “I like to do something else, if Watch TV or, if there's nothing I good on, I’ll go out and work in the j garage,” he says, it But work in the garage is not o meant to tune up the car. It's to g build harpsichords. I A career in law without law school. What can you do with only a bachelor's degree? Now there is a way to bridge the gap between an undergraduate education and a challenging, responsible career. The Lawyer’s Assistant is able to do work tradi tionally done by lawyers. Three months of intensive training can give you the skills—the courses are taught by lawyers. You choose one of the seven courses offered—choose the city in which you want to work. Since 1970, The Institute for Paralegal Training has placed more than 2,000 graduates in law firms, banks, and corporations in over 80 cities. If you are a senior of high academic standing and are interested in a career as a Lawyer’s Assistant, we’d like to meet you. Contact your placement office for an interview with our representative. VJe will visit your campus on: Thursday, April 6 The Institute for Paralegal Training 235 South 17th Street. Philadelphia. Pennsylvania 19103 (215) 732-6600 Operated by Para-Legal. Inc
