Three books for the piano technical profession
The three textbooks provide elementary knowledge about the piano technical profession. They are aimed at students and anyone who wishes to learn how upright and grand pianos are repaired, restored, regulated and tuned. The books are very suitable for self-studies as the text is enhanced with many illustrations and repetitive questions. They describe the different work operations in the order they ought to be carried out.
Much of the material is followed by historical flashbacks and each section ends with questions to review the covered areas. Most technical terms are translated into German and English. The books come with a booklet with the technical terms in Swedish. All the terms are translated into Spanish in the English edition. The format is 24 x 15 cm.
Background: The studies, of the three books, are based on real-life learning situations. I worked for many years as a teacher of piano tuning, piano technique and piano theory. Together with my students, we devellop this study. We used the books daily during the three years of training. The professional education was a full time study of three years. I will send you the English version of “Upright and Grand Piano Repair”. The German edition is sold out and a new print run is planned shortly.
Applications: the books can be used to study by one self, or/ and studying together with teachers, but also as a continuation of studying for more experienced professionals piano technicians. Each chapter of the three books ends with study questions and data for the student to perform. The three books together have about 1500 pages (English versions). The books have different areas that they address: Repair of sounding parts, adjustment of the upright and grand piano actions and piano tuning with acoustics etc.
More languages: the books are written in Norwegian and already translated into: German, English and Russian. The book “Upright and Grand Piano Repair” is also available in French. All three books have been translated into Japanese, but not yet been published. Currently we are negotiating with two other European languages.
THREE BOOKS YOU CAN NOT BE WITHOUT!
Books for the piano technician profession. About the author of the textbooks:
Carl-Johan Forss, author of textbooks, teacher and music teacher, was born in 1939 into a family with lots of music. After a few years at see he began to study at the Piano Technician School in Stockholm and received his piano technician degree 1960. Some months later he also received his piano tuning degree at the Royal College of Music. The following year Carl-Johan married Christina. They have three boys. In 1979 Carl-Johan started working as a teacher at Rud Videregående Scool for piano technicians trained in Norway and the family moved there.
That was how it begins with the advents of the books. In the absence of theoretical support teaching materials, Carl-Johan contacted a book publisher who was willing to produce a book of piano technician profession. Eventually five books were published. The first book took four years to write and consists of 300 pages. The books, describe below, each have their own topics: piano and grand piano repair, -adjustment, and –tuning.
The text material has been worked out together with students and tested in piano teaching techniques. Before Carl-Johan moved back to Sweden, he was promoted to lecturer in systematic education. Carl-Johan worked with piano technician training until his retirement in 2006.
Are you interested in having the books in your language, please contact author, cjf@pianomedia.se