Piano Technician, Dr. Roy E Howard

ROY E. HOWARD

Piano Tuner/technician

Dr. Howard tuned his first piano in 1966, the year he started as a music major at San Francisco State College. He has been actively tuning ever since, including a five year period in which he serviced pianos full time in Washington State. He has a special perspective on the needs and interests of music teachers, since he taught private lessons on the piano and other instruments for eleven years. He earned a B.A. in Elementary Education from Brigham Young University, an M.A. In Music Education from Eastern Washington University, an M.A. in Multicultural Education from the University of New Mexico, and a Ph.D. in Bilingual Education at the University of New Mexico. He retired from the School of Education (Gallup Graduate Studies Center), Gallup New Mexico.

Currently, Dr. Howard is a full time piano tuner and guild leader living in Wichita, Kansas.

Qualified and equipped to tune, regulate, voice, and repair old and new pianos.

Resume

Wichita, Kansas: Tuner/technician since 2009 with The Piano Man and since 2014 with Wichita State University.

Gallup, NM: piano service technician for Gallup, NM Facilities Management Group and Gallup-McKinley County School District (about 70 tunings/year) 1998- 2008. Also home and institutional tunings (300+ per year)

Thatcher, AZ: piano service technician for Thatcher, AZ Preventive Maintenance Group (about 180 tunings/year) '95-97 (Also 30+ plus home and institutional tunings in SW NM and SE AZ 1992-97)

Albuquerque, NM: tuned for churches and homes 1985 - 2008

Silver City, NM: piano service technician for Western New Mexico University (about 50 tunings per year) 19921997

Lubbock, TX: tuned for BODE Enterprises (reference: Bob Johnson, RPT. Serviced many stores, churches, schools and homes, 1985-1992 (about 25 tunings per month, plus shop work)

Bloomfield, NM: tuned for two stores in Farmington, and many churches, schools, homes, etc. 1979-1995

Tuner/technician, Howard Piano Service, full time 1978-1982

tuned for many schools, churches, stores in Eastern WA (100 per month)

Tuner/technician, Squires, the Organ and Piano Center Spokane, WA full time 1977-1978

Tuner, part time, California, Venezuela, Utah, Maine 1966-1977

Profesional Associations

President, Asociación Mundial de Luthiers since 2013. Continuing Education, Reconognition of luthiers, Accreditation of technical courses, Service Projects

Piano Technicians Guild (PTG Associate Member. Exams passed 1989: tuning, written. National Bylaws committee, 1993; Local Chapter monthly Journal Editor 1989-92, 2009-present); state conference committee 1989, National newsletter committee, 1991; chapter president elect, 1991-92). Special training: PTG conferences 1988, 1989, 2009, 2014, 2015, 2016; Steinway factory orientation in action regulation, 1977.

Publications

Howard, Roy E. "The Future of the Piano"

Howard Roy E. "Concerto for Piano Tuner and Orchestra"

Howard, Roy E. "How to Keep Your Upright Sounding Grand", Music Educators Journal, November, 1985, pp. 52-56.

Howard, Roy E. (Editor). Texas Piano Tech. Northwest Texas Chapter, Piano Technicians Guild, Lubbock, Texas. Editor, columnist, cartoonist, of monthly journal 1987- 90.

Howard, Roy E. "Piano Man", The Piano Quarterly. Various issues in 1989. (Instructional Cartoons).

Howard, Roy E. Piano History, Selection, and Care for the Musician, Teacher, Student. http://www.cantos.org/Piano/PianoHistory.html

Howard, Roy E. Editor, The Voicing Tool, Newsletter of the Wichita Chapter, Piano Techncians Guild. Index

Howard, Roy E. Director de la Conferencia 2015 en Ecuador.

Howard, Roy E. Director del Congreso Nacional para la restauración de instrumentos musicales patrimoniales.

Howard, Roy E. "YouTube" Channel

Video: "A Demonstration of Vertical Action Regulation"

Howard, Roy E. "Music Lessons en Ecuador"

Howard, Roy E. "Pianos en Ecuador"

Howard, Roy E. "Bartolomeo Cristofori"

Howard, Roy E. "Afinar el Piano"

June 8, 2015
To Whom It May Concern,
I am writing on behalf of the distinguished piano technician Roy E. Howard who has been the interim piano technician for the School of Music of Wichita State University from November 2014 to June 2015. Roy has been in charge of tunings, voicings and repairs for pianos in faculty studios, student practice rooms, classrooms, choral and orchestral rehearsal rooms, and two large concert halls. Many of his assignments of work have been in preparation for concerts, festivals, recitals and competitions. Artists have counted on him to prepare the pianos before high-intensity live concerts as well as the special demands brought by recording sessions. Additionally he has done the regular maintenance tunings demanded by daily student practice sessions and faculty teaching.
His work has been uniformly at a high level of expertise. Faculty and students have been unanimously positive about having their pianos worked on by Roy and it has been a pleasure and joy to work with him in arranging the schedule of assignments. His tunings have always been excellent and he has been diligent in seeing that things like broken strings and minor repairs are promptly and well taken care of.
In March WSU hosted the Naftzger Young Artist Auditions which draws a significant number of outstanding young artists from the surrounding states and is a major outreach sponsored by the Wichita Symphony. Roy’s duties were spread over four concert hall venues and included four Steinway concert grands in the concert halls and two additional Steinway grands used in the smaller rehearsal rooms. In speaking with orchestra administrators after the event I found them unanimous in their praise of his work.
In January, Steinway technician Peter Krauss, after examining one of the WSU concert grands, commented positively on the quality of workmanship the piano had received and enquired on the name of the technician – that technician was Roy Howard.
Again I must state what a pleasure it has been to work with Roy in setting up the assignment of work on the pianos at WSU. He is always punctual, very well organized, professional and gracious. Dedication to excellence in piano tuning, maintenance and repair are his ever-present goal. I recommend him to you without reservation.

Yours sincerely,

Andrew Trechak
WSU Director of Keyboard Studies
E-mail: andrew.trechak@wichita.edu
Phone: 316.978.6235
B205 Duerksen
Wichita State University
1845 Fairmount
Wichita, KS 67260