Tom and Denise Carr have fond memories of attending many years of concerts on campus. In appreciation, they contributed to the Billman Music Pavilion campaign by funding a complete renovation and expansion of a key function of the College: the piano shop.
Unlike other instruments, a pianist cannot carry their piano from practice to rehearsal to performance spaces. For pianists, this fact places a high priority on the consistency and quality of the pianos made available to perform and practice on. Enter the indispensable Piano Technicians.
In the Michigan State University College of Music, for example, there are 215 keyboards, including 140 acoustic pianos as well as digital pianos, harpsichords, pipe organs, celestes, and a fortepiano. In short, pianos – utilized in concerts, collaborations, rehearsals, and lessons – are the backbone of any high quality music college.
Mary Lapprand studied piano for ten years and has been the College’s head piano technician for the past five years. Here, she works in the main part of the Carr Piano Shop, tightening string coils on tuning pins on a recently restrung piano.
Piano technicians Mary Lapprand and David Foster are two highly organized, highly trained and experienced technicians now benefitting from a gift that transformed the space in which they regularly save the day. That place is the Carr Piano Shop, named in recognition of Tom and Denise Carr whose generous gift during the Billman Music Pavilion campaign completely updated the room where this vital work takes place.
“I cleaned out the old shop, and that was an event, let me tell you. Sixty-three years of stuff!” Mary said, describing the difference between the old and new shops as “night and day.” Mary has been the head piano technician in the College for the past five years.
“We have better lighting, and better access to electrical outlets. When the Carrs made their gift, it was helpful to focus on the little details like having a separate wood shop from our clean shop, the storage cabinets, and the office space,” she explained. “I could even use the office space to work on a vertical piano if I want to and tune it while Dave is doing something else in the main part of the shop. I’ve enjoyed working here.”
Dave Foster works in the new Carr Piano Shop, arching hammer tails on a new set of hammer heads in the wood shop room.
Dave, who joined the College staff in 2020, came to the university with over 20 years of experience as a technician. From working in other shops to owning his own business, he describes Mary as the one with university-level piano technology education and himself as the one with a wide variety of experiences, which makes them an excellent team.
“I got hired into a brand new, very clean and organized shop, which is really nice,” he said. “When I got the opportunity to come in and interview with Mary, I saw the new shop, and everything just fit with me. How it looked and how the shop felt, and how Mary treated me, and how the university treats the instruments – being here makes me feel like I’m where I’m supposed to be.”
Mary said that Dave has brought a skill set that compliments hers, and the key to their work is staying proactive to stave off issues with pianos before they happen.
“Working in a shop that is organized is so important. There are moments when we don’t have that much time to make quick fixes, so it goes really fast when things are where they should be,” Mary said.
That simple yet crucial feature is what enables the team to utilize the Carr Piano Shop to stay on top of such a large inventory. Mary, who studied piano for ten years, understands this on a personal level.
Mary Lapprand and Dave Foster are responsible for maintaining 215 keyboards, including 140 acoustic pianos as well as digital pianos, harpsichords, pipe organs, celestes, and a fortepiano. In total, about 20,000 keys worth of instruments!
“Sitting down to an instrument can feel like the piano is home base, and we want to make it as comfortable for people as possible, regardless of what piano they’re on,” Mary explained. “When people play, they’re actually exposing part of their soul. It can be a very fragile thing for someone to play the instrument for others to hear. Pianists do not have the luxury of maintaining their own instrument, so we have to create that home feeling for them with every instrument here, whether it’s in a practice room or a concert hall. Having a nice piano shop makes it so much easier to be able to do that.”
As technicians, Mary and Dave work daily with the science and math involved in caring for pianos. There are weight ratios, string tension, and a lot more technical information that goes into their work. As they proactively maintain a schedule that keeps all 215 keyboards in shape and ready-to-play when needed, they also pay close attention to the artistic side of their work.
Pianos are vital to the College, and maintaining them requires a well-organized and spacious place to work. The Carr Piano Shop has provided that.
“We’re almost like engineers,” Dave said, “but we have to split our minds between the engineer and the musician, which is sometimes the hardest part. We want to find that relationship with the music and look past all of the weight ratios and the physics of a string vibrating. We try to imagine what it would be like for students and faculty to have that sort of emotional connection.”
This is something that Tom Carr identifies with closely. Accustomed to working in a lab, Tom served on the MSU faculty as a cognitive psychologist and cognitive neuroscientist from 1979 until his retirement in 2014.
“As a laboratory scientist, I know how important your equipment is, and I understand the importance of having somebody who really understands and cares about that equipment to keep it running,” Tom said. “Knowing how it all fits together is important, and I think the College of Music got a really great find when they hired Mary. She has a spectacular background, and she has the kind of spirit that can keep hard projects going.”
Thanks to Tom and Denise Carr, the College of Music now has a piano shop that allows our expert technicians to do their best work.
The Carrs feel that pianos are a foundational aspect of any music school, and their personal history with music played an important role in their decision to help renovate the piano shop. Denise’s first exposure to classical music was in college through donated tickets. At the same time, the low cost of College of Music concerts made it possible for them to attend performances as young parents.
“So many of the various performances we have seen over the years have been subsidized by other donors, and it’s been a huge part of our lives,” Denise explained. “The concerts given by the College of Music are a gift to the community. Music is one of the primary connections that the town has to the university; a gift to the College is a gift to the community as well.
Mary and Dave said the gift they try to give to the musicians is to make the pianos invisible.
“That’s our goal, too, as technicians,” Mary explained. “We have a lot of great faculty and students here. If we can prepare the instrument so they don’t really notice it, that means that they can focus only on their art. It’s a treat for us to be able to work with these artists because we learn a lot from them, like how to become better voicers and better technicians.”
Thanks to the technicians at work in the Carr Piano Shop, the day will come when an MSU musician will once again use these keys to bring the beauty of the piano to audiences.
Professor of Piano and Chair of the Piano Area Deborah Moriarty experiences this relationship daily, working closely with fellow piano faculty and overseeing the numerous ways pianos play a role in the life of the College.
“The College of Music is so fortunate to have artist level piano technicians who truly represent the artistic level of the faculty and students,” she said. “For too long our wonderful piano technicians have needed to work in substandard conditions. The Carr Piano Shop has changed that, and we thank Tom and Denise for such a wonderful gift that epitomizes our appreciation of this artistry.”
Ultimately, it is everyone sharing the same goals that make this enormous and vital operation succeed. To the Carrs, improving the workspace and having the right people in place is key.
“There’s absolutely not enough that can be said about what Mary brings to the spirit of the college,” Denise said. “I just think that she and Dave are terrific assets.
Tom agreed, while deflecting some of the praise for the role he and Denise have played in helping the College.
“The renovated piano shop is an efficient use of space,” he said, “and if the technicians think their work lives have been improved, then that’s the best accolade that we can get for having done that.”
Improved? Listening to Mary and Dave, improved is an understatement.
“I’m really appreciative of the dedication that the College of Music gives to us and to the craft of piano technology as a critical function here,” Mary said. “I feel very lucky that generous people like Tom and Denise Carr have enabled us to create this terrific new shop. The Carr Piano Shop will have a positive effect here for many years to come.”
