Work Experience

Oliver Beeson drilling the fortepiano wrestplank 105K jpeg

CAREY BEEBE

Oliver drilling out wrestplank of the fortepiano rebuild
in preparation for plugging the original tuning pin holes

Twenty-three year old Oliver Beeson has been apprenticed for several years as a modern piano tuner/technician under his father Bernard, who runs In Tune Piano Service in Perth. He had recently made a two-month European trip for training in historical piano restoration—the cost of which was assisted by the Van Uden Bursary awarded by The Piano Tuners & Technicians Association of Western Australia (PTTAWA) — including a month working with square piano specialist Lucy Coad near Bath.

January 2025 provided an opportunity for Ollie to visit Sydney for an intensive two-week internship in the harpsichord workshop. It was a busy time with several interesting projects for him to add to his early keyboard experience.

Two Cadets had just arrived from Paris, and required completion with stringing, action installation, voicing, regulation, fitting of the buff stop, and of course tuning.

No trip to Sydney would be complete, of course, without a visit to our world- heritage listed Opera House. Opera Australia was in the final stages of its rehearsal period for the revival of their Elijah Moshinsky production of Rossini’s Barber of Seville, so we had several visits to the Joan Sutherland Theatre orchestra pit where my fortepiano had to be tuned. Ollie’s first opera experience was the General Rehearsal of this show, and to judge from his enthusiastic response, I think it’s fair to say it was a highlight of his trip and he’s now quite opera-curious.

Other projects Ollie assisted with during his time in Sydney included:

packing & dispatch of a Zuckermann Five-octave Clavichord
tuning & delivery of an 1832 Kirckman square piano
major rebuild of a Zuckermann Stein model fortepiano
keyboard rejuvenation on a water-damaged Zuckermann Italian Harpsichord III
neatening up of a secondhand Hubbard Flemish Single Harpsichord prior to sale on the Instrument List
action work on a c1820 Clementi & Co square piano, including ivory rejuvenation and leather hammer hinge replacement

It’s always a pleasure for me to discover modern piano tuners who want to increase their early keyboard knowledge and expertise. Oliver was punctual and incredibly enthusiastic, and proved he has the necessary fine hand skills for this detailed technical work. This year, he is embarking on a new three-year BMus degree as a Piano Technology major under Dr Paul Tunzi at the University of Western Australia, and I look forward to keeping and touch and hearing of his progress.

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