Matthias Rom Piano Tuning and Repair

Matthias Rom Bio

Singing in church, watching the organist and singing in school watching the nun playing the piano began a life long interest in the piano. Matthias took piano lessons as a child for a few years and then was forced to quit when the nun moved away. (There were four other siblings taking piano at a discounted rate and lessons became unaffordable for his parents of eight children.) He sang for four years in St Patrick High School Chorus with continued fascination for the piano.

While at Northeastern Illinois University, he took a course called Introduction to Jazz Piano and thus continued his journey at the piano. During this time he became very interested in ragtime piano and as a beginner decided that he would tackle Maple Leaf Rag by Scott Joplin as his first piece to learn. Spending between two and four hours a day at his piano at home caused the action of the piano to literally fall apart. Once again finances were not available to get professional service so he removed the action and all its parts and re-glued them, reassembled and reinstalled the action. (It still works to this day).

After completing a BEd at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay and supply teaching, a friend gave him a book on Piano Tuning and Repair. The book was not very well written but the bibliography was full of good books which Matthias purchased as many as he could find. After a few months of study and practice on his piano he started offering piano tuning in 1982. In the spring of 1983, he went to his first technical seminar with the Piano Technicians Guild and decided that he wanted to pass the demanding tests to become a Registered Piano Technician. He passed the written and practical tests immediately at that seminar and passed the grueling three hour tuning test a couple months later.

Since then, Matthias has tuned thousands of pianos in Thunder Bay, Northwestern and Northeastern Ontario and Northern Minnesota. He tuned for the Thunder Bay Community Auditorium from its opening in 1985 until 1992. He continues to get called for concerts, festivals, churches, schools, and homes in his service area.

Website: http://www.mypianoworks.com
Email: matthias@mypianoworks.com