Modern electronic pianos are light years ahead of the paper-scroll-driven “player pianos” of yore. You can play them yourself manually like any regular piano, of course. Or sophisticated computer hardware and software can mechanically reproduce performances of the finest pianists expertly playing the world’s great piano literature. Until something goes wrong….
For example, in August 2019:
Toale Brothers Funeral Home in Sarasota had bought a gorgeous $20,000 Yamaha electronic grand piano for their premier location to play soothing classical background music during funeral visitations and services. But the piano output was impossibly loud and strident, with no way for them to turn the volume down.
The distributor who’d sold them the piano had subsequently left the area and there was no knowledgeable Yamaha technician capable of fixing their $20,000 albatross. So it sat there idle for six months until Tracy was called in.
It turned out the electronic/mechanical action of all 88 keys had to be individually recalibrated and the computer system reset, then the acoustical tuning brought back into perfect pitch. The net, end result: The clients were ecstatic — thanks to Tracy — to finally be able to use their magnificent Yamaha piano for its intended business purpose.