The End

When I finish a tuning at a customer's home, I usually run through a bunch of major arpeggios up and down the piano.  Then I finish off with a big C11 arpeggio.  It's just a habit, but it serves a couple of purposes.  First, I'm just "tasting" the piano's tone, now that it's in tune.  Second, I'm quickly checking octaves to make sure one or more sections haven't shifted during the tuning.  Third, I'm signaling to the customer that I'm done.

Sometimes after I close up the piano, the customer, or, more likely, the customer's child, will sit and play a bit.  And I don't know why, but the piano always sounds a little out of tune to me, even though when I played it I was satisfied.  Maybe it's because the piano sounds different from a different vantage point, or I'm just paranoid about the quality of my unisons.  I've learned to not respond to my apparently distorted perception - I listen to and applaud the child, or marvel at the octogenarian ripping off some ragtime, or sit quietly and write out my bill.

But I do love it when I leave the house, and as I get into my car, I can hear my customer in the house, playing up a storm.