The keys of life: Piano tuner West has perfect pitch - Salisbury Post
ROCKWELL — You see it in the way Roy West cocks his head and points his left ear toward the piano. His strong right hand gives it away, when he twists the tuning lever, then eases back to the spot he knows is right. This is confidence, and when it comes to tuning pianos, West has it. He wakes up in the morning knowing the world is out of tune, and with every piano he works on the rest of day, he restores some resonance and harmony to the order of things. What I’ve just done, it would take a new man an hour to do. ”. Spend any time with West, and you might think you’re talking to a physics professor. Though he just turned 80 and has been tuning pianos for close to 60 years, West is more renaissance man than Ancient Mariner. When he’s done tuning a piano, West sits down and tests it out by playing a classical piece — Rachmaninoff is his favorite — or show tunes from “My Fair Lady,” such as “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly,” or “On the Street Where You Live. West laughs, remembering an old adage among piano tuners, who regularly find themselves in churches: If a piano can play a Baptist hymn, it can play anything. At his home in Lexington, West plays — and tunes. Source: www.salisburypost.com
