While some people consider piano tuning a dying art, the technicians at Steinway Piano Gallery prove that the passion for pianos is alive and well.

David Cusick celebrated his 12 Year Anniversary with Steinway Piano Gallery on June 19, 2015.

One of the best examples is that of David Cusick, who celebrated is twelfth anniversary with the area’s exclusive Steinway & Sons piano dealership on Thursday, June 18.

Choosing a piano career path

Cusick, an Ohio native who moved to Naples in 1998, came to the piano trade in 2002. Although he wasn’t a musician, his wife, Kasia, was a piano teacher and friend of the Billings family who own Steinway Piano Gallery.

“David was very motivated to find a career,” says Grant Billings. “He wanted to find a skill that he could learn that would help people.”

Being a piano technician is several levels of skill beyond simply being a piano tuner, demanding an understanding of piano design, geometry, and how more than 12,000 pieces come together to become a musical instrument. While many piano tuners learn procedures from correspondence or online classes, becoming a competent technician involves formal classroom study and thousands of hours of practice.

“Anyone can take a picture with a digital camera,” David explains. “An experienced photographer knows how to use the equipment and what to look for to create a work of art. That’s what being a technician is like for me.”

After investigating the field, David was accepted into Boston’s North Bennet Street School’s Piano Technology program, regarded as the Harvard of the piano technician world. Although it would mean a year away from his family, he moved to Boston to pursue his new dream.

Moving from the classroom and back home

Upon completing studies at NBSS, Cusick began working at Steinway Piano Gallery and further honing his skills. He continued his education at the famed CF Theodore Steinway Piano Technical Academy at the famed piano builder’s factory headquarters in New York over the next decade.

“His commitment to becoming the best piano technician possible is the same as his commitment to our clients and, frankly, to our company,” Billings continued. “It is very common for piano tuners to bounce from one store to another or to only work independently. But David is dedicated.”

On any given day, you may find the father of four working in the shop at Steinway Piano Gallery – the only professional piano restoration and piano rebuilding facility in Southwest Florida – or in the field maintaining customer’s pianos in their homes. One of the Gallery’s specialities is customer player piano system installations. Customers can literally select the piano of their choice and simply add the player option. While he long ago lost track of how many pianos he has tuned in his career, David has already installed nearly one thousand systems.

Among his peers, David is known as a man of few words who prefers to let his work speak for itself. He is always the first person who offers to lend a hand, yet avoids the spotlight.

True to form, when asked what he likes best about his job, he explains, “When I’ve finished working on a piano and I hear somebody play it later and they praise it or say how happy it made them… those are the best days.”