\u201cIt\u2019s sitting above 440, because we\u2019ve entered the more humid months, so the pitch floats upward,\u201d Busse said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know what \u2018440\u2019 means,\u201d Woodall said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the standard pitch.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRight,\u201d Woodall said. \u201cAnd I had two technicians who never told me that.\u201d He\u2019d started prepping for the role months before filming began, with help from the movie\u2019s piano consultant, the tuner Peter White.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first lesson Peter taught me was the wah-wah-wah-wah,\u201d Woodall said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe beats?\u201d Busse asked.<\/p>\n
Woodall lit up. \u201cBeats! That\u2019s what I would try to listen for.\u201d<\/p>\n
Busse, who wore a black polo, got to work tuning, pulling the lever ever so slightly on an A.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow often is it just this, compared with taking out the keys?\u201d Woodall said.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of your work should be regulating,\u201d Busse said, playing two notes together. \u201cThe thing with piano tuning is you need to go fast.\u201d In the film, Niki tells a client that a session could take more than two hours. \u201cIf I took two to three hours, I\u2019d never get paid,\u201d Busse said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s at least one sequence in the film where I completely take it apart,\u201d Woodall said. In the scene, Niki is trying to save the piano of his love interest, Ruthie, from water damage. He dismantles the instrument and borrows Ruthie\u2019s hair dryer to get rid of the moisture.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t say that, don\u2019t say that,\u201d Busse said, shaking his head. \u201cThat would certainly change the tuning.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the movie, we get asked to fix toilets,\u201d Woodall said. \u201cHave you ever been asked?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe not plumbing, but fixing someone\u2019s internet,\u201d Busse said. \u201cI try to stay in my lane.\u201d<\/p>\n
The film starts as a buddy comedy, with Niki helping out his elderly mentor, Harry, played by Dustin Hoffman, on tuning gigs. During a solo house job, Niki gets roped into using his hyperacusis to help a group of criminals break into a safe. He can hear the clicks.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve never had any luck cracking safes,\u201d Busse said. \u201cBut I\u2019ve picked the lock to my own house, because I needed to get in. That\u2019s more of a mechanical skill.\u201d<\/p>\n
Busse pointed to red felt strips and protruding metal loops: \u201cThat\u2019s for the temperament area, from which you tune the rest of the piano. \u201d<\/p>\n
Woodall nodded. \u201cI remember using the felts to numb either side of each string, or whatever,\u201d he said. He stood to look over Busse\u2019s shoulder. \u201cIt still fascinates me how each key has three strings.\u201d (Some have one or two.)<\/p>\n
Busse started tuning a low B-flat.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you have perfect pitch?\u201d Woodall asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen it comes to saxophones,\u201d Busse replied.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Woodall stepped away to examine Busse\u2019s tools again. \u201cI\u2019m looking for the needle one,\u201d he said. He picked up a wooden stick with a prickly end.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s for voicing,\u201d Busse said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, we did a bit of that,\u201d Woodall said. \u201cTake it apart, flip it upside down, and just really get in there.\u201d\u00a0\u2666<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cIt\u2019s sitting above 440, because we\u2019ve entered the more humid months, so the pitch floats upward,\u201d Busse said.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":677731,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[293968,88,1766,206,75525,295503],"class_list":["post-677730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-_talk-of-the-town","tag-entertainment","tag-magazine","tag-movies","tag-splitscreenimageleftinset","tag-the-pictures"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/677730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=677730"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/677730\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/677731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=677730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=677730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=677730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}