We were lucky to catch up with Chaz Feizipour recently and have shared our conversation below.

Chaz, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Do you take vacations? Why or why not?

My family has always been big on vacationing. My grandparents lived all over the world, serving in the peace corps. I think this instilled a deep love for travel & culture into their children. Although some things skip a generation, this certainly didn’t. I am a firm believer in vacation & exploration! There’s a whole world out there waiting to be discovered. It makes us appreciate the things we have, understand our neighbors and cultivate a love for the beautiful planet that was given to us. The American model for work and vacation is extremely limited in comparison with other countries. Even thought it’s what we’re taught, it’s not all about making money. Being self-employed has given me the opportunity to set my own schedule and ensure that my wife & I have time to escape the grind and enjoy life together! I recommend the book “Do Nothing: How to Break Away from Overworking, Overdoing, and Underliving” by Celeste Headlee for anyone who is more interested in this topic. It is quite enlightening!

Chaz, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I began playing the piano at age five. I was obsessed and took off quickly! Through my pre-teen years, I became more interested in computers and became everyone’s “go-to” for those never ending computer questions. My father is a computer engineer and I naturally fell into that path…substituting programming courses in place language courses to expedite my degree in Computer Science. As most of us do, my personality & interests shifted greatly during my teen years. After two years of pre-requisites, I started my Bachelor’s Program at UMBC for Computer Science and finally accepted what I had known in my heart for many years; this was NOT for me. I planned to take a gap year and go back for something more interesting (i.e., graphic design).

During that gap year, I enrolled in a school for piano technicians and increased my share in community volunteer work. I spent endless hours rebuilding pianos with a longtime guru and began making connections in the field. After I finished my schooling, another longtime piano technician (and friend) in the area told me that if I could get some experience under my belt, he would be interested in having me join his team. After a slow start, that finally happened and I was officially on the road. I have built my own business & clientele from scratch and it’s gratefully keeping me busier than ever! I still subcontract for that original company I mentioned earlier. We are currently in the process of transferring ownership. Once that transfer is complete, I’ll merge the companies all under one roof and have one big happy client family.

I want every person who uses our services to walk away feeling satisfied and cared for. As you can imagine, musicians are unique and often times have very unusual & specific requests. A pianist is typically quite passionate & particular about their instrument which means you must earn their trust. Taking that bit of extra time to make someone feel understood & special makes a big impact in the long run.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

Don’t fix what ain’t broke! Of course use the Internet and modern technology to advertise and get the word out. But good old-fashioned word of mouth is without a doubt my number one source of new clients. There are many piano tuners out there, but your average person might possibly know of one. This makes growth via friends & family much easier. As people often refer their neighbors, I receive an added perk – the ability to go into a neighborhood and complete a whole day’s work without much travel time or expense.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

It’s not necessarily a lesson, but it is something I’ve had to unlearn. People often ask if I have perfect pitch considering I’m a piano tuner and my business name is “Pitch Perfect Tuning”. I do in fact have perfect pitch & consider myself very fortunate to have been born with this wonderful ability! When I started exploring this field, I assumed that I would have a huge advantage considering that I can identify any pitch at will. Boy, was I wrong! The first time I attempted tuning an entire piano, I jumped right in using my pitch perfect and limited knowledge of how to balance tension on an instrument holding a tension of ~20 tons. Needless to say, I was embarrassed of the result, humbled and quickly gave great credit to the skill and craft possessed by true piano technicians. You see, modern pianos are tuned using a system called “Equal Temperament” which divides octaves into 12 semitones of equal size. This is not the same way that our ears naturally interpret “notes”. In equal temperament, for instance, a fifth would be “tempered” by narrowing it slightly, achieved by flattening its upper pitch slightly, or raising its lower pitch slightly. It took me some time to figure out how to temporarily “turn off” my brain’s constant identification / adjustment of frequencies. I had been training to use this my entire life as I grew up playing the violin (an area where this skill is very helpful). Thankfully, I am now able to switch it on & off quite easily, allowing me to make those pianos sing as they were designed!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.pitchperfecttuning.com
• Instagram: @pitchperfecttuning
• Facebook: @pitchperfecttuningmd
• Linkedin: Chaz Feizipour
• Yelp: yelp.com/biz/pitch-perfect-piano-tuning-brookeville

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