"Three Generations of Experience"
I’ve worked in Ontario since 2003 as a rebuilder and technician for some of the top piano companies in the GTA, including Robert Lowrey’s Piano Experts and Paul Hahn & Co.
Prior to that, I serviced pianos and pipe organs in Winnipeg, Saskatoon, and Calgary.
It was in Calgary that I started, having learned my craft from my father, Caleb Henry Musselwhite, who, in turn, had learned from his father. My brother, John, is still providing quality piano services in Calgary. John and I are proud third-generation piano tuners.
For over a century, our family has provided quality piano service.
My grandfather, F.W. (Fred) Musselwhite, was trained in England as an organist, and apprenticed as an organ builder to Henry Willis in Liverpool. After a brief post as organist for the Duke and Duchess of Westminster, he came to Canada with the “Barr Colony”, finally settling in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan in 1903.
Along with teaching music, Fred was the organist and choirmaster for Third Avenue Methodist (United) Church. In 1903, he formed the Saskatoon Choral Society, and on March 16th, 1905 he conducted the very first concert of the Saskatoon Orchestra at Cairns Hall, with John Jackson as concertmaster.
Shortly after his marriage in 1905, he went to Ottawa to meet his new relatives. While there, he worked for a brief period at the Martin-Orme Piano Factory as a piano technician. He returned to Saskatchewan and with his new family settled in Prince Albert, where he owned and operated a music store, as well as tuning and repairing pianos.
At the outbreak of World War I, Fred accepted a commission into the Canadian Army and served in England and France. When the war was over, he returned to Canada and settled in Winnipeg. In about 1922, he started work as a full-time piano technician for J.J.H. McLean & Co, Ltd. in Winnipeg. He continued to work in this field until his passing in the early 1950’s.
My father, C.H. “Cal” Musselwhite, left public school early to work with his father, Fred.
When he turned twenty-one, he bought a used Model “T” Ford, packed up his tools, and went from town to town across the prairies, tuning and repairing pianos throughout the Great Depression.
He would try to arrive in a new town just before suppertime, book a hotel room, and walk through the town as darkness fell, noting the lighted parlour rooms of the houses he passed. He’d make a note of which houses had pianos, and then knock on their doors the next morning. His fee of two dollars per service was an expensive luxury for most families during those hard times, but he carried a secret weapon with him: a vacuum cleaner. Most housewives of that time had heard of this “new-fangled contraption”, but had never actually seen one. He would offer to clean the inside of the piano for a dime, and many women accepted this offer just to see the device in action. While he was cleaning, he would speak about the many important reasons to keep a piano in tune, and would often walk out with two dollars and ten cents in his pocket.
One day, while tuning the home piano for the owner of the Norquay (SK) General Store, he met my mother, Florence, and soon they were married.
Too old to enlist when World War II broke out, his services were in great demand as many piano technicians left to fight overseas. In 1942, he was hired by Heintzman & Co. to be the head technician for their Calgary store.
He remained in Calgary for the rest of his life, becoming the official piano tuner for the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium, Mount Royal College, the Banff School of Fine Arts (The Banff Centre), and the Rural School Division of Rockyview. He was instrumental in forming the Calgary Chapter of the Piano Technicians Guild in the mid-1950s.
In the early 1960s, my father saw a new Japanese piano called “Yamaha” at a conference and immediately recognized the potential of this piano. Forming a partnership with his friend, Don Ritchie, they opened a small store selling the new instruments. As business grew and the pianos readily sold, they needed someone to watch the store while they were out, and hired my mother to look after the new “Musselwhite & Ritchie” piano store.
Mom began bringing in sheet music and books and soon MR Music was in full swing. A name change suggested by family friend, the late Lord Shane Rideau, the Earl Alexander of Tunis, occurred soon after, and Rideau Music was born. It operated until a few years ago under new owners after Mom retired.
After retiring in 1985, my father passed away in 1996, two weeks short of his 90th birthday. Mom passed away in November of 2009 at the grand old age of 92.
I learned my trade not only from my father, but from numerous other piano industry professionals, as well.
I’ve tuned for such clients as CanadianStage, Soulpepper Theatre, the National Ballet of Canada, the Canadian Opera Company, Victor Borge, The Pointer Sisters, Manhattan Transfer, Alice Cooper, Anton Kuerti, Burton Cummings, Dan Akroyd, and thousands of individual piano owners.
Up until very recently, I’ve been fully occupied in the restoration of pianos for Paul Hahn & Co. of Toronto.
Now, I have a new focus:
Providing quality tuning services for the Niagara Peninsula.
When not working with pianos, I write about them. I’m a published author with more than ten books to my credit. My two books about pianos - “The Art of Compromise – Aural Piano Tuning” and “EEK! A PIANO! – Everything you ever wanted to know about pianos but were afraid to ask!” - have sold thousands of copies around the world.