Laurie Cote, master tuner and piano technician at the University's Piano Technical Services, looks like a maestro as he tunes the Steinway grand piano at Sanders Theatre.

While Schubert, Chopin, Beethoven, and Bartok resound around campus on pianos as fit as fiddles, a small group of dedicated craftspeople labor in a light-filled room in Vanserg, plucking strings, polishing ivories, replacing hammers, and rebuilding pedal boxes on as many as six grand pianos at a time. In addition to performing these key in-house repairs, Lewis Surdam, director of Piano Technical Services (above), and technicians Patricia Murphy Cabot (below) and master tuner Laurie Cote make "housecalls" to service the 180 or so pianos that belong to the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Of these, the Music Department's pianos get the technicians' undivided attention, and those pianos outside the Department receive three free tunings a year and minor repairs as necessary.