Pianos on Steamboats

I hope we can add the Delta Queen, Mississippi Queen and American Queen pianos to the list of well-maintained steamboat instruments. In 1976, in the days when my piano playing had not yet expanded to steamboats (but did include night clubs and churches), my day job was as a staff piano tuner/technician with Wurlitzer/Steinway of Cincinnati. One day a special order arrived from Steinway and I uncrated and prepared a brand new Model M that I was told would be delivered to this brand new riverboat down in Louisville, the Mississippi Queen.

Two years later I would be tickling those ivories in the Grand Saloon. Part of my contract with DQSC has always included maintaining the pianos onboard whatever vessel I was performing, and in the times I didn’t actually work onboard, I continued as port piano technician whenever one of the steamers called at Cincinnati.

The DQSC Entertainment department has always been conscientious about maintaining their pianos in tiptop shape, and as policy, the pianos are tuned every week to ten days. This maintains the instruments at concert pitch and ensures the actions are kept in proper adjustment and regulation. With incredible amounts of playing, along with the constant fluctuation of air temperature and humidity levels, the pianos require at least this amount of attention to keep them always at peak performance readiness.

In 1979, Bob Waring, then Director of Hotel Operations for Delta Queen, allowed me to load my own upright piano onto the Mississippi Queen in Cincinnati. It was a wonderful old Baldwin studio upright from the 1950’s that I had bought at auction from the Cincinnati Public Schools and restored and refinished. It had just the right look for the Paddlewheel Lounge, and we moved the little Kimball spinet down to the movie theater (where, upon a couple of occasions I played it in accompaniment to silent movies).

My Baldwin upright served well in its tenure in the Paddlewheel Lounge, and one who really enjoyed playing it was Captain Gabe Chengery. During that time, Captain Gabe became engaged to the lovely and divine Miss Cindy Unrein, chanteuse extraordinaire, who had begun as an Entertainer on the Mississippi Queen about the same time I did. Their riverboat romance in part grew around that old piano as Captain Gabe would accompany Cindy’s singing upon occasion. So, as our wedding gift to the Chengery’s, ***** and I gave them the Baldwin, and Gabe made arrangements one day to offload the piano in Natchez and we transported it to their new home in the back of a pickup truck. Not wanting to miss an opportunity to entertain, I rode in the back of the pickup with the piano and played “Tailgate Ramble” as we drove through Natchez.

The Chengery’s still have the old Baldwin, now in their home in Colorado and their three children grew up taking lessons on a wonderful old steamboat piano that had provided joyful music for many a traveler on the western rivers.

And that 1976 Steinway from the Mississippi Queen? It is now in the Orleans Room on the Delta Queen, having followed me around my whole steamboating career!

I don't know how those asterisks appeared in place of **'s name, but it was supposed to say that ** and I gave the piano to the Chengery's (not me and some mystery person!)

It still has those asterisks....but it should say my wife's name D - I - A - N - E

There 🙂 Wonder why her name came up as asterisks?

Dear alan, Jazzou & gang:
I don't know a thing about tuning pianos but find the threads on pipe ograns and pianos fascinating and it's not off the subject. I, too, am always amazed at the river personalities past and present who are/were fine musicians. Capt. Tom Greene, 'Aunt' Telia Hughes [Did Capt. Jesse also play?], Capt. Mary B. Greene, E.J. Quinby, Doc Hawley, Gabe, Travis, Keith...on and on. Me? I play the linoleum with my shoe. Judy's posting about the organ on the DELTA QUEEN is a goodie. Another friend of the Simontons was early film star Harold Lloyd and he always made a hit when aboard the boat. 'Talent night' on the boat was always a crap shoot. There were times when some quiet gentleman or lady would sit down and pound out great classics to awe the audience. Others sang in fine operatic voice or pulled out a violin they'd brought aboard. Those were memorable moments.

Lexie inquired about boats with pipe organs. I doubt any on our rivers had one other than a foot pump organ. Old pictures show some fine pianos in cabins and 'Chickering' was one often mentioned. I vaguely recall years back seeing an old B/W photo taken in one of the very ornate period Atlantic steamships. There was a pipe organ mounted up high in one of the main lounges with lots of carved wood, angels, potted palms etc. I doubt they were very practical at sea in addition to taking up a lot of space. On any boat or ship space is a precious commodity. I'll keep digging for that old photo. The GREAT EASTERN 'may' have had one but I can't nail down the fact here.

Cheers,
R. Dale Flick

I stand corrected, Jazzou. The DQSB pianos were exceptional. Having an in-house repairman (you) made the big difference.
During my time working in dance bands I probably moved more pianos than Puritan Truck Line. And some were so awful that we would tune up to each other, ignoring the poor beasts. There is a long-standing tale about a night club owner who proudly told the band that the piano had been fixed up. They didn't tune it. They had just painted it blue!
Tuning the middle of the range was no joke. The piano man had to stay in there, like a calliope perfesser. And, of course, nothing could be done about the action with stuck keys, missing hammers, etc.
Today piano men carry a case, just like the other sidemen, containing an electronic keyboard machine.

Dear Alan & Jazzou:
Okay, I've seen lots of pianos being tuned over the years. One of this family has a terrific Steinway grand in their home. The piano man came one day and set up an electronic device like a box he plugged in with dials and an amber glow shining. I got out of his way and didn't know what was going on in the other room. Does such a device 'sound' a pure tone that he matches with his tuning tools etc?

Question: Do tones and pitch vary with orchestras and instruments here and in Europe? There's a term for it and I'm pulling at straws now to remember. Something about 'vibrations?--something like 440.' You can see I'm still in the paint brush and lawn mower stage of development. I do sing anthems and hymns at church. I'm totally lost about 'voicing' a pipe organ but willing to learn.

Cheers and thanks,
R. Dale Flick

Jazzou Jones;2900 wrote: I don't know how those asterisks appeared in place of **'s name, but it was supposed to say that ** and I gave the piano to the Chengery's (not me and some mystery person!)

Hi Jazzou,

Having finally met ** yesterday, I can vouch for the fact that she is truly a star, so maybe that's where the ***'s come in!

The pianos on the MQ are both "real" pianos, as you know. One of my partners in the Paddlewheel, our mutual young friend Drew, plays in what can be called an "enthusiastic" style. How many strings did he break when he was on the DQ with you? :O)

When I left the AQ in 2004, the lounges had electronic keyboards, I think. But the piano in the Grand Saloon was real. And, one of the best kept secrets on the AQ is the upright in the Mark Twain Gallery.

I should point out that Bob Schad, Bob Stevens, Mike Gentry and I all play REAL banjos. :O)

And, if I may share a chuckle with y'all.

This past season, I took the time to read all the comment cards. (Yes, I read them ALL). One week about six of them demanded "more banjo, more banjo, more banjo". I was thrilled until I read a little closer and found that they actually said..............

................wait for it ...........

"More bingo, more bingo, more bingo"

Paul

Paul Penta;2912 wrote: Hi Jazzou,

Having finally met ** yesterday, I can vouch for the fact that she is truly a star.

WOW! It did it to me, too. When I typed D-I-A-N-E's name, it came out **.

Franz?

Paul

** test

I'm about to type Mazzou's real name. Let's see what happens.

**

Paul

OK, that's too wierd.

Paul

Harmon Mize

Who remembers the piano (A Baby Grand? Wouldn't know one if it ran over me) that graced the stage in the Orleans Room on the DELTA QUEEN in the early '70's. Big Cap undertook to free it of its factory-black paint during the winter layup in 1971, and found that beneath lurked a beautiful mohogany body that Wagner refinished; a job that he especially took pride in showing anyone wanting to share in his tale of how he stripped and refinished the piano that winter.

Wonder if that piano is still around? Chances are it was the same one used when Harmonize With Harmon Mize was the call for entertainment down on the ironwood deck.

Asterisks

Carmen contacted me to let me know the asterisks automatically came up for Wifezzou's name as Franz had very thoughtfully banned certain key words that might come up with regards to my wife's illness, which I requested not be discussed on this board. If you would like to receive updates about how she is doing, please email me privately ([email protected]) and I will gladly include your name in the periodic updates I send out.

It was great to see you yesterday, Paul! Thanks for coming straight to the hospital after you got off the plane in Boston. I like your "five star" explanation for the asterisks.

Alan, it is true that there are many junk pianos out there, and all piano players have had to play their share of clunkers -- out of tune, missing strings, hammers, etc. In addition to a good coat of paint, some pianos would often benefit from a couple of shots of whiskey poured right into them.

Piano tuning

Dale, pianos are designed to be maintained at the concert pitch of A-440. This means that the A strings above middle C on your piano vibrate at a frequency of 440 times per second. This is the official pitch of the Unistates Bureau of Standards and officially adopted by the American Federation of Musicians in 1920. It is the worldwide standard accepted pitch, though sometimes orchestras will tune a little higher.

There are sophisticated tuning devices now that measure frequencies, and some tuners use these machines exclusively in their work. I learned to tune by ear, listening to the beat rates produced when the two tones of an interval (like a third, a fourth, a fifth, sixth, octave, tenth, etc.) are sounded.

Hi, Shipyard:
I may be wrong but seems to me there was a black baby grand piano on the boat going back many years. I'm sure a number of posters here recall the famed 'Happy Briscoe' who tickled the keys in addition to running the boat's gift stand. This back before 1962.

Harmon Mize always had a great touch on the electric organ [Hammond?] there also. Who remembers Ken Hurst on the organ? WOW! the talent that has and continues to grace the Queens.

Cheers and Do-Re-Me-Fa,
R. Dale Flick

Jazzou Jones;2920 wrote: Dale, pianos are designed to be maintained at the concert pitch of A-440. This means that the A strings above middle C on your piano vibrate at a frequency of 440 times per second. This is the official pitch of the Unistates Bureau of Standards and officially adopted by the American Federation of Musicians in 1920. It is the worldwide standard accepted pitch, though sometimes orchestras will tune a little higher.

There are sophisticated tuning devices now that measure frequencies, and some tuners use these machines exclusively in their work. I learned to tune by ear, listening to the beat rates produced when the two tones of an interval (like a third, a fourth, a fifth, sixth, octave, tenth, etc.) are sounded.

Dale,

There are also guitar tuners which work in a similiar way. They are easier to use in that they are designed to recognize the pitch of a particular string. Then, using LED lights, they guide you to either raise or lower the pitch of the string until it reaches the proper pitch for E B G D A and E again. I find it quite valuable. Having tuned guitars and banjos a few thousand times, I find it difficult to tune by ear since I now hear the entire spectrum of each note played. It takes a millisecond or so for a string to reach the proper pitch and I find it hard to choose where the proper pitch lies on the way up.

Maybe I need to take a few lessons from Jazzou :O)

Paul

Fired My First Man Over That Piano

Right, you are. Harmon Mize played the electric organ and the calliope, too, I believe. See where Jazzou said a "good coat of paint" oft helped an ailing piano. After Cap removed the black paint off the baby grand, wags said the thing would never sound right, again, but Wagner would hear none of it, for her gave 'er several think layers of polyurethane varnish that must have had the same remedial benefits as did the coats of slick black factory finish. Didn't Mary Greene tickle the keys, too? And who can ever forget lovely Mom Tooker on the piano?

One fellow who should have stayed away from that piano (when it was still black) was a young college student working on the DQ as a deckhand for the summer. His interests were more sophisticated than what he was getting paid to do, and what he wanted to do was mess with the piano; so as a group of us following the Mate entered the O-Room from the Fire Box, this fellow was plinking away on the ivories. That tough ole Mate, a certain CCH, looked at his Second Mate, me, and just said, "Fire him." Though it nearly broke the kid's heart I had to follow orders, and he was last seen toting his suitcase up the hill. The piano, by the way, was constantly getting out of tune from would-be players messing with the thing. The was no Jazzou-talented types aboard, so the instrument had to be tuned when the boat reached a town where an expensive professional piano-tuner would have to be found to get the thing back in tune. No one else who shouldn't have, played around with the piano after that example.

Shipyard Sam;2924 wrote: The piano, by the way, was constantly getting out of tune from would-be players messing with the thing. The was no Jazzou-talented types aboard, so the instrument had to be tuned when the boat reached a town where an expensive professional piano-tuner would have to be found to get the thing back in tune. No one else who shouldn't have, played around with the piano after that example.

Hi Sam,

On the MQ, my cabin is DIRECTLY under the piano in the Paddlewheel. Many was the time, after hours, that I had to get out of bed, trundle upstairs and shoo some aspiring Liberace away from the instrument. We finally had to lock the thing when not being used by someone from the ent dept.

It was difficult sometimes to explain to a passenger why their playing the piano was not allowed. That's why the upright in the MT Gallery on the AQ comes in so handy.

Paul

A at 440 is the standard today, but back in steamboating days A at 435 was more common. Electronic tuning devices are rather sophisticated today, and are well-respected within the piano tuning community. I use an old "sight-O-Tuner" and my ear. That SOT has saved my neck more than once in less-than-optimum enviroments--like the spinet in a stage trailer parked next to a diesel generator powering the carnival rides; and then the county fair took three weeks to pay for the tuning! The other fun thing to do, is to tune a piano on a stage where they are still setting the balyhoo lights and setting up the tables and dinner ware--and then some guy comes up to me and asks me if I have to keep making "that noise" as it is disturbing his dinner. I told that if he wanted to hear the concert tonite, then Yes, I had to continue to do my job.
S'
David D.

At Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, the piano tuner was a German POW from North Africa. How this guy went through a war, got interrogated, shipped to Missouri and all and kept his tools will never be known. He tuned to A = 444, European standard at the time. Rubinoff and his Magic Violin showed up at the camp for a concert and made about 1,500 enemies when he complained and had a tantrum. As for us sad-sack army musicians, we just pulled in our slides and got on with it.

Who benefitted most, the piano or the piano man?

Hi, Shipyard:
Yep, Mary Greene-Stewart has been quite a musician and singer all of her life from Cincinnati's Withrow High School, University of Cincinnati and the famed Interlochen music camp in northern Michigan near Traverse City. In fact, and on good authority, Mary had the honor of singing for President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Mary has a rich, clear voice with the ability to harmonize. Sister Jane Greene also has a fine voice.

Cheers,
R. Dale Flick

That's interesting, as most violinist like 'em sharp!
S'
David D.