Blind piano tuner calls it a day after 40 years of service

HE'S the man who has been keeping Edinburgh's schools perfectly in tune for 40 years despite being completely blind.

Piano technician Maurice Porteous has become part of the furniture in the city's 110 schools, making sure hundreds of instruments have been performing to their full potential.

Now after 40 years spent fixing, tuning, servicing and refurbishing, Mr Porteous - who lost his sight as a teenager - is bidding farewell to his post and looking forward to retirement.

He has become a familiar and welcome figure in schools, particularly during the days when he used to take his guide dog with him.

He could fit in up to five piano services a day and was called into schools before concerts and music exams to make sure the pianos were performing to the best of their ability.

Mr Porteous, 60, said: "It's good to have been appreciated.

"Going into schools, people were always pleased to see you.

"I had a guide dog from 1980-86 and used it when I was working in schools. The dog became more popular than I did with the kids and staff, they were always wanting to take the dog out."

Mr Porteous, who lives in Bonnyrigg, has played the piano since he was a child and was always intrigued about how they worked.

He went to the London College of Furniture to study piano tuning, but left before the end of the course to take up a training scheme with the council in Edinburgh in 1969.

Ever since then, he has been keeping the Capital's youngsters in tune, and said the skills for the job mainly came down to experience, although his "highly tuned" hearing as a result of him being blind probably helped him along the way.

He said: "The tuning is done by ear and you build up that experience over the years.

"I have been totally blind since I was 18. Your hearing doesn't get better but you use it more so it's more highly tuned. You depend on it more so it's developed more.

"It's helped me in this job and I've been able to put it to better use than just finding where I'm going."

Mr Porteous said the job always kept him busy, with some primary schools having three or four pianos and secondaries having as many as ten.

However, he added some of them have seen better days. He said: "Pianos have become a bit less fashionable in the digital age. I don't remember the council buying that many new pianos since I started in 1969.

"They could do with some new ones but I doubt they'll have the money for that."

As well as working in schools, Mr Porteous, who plays the accordion and guitar as well as piano, has also offered his services to the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and the Usher Hall over the years, where he met stars including Diana Ross and Billy Connolly.

Despite having fond memories of his work, he is looking forward to retirement, though his connections with schools may not be over yet.

He said: "For the first month I'm going to do as little as possible but after that I would like to volunteer for the Royal National Institute for the Blind to keep myself busy.

"I don't just want to vegetate.

"Over the years I have given talks in schools on blindness and I would like to do something like that."

He added: "I have a piano at home that's needing attention. I'll have the time to do it now."

City education leader Councillor Marilyne MacLaren praised the piano technician's dedication and commitment over the years, adding: "I wish him all the best for the future."