=81. Piano Tuners.= I think a piano tuner might form a class of ladies, and give instruction in the art. $1 is the usual price for tuning a piano in the city. One should have an acute sense of hearing, to succeed; and he should commence early to cultivate that sense. It is very necessary to know how to make a nice discrimination of sounds. Practice in that is best gained in a piano factory. Some could learn the principles in half a day. More depends on practice, and a native talent for it, than anything else. At Mr. W.'s is a very superior tuner, and he has been at it but a few months. It requires strength of wrist, and a rather long arm. The change of posture and strain on the back is considerable. There is not one good tuner in fifty. Mr. W. thinks a lady might be a tuner. He says it is not necessary that a person should know how to play on an instrument, but it is better. A tuner in his factory receives $3 a day. Regulating is done by the touch, tuning by the ear. If a lady could obtain the tuning of the pianos of her friends, they might speak to others, and in that way she might succeed in obtaining sufficient custom to make a very comfortable support. It might also bring out any musical talent the individual possesses. While piano tuners are learning, if they practise long at a time, they often experience a confusion of sounds, and are not able to distinguish correctly. I was told by another manufacturer, it is not at all necessary to be a player to make a good tuner, as the two are entirely distinct. There is a great difference in the abilities of tuners. There is much difference naturally in the sense of hearing in different individuals: there is much from training, there is much from the aptness of a pupil, and in the application. When they take a boy as an apprentice, they keep him at first to sweep the room, and go errands, and give him instruction, probably an hour at a time, in tuning. Longer time would confuse a learner. They have had a tuner for three years, that they can now send to tune pianos for concerts; but, a year ago, they could not. Two piano tuners (women) are mentioned in the census of Great Britain. Mr. W. had two or three ladies to learn piano tuning in his factory. They were music teachers, living in villages and the country, who could not engage a tuner oftener than once in two or three months, when the tuner would come around. He thinks ladies could not make very good tuners, because it requires great strength in the hand or wrist, and complete control of the key; for if the key is turned ever so slightly more than it should be, the wire will break. A manufacturer of musical instruments writes: "I think women could be placed in a situation profitable to themselves and the community by learning to tune pianos and melodeons, which I believe they have the skill and capacity to do. They would also find it profitable, in some places, to instruct juvenile classes of both sexes in sacred music."