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Hillsboro’s Mark Newman built career as piano tuner despite being born blind

Hillsboro resident Mark Newman walks down his front steps, tapping his white cane as he makes his way across a concrete walking path to the shop where for decades, he has tuned and restored pianos. Despite being born blind, Newman, 62, has spent his career keeping pianos in tune for area residents, churches and even a celebrity now and then.

“One of the first things that happened that made people realize there was a problem is that during my first Christmas, well they got to noticing that my eyes did not react to the Christmas tree lights,” Newman said from his home in Hillsboro.

One of Newman’s uncles was a paramedic in the Army, and he got a flashlight and shined it into his eyes and they did not react.

“He told some of his family members there is something wrong with that child’s eyes,” he said.

Newman was eventually diagnosed as completely blind, and due to some health issues, he did not begin his schooling at The Tennessee School for the Blind in Nashville until he was 9-years-old.

Before starting school, Newman said his parents worked with him because they knew it was important that he would be able to do things for himself.

“That is why daddy took the time to carry me with him and showed me how to do things,” Newman said. “I knew how to use a wrench and how to use a screwdriver, that sort of thing before I ever started school.”

Attending the Tennessee School for the Blind

It was while attending the Tennessee School for the Blind that Newman learned how to read braille and use a braille writer. It was also during his school years that he first discovered piano tuning.

“When I got maybe 8th or 9th grade some of the teachers started talking to me about the possibility of me taking the piano tuning course because they recognized that I had nearly perfect pitch and thought it might be something I could make a living at,” he said.

Newman was in 9th grade when he was invited to observe the school’s piano tuning class taught by instructor Ted Walker to see if it might be something he would like to pursue.

“He actually let me put my hand on top of his hand and let me feel what he was doing as he was tuning,” Newman said. “A blind person can’t watch with the eyes, he has to feel and that is the way he did it and it made sense to me.”

Newman soon decided the profession was a good fit for him and he wanted to study to become a professional piano tuner.

Newman said that while the decision was his to make, his father agreed it seemed to be a good fit for him.

“My background in having worked on the farm, my dad could see that it would be a good thing because sometimes he would be working on farm equipment and the engine speed would get messed up and I would tell him where to put it,” Newman said. “He would check it and I would be right on the dot. I was doing it by pitch.”

Honing his skills

After graduating from the Tennessee School for the Blind in 1983, Newman decided to continue his training at E.H. Gentry Technical Facility in Talladega, Alabama.

While still participating in the program, Newman launched Tipps Newman Tuning with his friend Winston Tipps, who did the driving for the pair.

“I would work the weekends I came home, if he wasn’t on call we would try to set up some pianos to tune,” Newman said. “My instructor told me it will take you five years to build the business.”

When he would return to Talladega Monday, he would speak with his instructor about the work he did over the weekend and whether or not it was the best way to do the job.

“We might stand and talk for an hour or two about what I had done that weekend and it looked like we were just killing time but that wasn’t the case at all,” he said. “It was a good learning experience for me in being able to use him as a sounding board.”

Building his business

After Newman completed the E.H. Gentry program, his father and Tipps shared driving duties while Newman built up his clientele in the area before he went to work for a music store in Tullahoma.

“We worked with them for a while and then I got a call from a music store over in Shelbyville called Fred Phillips Piano and Organ,” Newman said.

Newman said the business needed a tuner, and as the business had a large footprint, he was soon tuning pianos all over Tennessee.

“Springfield, Nashville, Columbia, Lewisburg…just everywhere,” he said. “One year during that time I tuned 541 pianos.”

Eventually, Newman went to work for himself, and kept up a pretty busy business until things slowed down around 2008. He still stays busy though, tuning 124 pianos last year.

Newman said his client base is pretty evenly distributed between churches and individuals.

When it comes to tuning a piano, there are several variables determine just how long it will take to complete the job, including the age of the piano, how often it has been played and the way in which it has been played. He recommends that pianos be tuned annually.

“It can run anywhere from a 45 minute job to three hours,” Newman said. “A three hour job is one that hadn’t been touched in 50 years and believe it or not there are some of those out there.”

To keep track of his piano tuning jobs, answer emails and maintain his business documents, Newman utilizes a computer program called Job Access With Speech, or JAWS that reads aloud his actions on the computer, allowing him to keep track of these records himself.

Tuning for Bonaroo

Newman said he even once received a surprise phone call from the Bonaroo Music & Arts Festival when they needed a piano tuned quickly a few years back.

“They said we had a tuner lined up to come from Nashville and tune a piano and he isn’t here and we were wondering if you could help us,” he said.

Newman then explained that he is totally blind, and did not have anyone available that could drive him to the festival grounds on such short notice.

“I said if you have someone that can come here and pick me up we might talk some business,” Newman said. “After a while here they come up with a 15 passenger van and I jump in there and we take off to Bonaroo.”

When Newman arrived he was told he had just 30 minutes to complete the job, and conditions were not exactly ideal.

“What they don’t tell you is during that time they are doing sound check, they are setting up for this other concert,” he said. “A far from ideal situation.”

“Fortunately this piano had been tuned before it was brought in there, so it basically was a touch up job,” Newman added.

A rewarding career

Newman said that when he looks back on his career and his decision to become a professional piano tuner, he is thankful he was able to have a profession that he was accepted in.

Despite spending nearly 40 years in the business, Newman said he does not believe he will ever be able to close the door completely on piano tuning.

“I will probably never completely quit, but I don’t know that I will try to grow the business that much,” Newman said.