Mr. Keyes Piano Service
Piano Tuning and maintenance
| Home |  | About Mr. Keyes |
Who is Mr. Keyes?
Music has been a big part of my life for as long as I can remember. As a child I took a few piano lessons and learned to play the clarinet. After a few short years I began playing with the Jefferson County Community Orchestra in my hometown of Port Townsend, WA sitting next to adults who had been playing for decades. Later, when I was 17 years old, I bought a beat up guitar and began writing songs which I performed on street corners in various cities on the west coast.
By the age 21 I had enough material to record an album but couldn't keep a band together long enough to do the work. My only recourse was do start recording my music myself. With minimal equipment and a developing knowledge of music technology I began recording my own demos on 4-track cassette. My demos were accepted with a shake of the head as cassette tapes were already becoming obsolete in the music industry. In 1999 a big name in the music industry moved to my humble little town and built a big budget recording studio. I eagerly took my demo to him hoping to intern in exchange for studio time. He wouldn't give my demo a listen and offered me a "real break" on studio time. His offer was $150 an hour. That was much more than I could afford with my $8 an hour job as a janitor so my dreams were crushed. It was a pivotal moment in my life that afternoon as I walked in to the local grocery store and spotted a Popular Science magazine with a headline "Computers revolutionize recording industry". I didn't have enough money to buy the magazine so I stood there and read the entire article as I had an aptitude for technology. I decided to save and buy a computer and learn to make my own CDs.
In the following year my demos were becoming more accepted by my piers as I had spent hundreds of hours experimenting and studying recording techniques. The quality was up to modern standards, but my demos never were heard by the right ears.
It was during this time that I was approached by a friend who had some home recordings that he wanted converted to CD, and he was willing to pay. I couldn't help but wonder how many musicians in the local community needed recording services, but were unable to afford the high prices involved. That was when I decided to open my own "project studio" charging minimal fees for my work.
Ironically, I thought I would be dealing with blues and jazz musicians (as Port Townsend was known for it's blues and jazz festivals) so it was to my surprise that every client that walked through the door were aspiring rappers. I produced two rap albums before leaving Port Townsend in hopes that the much larger city of Spokane would provide a larger customer base.
During the following decade in Spokane I produced another 28 albums (including one of my own), spent time on regional tours, did several radio interviews, and became well known in the underground music scene for my abstract brands of rap and hiphop music.
Eventually this career became unsatisfying to me as I wanted to leave behind the rap music, but the clients just kept coming with lyrics more vulgar then the last. Tours felt more like babysitting and young rappers with their over inflated egos became more and more tiresome. I wanted something else so I stopped accepting new clients and decided to reinvent myself as a piano player.
My quest to learn piano lead me to Spokane Falls Community College where I earned a music degree and became a competent piano player. Shortly there after I moved to Oregon and became part of the local music industry running sound for music festivals and venues.
After years of study, many tunings, and repair projects started my business and have been tuning pianos in Oregon since 2019
Welcome to Mr. Keyes Piano Service!
Robert Keyes
Music has been a big part of my life for as long as I can remember. As a child I took a few piano lessons and learned to play the clarinet. After a few short years I began playing with the Jefferson County Community Orchestra in my hometown of Port Townsend, WA sitting next to adults who had been playing for decades. Later, when I was 17 years old, I bought a beat up guitar and began writing songs which I performed on street corners in various cities on the west coast.
By the age 21 I had enough material to record an album but couldn't keep a band together long enough to do the work. My only recourse was do start recording my music myself. With minimal equipment and a developing knowledge of music technology I began recording my own demos on 4-track cassette. My demos were accepted with a shake of the head as cassette tapes were already becoming obsolete in the music industry. In 1999 a big name in the music industry moved to my humble little town and built a big budget recording studio. I eagerly took my demo to him hoping to intern in exchange for studio time. He wouldn't give my demo a listen and offered me a "real break" on studio time. His offer was $150 an hour. That was much more than I could afford with my $8 an hour job as a janitor so my dreams were crushed. It was a pivotal moment in my life that afternoon as I walked in to the local grocery store and spotted a Popular Science magazine with a headline "Computers revolutionize recording industry". I didn't have enough money to buy the magazine so I stood there and read the entire article as I had an aptitude for technology. I decided to save and buy a computer and learn to make my own CDs.
In the following year my demos were becoming more accepted by my piers as I had spent hundreds of hours experimenting and studying recording techniques. The quality was up to modern standards, but my demos never were heard by the right ears.
It was during this time that I was approached by a friend who had some home recordings that he wanted converted to CD, and he was willing to pay. I couldn't help but wonder how many musicians in the local community needed recording services, but were unable to afford the high prices involved. That was when I decided to open my own "project studio" charging minimal fees for my work.
Ironically, I thought I would be dealing with blues and jazz musicians (as Port Townsend was known for it's blues and jazz festivals) so it was to my surprise that every client that walked through the door were aspiring rappers. I produced two rap albums before leaving Port Townsend in hopes that the much larger city of Spokane would provide a larger customer base.
During the following decade in Spokane I produced another 28 albums (including one of my own), spent time on regional tours, did several radio interviews, and became well known in the underground music scene for my abstract brands of rap and hiphop music.
Eventually this career became unsatisfying to me as I wanted to leave behind the rap music, but the clients just kept coming with lyrics more vulgar then the last. Tours felt more like babysitting and young rappers with their over inflated egos became more and more tiresome. I wanted something else so I stopped accepting new clients and decided to reinvent myself as a piano player.
My quest to learn piano lead me to Spokane Falls Community College where I earned a music degree and became a competent piano player. Shortly there after I moved to Oregon and became part of the local music industry running sound for music festivals and venues.
After years of study, many tunings, and repair projects started my business and have been tuning pianos in Oregon since 2019
Welcome to Mr. Keyes Piano Service!
Robert Keyes