{"id":323,"date":"2026-06-01T16:39:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T16:39:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/?p=323"},"modified":"2026-06-01T16:39:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T16:39:09","slug":"leo-woodall-gets-a-tune-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/?p=323","title":{"rendered":"Leo Woodall Gets a Tune Up"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<p>The life of a piano tuner is not glamorous. Unpredictable hours, loud noises, finicky clients, wrenches, needles. Tuners can work on as many as five pianos a day. But, in a world of \u201cI know a guy,\u201d it\u2019s hard to get your flowers.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/?p=321\">Dusty Baker Plays the Long Game<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI didn\u2019t know how much went <em>into<\/em> it,\u201d the actor Leo Woodall said the other day, standing by an open grand piano at the Faust Harrison showroom, near Columbus Circle. He peered into the instrument\u2019s belly, silver strings laid out methodically like the web of a type-A spider. \u201cIt boggles me how intricate it is.\u201d<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>Woodall was in town for his new movie, \u201cTuner,\u201d directed by Daniel Roher, about a wunderkind pianist named Niki who becomes a technician after developing hyperacusis\u2014painfully low tolerance for sound. \u201cThere was so much training,\u201d Woodall said, wearing a white polo and black shorts. \u201cI was constantly tuning the piano the best I could, just to pass the time on set.\u201d In real life, Woodall has no musical background. \u201cI went to a school where learning instruments\u2014well, learning at all\u2014was not really encouraged. So it was never really on my radar.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That day, Woodall was joined by Kevin Busse, Faust Harrison\u2019s East Coast head technician. \u201cWhen pianos are tuned a certain way, it\u2019s like staring at a beautiful mountain,\u201d Busse said wistfully. He, like Niki, started as a pianist and then made the turn to tech. \u201cI was, like, \u2018Is this guy playing me in real life?\u2019\u00a0\u201d Busse said. \u201cI don\u2019t have hyperacusis, but I do walk very quietly because I\u2019m an auditory person.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Woodall eyed Busse\u2019s tools on the ground, clocking some familiar devices. \u201cApart from the\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0. ,\u201d he trailed off uncertainly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe lever?\u201d Busse offered.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe lever. Where is it?\u201d Woodall stepped closer to the piano. \u201cOh, it\u2019s already set up! This is beautiful.\u201d He reached into the belly and fondled a shiny wooden crank, which adjusts string tension, before sitting down on the bench. He leaned one arm on the lid, his other hand aimlessly poking at keys. Busse flinched at every note.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s sitting above 440, because we\u2019ve entered the more humid months, so the pitch floats upward,\u201d Busse said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know what \u2018440\u2019 means,\u201d Woodall said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s the standard pitch.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRight,\u201d Woodall said. \u201cAnd I had <em>two<\/em> technicians who never told me that.\u201d He\u2019d started prepping for the role months before filming began, with help from the movie\u2019s piano consultant, the tuner Peter White.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe first lesson Peter taught me was the <em>wah-wah-wah-wah<\/em>,\u201d Woodall said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe beats?\u201d Busse asked.<\/p>\n<p>Woodall lit up. \u201cBeats! That\u2019s what I would try to listen for.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Busse, who wore a black polo, got to work tuning, pulling the lever ever so slightly on an A.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow often is it just this, compared with taking out the keys?\u201d Woodall said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA lot of your work should be regulating,\u201d Busse said, playing two notes together. \u201cThe thing with piano tuning is you need to go fast.\u201d In the film, Niki tells a client that a session could take more than two hours. \u201cIf I took two to three hours, I\u2019d never get paid,\u201d Busse said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s at least one sequence in the film where I completely take it apart,\u201d Woodall said. In the scene, Niki is trying to save the piano of his love interest, Ruthie, from water damage. He dismantles the instrument and borrows Ruthie\u2019s hair dryer to get rid of the moisture.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/?p=319\">Love Omen<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cDon\u2019t say that, don\u2019t say that,\u201d Busse said, shaking his head. \u201cThat would <em>certainly<\/em> change the tuning.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn the movie, we get asked to fix toilets,\u201d Woodall said. \u201cHave you ever been asked?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMaybe not plumbing, but fixing someone\u2019s internet,\u201d Busse said. \u201cI try to stay in my lane.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The film starts as a buddy comedy, with Niki helping out his elderly mentor, Harry, played by Dustin Hoffman, on tuning gigs. During a solo house job, Niki gets roped into using his hyperacusis to help a group of criminals break into a safe. He can hear the clicks.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve never had any luck cracking safes,\u201d Busse said. \u201cBut I\u2019ve picked the lock to my own house, because I needed to get in. That\u2019s more of a mechanical skill.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Busse pointed to red felt strips and protruding metal loops: \u201cThat\u2019s for the temperament area, from which you tune the rest of the piano. \u201d<\/p>\n<p>Woodall nodded. \u201cI remember using the felts to numb either side of each string, or whatever,\u201d he said. He stood to look over Busse\u2019s shoulder. \u201cIt still fascinates me how each key has three strings.\u201d (Some have one or two.)<\/p>\n<p>Busse started tuning a low B-flat.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDo you have perfect pitch?\u201d Woodall asked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen it comes to saxophones,\u201d Busse replied.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Woodall stepped away to examine Busse\u2019s tools again. \u201cI\u2019m looking for the needle one,\u201d he said. He picked up a wooden stick with a prickly end.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s for voicing,\u201d Busse said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYeah, we did a bit of that,\u201d Woodall said. \u201cTake it apart, flip it upside down, and just really get in there.\u201d\u00a0\u2666<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/?p=317\">The Antagonist<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The \u201cWhite Lotus\u201d actor plays a piano technician in his new movie, \u201cTuner.\u201d At a real tuning session, in midtown, he tries to remember how to plink the strings. Jane Bua writes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":322,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-pictures"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Leo Woodall Gets a Tune Up - City Relocation News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/?p=323\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Leo Woodall Gets a Tune Up - City Relocation News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The \u201cWhite Lotus\u201d actor plays a piano technician in his new movie, \u201cTuner.\u201d At a real tuning session, in midtown, he tries to remember how to plink the strings. 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