Richard Short
Piano Technician

Born in Rhode Island, Richard (better known as Rick) grew up in a line of houses between cornfields in Ohio. He studied ancient language and philosophy at a tiny liberal arts school with religious affiliations; painting and psychology at community colleges; and glassblowing, silver casting, and other techniques at various art centers. Before coming to Juilliard, he had a technical position in a piano factory. Most of his energy went into defining and teaching piano-building processes to people who had been doing their jobs some other way for years or even decades. He also did troubleshooting for the engineering department as well as tuning and voicing of concert instruments.

Rick Short

How long have you worked at Juilliard, and what do you remember about your first day?

I've been at Juilliard for six years. On my first visit, Mr. Tsumita [chief piano technician at Juilliard] put on his lab coat, gave me a tuning audition, and sat down to ask me about myself in one of those dismal practice rooms with students pounding away all around. He was so full of energy and intelligence. It was a great introduction to the whirlwind of activity here.


What job at Juilliard would you like to try out for a day and why?

I would consider performing as a jackhammerist, but not for a whole day.


What is the strangest or most memorable job you've ever had and what made it so?

I was once hired to make music for a dance piece with a recording provided by biologists who were documenting electrical activity in a rat's brain.



If out of the blue your boss said to take the day off, what would you do with your free time?

I always say I'm going to the beach, but I don't go. And, well … now it's cold. Maybe I'd visit Jacques Torres downtown and seek inspiration in chocolate, then head to a used-book store.



How do you balance your job and your artistic endeavors?

My job helps me focus, up to a point, because of the rhythm and the visceral pleasure of tuning. On the other hand, I often feel drained after too much concentration. My work as a composer/sound/visual artist has a lot of phasing and sort of minimalist variation—both my prints and recordings/compositions for dance. There is workshop gusto in the way I handle materials or sounds, but painstaking editing is more like tuning itself.



What other pursuits are you passionate about?

I love Internet weather maps. They connect so intimately to a place and time. I think I get a little of that feeling of connection that people had in the heyday of radio, when basically everyone was listening to the same thing. Everybody gets a little piece of the same weather—no podcasting, and you're there for it or you're not. Like live music. And I can check out what's happening elsewhere in the "theater."



What was the best vacation you've had?

A couple of years ago my girlfriend and I kayaked around the northern tip of Nova Scotia. The guides prepared amazing meals while we set up our tents and fog slid over lush, rounded mountains. We got so tired, but the feel of ocean swell under the tiny boat was exhilarating. The seals looked bored, but they watched us.



What might people be surprised to know about you?

I have actually studied music.



What is your favorite thing about New York City?

Everyone just expects to run into people very different from themselves every day.



What book are you reading right now?

I'm making a piece for a choreographer who is inspired by maps, so I'm studying The Visual Display of Quantitative Information by Edward R. Tufte, a truly amazing book. This relates to my interest in weather maps and other representations of complexity.