The general meeting for this month will be held on Tuesday, January 8 starting at 7 p.m. at:

This month's technical class will be given by concert pianist Roy Eaton on the relationships among composers like Chopin, Scott Joplin and George Gerwshwin and the techniques he employs to deal with them. Mr. Eaton has had an interesting and varied carreer, ranging from noted composer of advertising jingles to concert pianist. Page 3 of this newsletter has an article about his life from the Palm Beach Post.

The Executive Committee will meet prior to the general meeting at 5 p.m. at the Olive Garden Restaurant, 1120 Old Country Road, Westbury, diagonally across the street from Frank and Camille's.

A squeak in the pedal system of a vertical piano often does not originate from the trapwork itself, but from one or more of the damper levers and spring. Many times the noise will come from the single "auxiliary" damper lever, usually near the bass break. Just pulling the springs forward out of the slot and releasing them back into position is usually all that is needed to eliminate the squeaks. But reaching the springs is often not that easy, and returning them to their slot just as much of a problem. After manually pulling forward on all the dampers to determine which ones are the source of the noise, I have found that just a quick squirt from my hypo-oiler of Protek center pin lubricant onto the spring and slot of the offending lever will quickly and easily quiet the squeak with no effort.

Our December meeting was our end of year party which was enjoyed by all. We had many choices of entrees and all of us had a good time enjoying the dinner and swapping stories of our craft. Having a dinner party is an excellent way for members to get to know each other's families and also to reflect upon how much we enjoy helping people with their piano needs. We hope that more members will try to attend our party in June which ends our season.