One person on a speed set for 50 years

Since the Sydney Opera House opened more than 50 years ago, countless music stars, world leaders and patrons visited their landmark halls.

The external force was entered by thousands of naked bodies in the name of art, and, inside, only a little less naked Arnold Schwarzenegger even won the title in body construction. There were reconstructions and disputes, protests raised and made in history.

And constant, through all this – Terry Harper.

He set up the piano building for half a century, working behind the scenes to make sure that Uber-technical instruments would be ready for the best musicians in the world.

This is a family heritage started by his father when the opera theater first opened in 1973 – and the one that ended this week with Terry retirement.

The 69-year-old man still remembers how he first entered the semi-finished opera house as a wide eye.

“The ancestors were up, but everything was very naked,” he says the BBC, showing the edges of the big concert hall.

“There was nothing inside … You could see the harbor on both sides.”

At the time, he did not have that he spent most of his life in a landmark place. His father, on the other hand, undoubtedly had grand plans, says Terry.

Until then, expat Liverpool Ron Harper was known on the music stage of Sydney, both the piano and the performer.

“He will take me to these nightclubs as (baby) in my small school form. And I would see all these acts of world level,” Terry recalls. He thundered, including Welsh Song Date Shirley Bassi, Lisa’s Icon Minnelli, as well as British television and music, darling Cilla Black – which they even went home after her performance once.

“It was an interesting childhood,” smiles Terry.

But this is the one that instilled his love for music – even if he was not particularly interested in doing so.

Several ironically, Terry confesses that he spent about a year, studying the piano before giving up on it, arguing with the drums and his school choir.

It was in 1973, shortly after the official opening of the Opera House Queen Elizabeth II, his father Ron received his life -changing conscription.

“One day, Sydney’s symphony rehearsed below, and the piano was not specially good for those who were in the morning,” says Terry. “One of the people who work here knew my dad.”

Three years later, 19-year-old Terry joined Ron under the sails after completing the annual piano course when he graduated from school.

He started on a rehearsal piano in the back hall, creating his skills and confidence before finally hesitated when his father retired ten years later.

These days he can go into the room and know immediately whether there will be a piano.

“I have always had a very good sense of step,” he says, “(but) it is difficult to master.”

And everything is done in the ear.

Mainting the piano before him, he explains that it has 243 strings. For most keys, three individual steel wires are combined to make a note.

“Once they begin to deviate from the same frequency, they cause such things we call the blows, and that’s what we listen to when we tune in.”

“Do you hear it?” he asks enthusiastically.

Alas, I – I can’t.

“It’s not like setting up a guitar,” he says, offering me comfort.

The process can take up to 90 minutes, and each of the 30 piano in the building should be tuned mainly every time they are used.

“There’s so many strings that can wander from the tune, especially when you play big pianos,” Terry explains.

“I call it like F1 racing vehicles … they really cover them.”

It can be demanding and tireless work.

“It doesn’t stop. And it’s night, early morning, it’s two and three times a day,” says Terry.

But the privileges of which include shoulder cleaning with some of the Globe’s most decorative musicians and simple access to the most sought after tickets in the city should not be mocked, and it is in a hurry.

Terry also set up a piano in many other famous places – from Royal Albert Hall and Abbey Road studio to BBC broadcasts.

But no one takes a place in his heart as in the Opera House.

“This is a very happy place for me. It was my life.”

Earlier this year, after five decades, Terry decided that it was time to hang the instruments.

“I became quite cozy during COVID without working,” he throws.

His son cannot seduce the family business – “He is engaged in computer things like all good young people” – so Friday also noted the end of Harper’s heritage at the Sydney Opera Herit.

The venue was opened by a tender for a new contractor to set up their piano – and Terry says he has heard the rumors that they could replace it with several tuner.

“I think someone owes me the money … I do the work of six people,” he tease.

Jokes aside, he admits that when his departure came closer, a wave of emotions came with her.

“On the piano, we are quite lonely,” he says. “We love to be in the room yourself with silence because you have to focus and listen to what you do … (But) I have always had a company of all people who work here.”

“I’ll miss this place.”