Piano Moving in 1904

Moving pianos in large cities is a peculiar occupation. To the casual observer, it looks like a good, easy job for a strong, healthy man. There seems to be little to the business except tugging, pulling, pushing and lifting. Estimating the qualifications of a piano mover, one would be apt to demand of him little more than a broad, square pair of shoulders and sinewy arms capable of swinging several hundred pounds of dead-weight. That undoubtedly is the popular conception of the man who makes a success in this line. And it is not altogether a wrong conception for piano movers, as a class, are strapping big fellows with a generous gift of muscle.

But when you go to the bottom of their occupation you find that they must have other qualifications as well. It is a line of work which no one ever learns completely. A man may be an expert at moving pianos and yet every day encounter an angle to the business which will be absolutely new and which will call for the application of much mechanical ingenuity.

In days gone by, when flat buildings were designed and built with the comfort and convenience of their occupants as the dominating principle of construction, the piano mover had a comparatively easy life. In the first place, there were fewer pianos to move. He could devote more time to his work, and as there were few high apartment houses, each delivery was practically a repetition of the one preceding. Then came the modern flat building, with its winding, angular stairway, its narrow doorways and small windows, its elevated parlors and bewildering entrances. And with the advent of this modern building the troubles of the piano mover began to multiply, until today men engaged in this line of work are convinced that if they have any enemies they are to be found in the ranks of up-to-date architects. The designers of apartment buildings have increased the work of the piano mover fully fifty percent, and it is impossible to estimate the number of worries that have been heaped on his head.

Wherever it is practicable a piano is carried from the wagon to its resting place. Three muscular men will literally shoulder the instrument and plod up two, three of four flights of steps with the utmost ease. But where a stairway is too narrow to permit passage, or doors have been constructed on too cramped a plan, the piano mover must resort to other means of transportation.

The block and tackle is the favorite resource of the piano man when an instrument must be elevated from the outside, taken through a front window, or across the railing of a back porch. One end of the rope is hitched either to a chimney or some projection from an adjoining building and with muscular power the instrument is raised to any height desired and swung through an open window with the utmost care. In carrying pianos, the weight is divided between one man in front and two in the rear. Conditions frequently require that the keyboard and front of the instrument be taken off, and in rare cases it has been found necessary to reduce the piano to a skeleton before taking it into an apartment.

It is only within the last two years that the work of the piano mover became so fully developed that it called for the recognition of labor organizers. Up to that time almost any strong, healthy man with an aptitude for lifting could qualify as a piano mover. The intricacies of the work, however, began to multiply with the prevalence of the modern flat building, and the piano movers formed a union, which now has a membership of one hundred and fifty. It is a dangerous occupation, the number of injuries being great. As a rule, these injuries are sustained on stairways. - from "The Music Trade Review" pg. 35 vol. 39 no. 10, 1904.