Introduction

Hello, I am Rebecca McDowell, I started RM Piano Service in Sheridan, WY in 2020. I am Sheridan’s newest piano tuner and wanted to use my first blog post to introduce myself.

I was born and raised in Casper, WY. I took my first piano lesson at 5 and my love for the piano has remained a constant in my life ever since. It was always exciting when the local technician came over to tune our piano because he would restore the sound of the piano which made the music sound right.

I continued to play piano on and off throughout my high school career at Natrona County High School, Casper College, and The University of Wyoming. I earned my bachelor’s degree in 2013 from The University of Wyoming and worked for the university as a hazardous materials technician until we moved to Sheridan.

My husband and I were married in Las Vegas in 2014 and although we didn’t get married by Elvis, we still had a wonderful time. My husband began working in Sheridan 2015 and we officially moved here in 2016. Leaving my job at the university and moving to Sheridan was an easy decision for us since my husband grew up in Sheridan and I had the opportunity to apprentice with local piano tuner Don Cherni and build a career as a piano technician. Shortly after moving to Sheridan, I got my Baldwin Hamilton upright piano and found that while I was a touch rusty, I still loved playing the piano. In 2018 we welcomed our son into our lives. He has been a constant, albeit not a very helpful, companion in tuning, we are just waiting to see if he will be lucky enough to have perfect pitch. In my free time I enjoy spending time with my family, sewing, cross stitching, and playing video games. I also have a garden that is producing more summer squash than we will ever eat, five chickens that lay eggs like crazy, and a wonderful dog that lays around like crazy.

My apprenticeship with Don has allowed me to work with him throughout the tuning process and it has enabled me to get on the job training and to assist Don in fixing many different problems on many different pianos.