Die Kinder Möchten Helfen

About this time last year, I went to tune a family upright piano in a near by town. It was on a Saturday. The whole family was home, the parents and two small children.

According to them, the piano had not been tuned since who knew when. Usually this meant a humongous amout of dust bunnies under the keys and in the piano case. So I decided to take out all the keys and have the keybed cleaned. 

The children came in to observe what the tuner was doing. Their eyes were wide open when I took out the first handful of keys. They would love to be part of it and help cleaning. I regretted immediately after saying it was ok. The two of them took out one key at a time and lay them on the floor. A piano has 88 keys. One...At...A...Time...Carefully. Their parents totally supported their curiosity and enthusiasm, and let them be completely envolved while taking a million pictures during the process. 

Eventually the keys were taken out. The mother vacuumed the keybed and around the pedals. The children wiped every key clean carefully and thoroughly, One...At...A...Time...Carefully... After all that, they started to put the keys back, again, One...At...A...Time...Carefully, all 88 keys. Fortunately it was a regular upright piano instead of a spinet. The mechanics is much easier on an upright.

After over an hour if not two, the piano was put together. Finally the tuning began. Help was not allowed at this point. Not allowed. The whole service took a whole afternoon. At least the children got to learn about their piano and the parents were satisfied. Next time when they call again, if they call, the two of them much be so big. Would they want to help again?

Deutsch (Niveau A2):
Ich habe bei einer Familie zu Hause ihr Klavier gestimmt. Bevor ich das Klavier gestimmt habe, hatte ich vor, alle Tasten abzunehmen, um darunter zu putzen. Die Kinder waren neugierig und wollten helfen. Ich habe OK gesagt und dann fingen sie an. Sie haben eine Taste nach der anderen herausgenommen. Es gibt 88 Tasten pro Klavier! Wir haben uns Zeit genommen, das ganze Klavier zu putzen und alle Tasten abzuwischen.  Danach legten sie die Tasten wieder zurück, eine nach der anderen, alle 88 Tasten. Danach begann ich, das Klavier zu stimmen. Der Service dauerte viele Studen an einem Samstag. Wenigstens waren es zufriedene Kunden. (Text corrected by mein German teacher.)