With her large tuning wrench, Chien Hsiang-chi carefully listens to the tone and pitch of each note. Not one of the 88 hammers or keys escapes her control. (Jimmy Lin)

Perhaps you have seen a visually handicapped person play the piano, but have you ever seen a totally blind piano tuner open up the piano and tune the instrument to perfection? Chien Hsiang-chi, a visually handicapped piano tuner proves by her actions that even if she can't see, she can put a piano back into tune; even if she can't see, she can move a soundboard and put the numerous parts of the instrument in order. She proves by her actions that she is merely unable to see-not that she is cut off from the world around her!

On this morning at 8 a.m. Chien Hsiang-chi starts out from Kinmen St. in Taipei, takes the MRT Tanshui line to Yuanshan station, changes to the Red Line #29 bus and arrives at Donghu Elementary School where she meets Wu Mei-you, her case worker. Both then take a bus to Hsichih to tune a client's piano. Such is Chien's daily routine. Each day she tunes two or three pianos and has gone as far as Taichung to do her job.

A map in her mind

Chien's family home is in Nantou but because of her work she has settled in Taipei. Now 29 years old, Chien rents an apartment by herself and lives an independent life. Although she is blind she can get around anywhere. Wu Mei-you says Chien's head is full of "numbers." You just have to set up an appointment for tuning and she immediately starts putting together the "map" in her mind. The MRT lines and bus routes she knows like the back of her hand, and she always is able to make the appointment on time. "But you never know with the buses, you can never be sure!" says Chien. She cannot see the bus number, but if she is lucky and meets a person traveling the same line, she can travel with them and not be late for her appointment. If, however, there is bad weather, the buses are full and just drive by without stopping, or if there is no one to ask at the bus stop, she just has to sit and wait. Once she had to wait for four buses before she was able to get on one.

Once inside the client's home, Chien determines the type of piano, finds out whether or not the dehumidifier is working normally and then moves the soundboard and the piano top out of the way. She pulls out a tuning fork from her tool case (which weighs five kilos) and tries a few notes on the keyboard to test for any strings out of tune. With darkness in front of her, she concentrates all her attention on listening. Although her actions are slow, they are extremely coordinated. Were it not for her tightly closed eyes that betray her uniqueness, Chien Hsiang-chi's practice of her profession and her skills would be indistinguishable from that of a sighted piano tuner.