Former longtime School of Music piano technician Susan Willanger Cady died in early September, 2024, after a long, recurring battle with cancer. Susan started work at the School of Music in the early 1990s, assisting Steve Brady, the School's former head piano technician, and was hired permanently in 1995. She retired in 2017.
A self-avowed “Steinway junkie,” Susan worked hand-in-hand at the School of Music with former tech Doug Wood, who came aboard upon Brady’s retirement, and together they maintained and tuned the School’s fleet of more than 100 pianos, including both modern and historical instruments. The two first met in 1986 when Susan was completing testing to become a registered piano technician. "When I was taking the tests to put the RPT letters behind my name, Doug gave me one of the tests," she said. "That set off a whole chain reaction for me. It catapulted me into the world of Steinway. I went back to New York multiple times. We're both so fortunate that we were in the right place at the right time to be trained by the best Steinway technicians in the world."
Current School of Music piano technician Jack Lofton considered Susan a close friend and colleague since 1987, from their earliest days working together at Seattle’s Sherman Clay pianos. “Those first few months at Sherman Clay where she called me a ‘fledgling’ and a ‘downy bird’—it was not meant as a slight at all,” he says. “It was endearing. I found out early on that I could talk to her, not just about pianos, but about anything. She was there for me when I was devastated after my then-girlfriend dumped me. Saying that it was her loss and that I deserved better. I called her late one evening as I had reached what I dubbed ‘tuning delirium.’ She reminded me that it wasn’t me. It was the terrible piano that would never sound right no matter what I did. Told me to go home and get some sleep.”
“There were so many texts back and forth while I was at the UW and wanted some advice,” he continues. “At the end of one thread, I said that I’d better leave before the harpsichord I was working on went out of tune. Her response was immediate and contained one word: Run!!!"
Many of the instruments requiring Susan's attention had seen better days. Dean Petrich, Susan's friend and fellow RPT, recalled an especially memorable challenge: "A parent donated an old upright to an alternative school in north Seattle. I told the principal that Susan and I could fix it. When we opened it up we saw that it was full of dirt and an enormous mouse nest. We borrowed the school vacuum and a garbage can, removed the action and keys, and cleaned it out. The keybed felts were either rotten or missing, so we replaced the balance rail punchings with the only size I had—medium felt—and proceeded to replace the front rail punchings with the only felts I had—medium-thick. However, we couldn't remember whether we should put in one punching or two. We remembered that the previous piano had multiple punchings of different kinds, so we figured we should add two felt punchings for each front rail pin. We adjusted the blow, the capstans, and the let-off, put the pedal dowels back in place, and figured we were done. I don't think we ever tuned it."
School of Music piano professor Robin McCabe relied on Susan’s expertise at the School of Music and welcomed her many times into her home to tune her personal piano. "Susan was a superb technician, passionate about music and the potentials of a piano to bring beauty into our world,” she says. "She was the personal ‘caretaker’ of my Steinway B at home, and my piano always bloomed after her visits. Susan’s love of nature and animals was a central pillar of her life. She never failed, upon finishing her tuning for me, to stop and give Chloe, my Russian Blue, a few extra treats in her dish."
Besides her work at the UW, Susan remained busy with private clients and work for Town Hall, the Seattle Chamber Music Society, and other organizations. Her private clients often invited her to arrive early for tunings so they could have lunch and catch up. Susan’s kindness and steadfast expertise gave many School of Music friends the reassurance they needed to donate their precious pianos to the School of Music, and she facilitated a number of such gifts.
Upon her retirement in 2017, Susan was looking forward to spending time with her family and grandchildren, husband Dick Cady, her beloved horses, and her very own Steinway B.