
2026
The Piano Tuner
2026
The Piano Tuner
From his cool climate home in Hobart, down to underground churches in Coober Pedy and up to the patience-testing humidity of Darwin, Martin Tucker crosses the country plying his remarkable ear for tuning pianos old and new, making fast friends along the way as he champions a dying art.
Gifted with an affably larrikin spirit, piano tuner and childhood ten-pound-pom Martin Tucker is the sort of amiable wandering soul who’ll make you want to chuck it all in and follow along. Fond of shaking off his shoes and feeling the thrum of nature, Tucker has dedicated his life to the care of pianos and the people who love them. A number rapidly dwindling across the country, with the cost of properly caring for one prohibitive for some. Which makes the kooky characters he encounters all the more remarkable. From Amish farmers to pensioner artists who lost everything in bushfires, from self-taught schoolboys to the Chinese mum who’s building her new home around the dream of owning a baby grand, you’ll fall in love with them all. As you will with the beautiful pianos. Some live in air-conditioned recital centre chambers, others in elaborate, buried churches, or teeming with ticks on a cattle station. Natalia Laska’s delightful Documentary Australia Award nominee pays tribute to them all, and Tucker’s life well-lived.
