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Labors of love
Many careers have nothing to do with sitting at a desk
Friday, Sept. 4, 2009
 Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photo by DARWIN WEIGEL
Christian Izzi of Prince Frederick works on one of his pianos at his home along the Patuxent River. The piano tuner operates under Izzi Tuning and has been tuning pianos for 28 years around the region. He maintains a jazz and original music band with his family called "Izzi Does It" and plays music at Trinity United Methodist Church in Prince Frederick and Eastern United Methodist Church in Lusby.
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Holding a horse's leg, Pat Riffle Sr. places a horseshoe heated to 1,600 degrees against the bottom of the beast's hoof. The steam makes it almost hard to see, but he quickly does the job before moving on to the next hoof.
Riffle is a farrier. Although he isn't alone in his profession, it is a trade that requires both people and animal skills along with physical strength. He loves his job, although it can get a bit hot and even dangerous sometimes.
People take up odd, interesting or unique jobs — some part time and some lifelong careers — for a variety of reasons. All around Southern Maryland are trolley drivers, mystery shoppers, piano tuners, pet sitters, clock repairers, cobblers, greeting card writers, crab pickers and a host of other not-so-common money-making endeavors.
On Monday, the social and economic achievements of American workers will be celebrated on Labor Day. The national holiday grew out of labor unions' calls for a celebration of working people and their contribution to this nation's prosperity and growth.
Finding a niche
"There are a fair amount that do it," including Amish families, Riffle said of the region's farriers. Each has a style and some specialize in certain needs.
Riffle's days can include travel from his home in Chaptico anywhere from the southern tip of St. Mary's and rural Charles to northern Calvert and southern Prince George's counties. An average visit to take care of one horse lasts about an hour and a half, he said.
This is Riffle's 9-to-5 job, although it usually extends beyond those hours. He lives on a small farm where he also grows vegetables and hay.
Horses wear shoes to help protect their hooves, which are like human fingernails or toenails that are constantly growing.
The shoes help prevent wear and abrasions, give extra traction and can be therapeutic, offering physical help to the animal.
Riffle uses a method called hot shoeing, where the metal shoe is first heated before being nailed onto the hoof. This helps sear the shoe to the hoof, providing a snugger fit.
"It doesn't cause any pain to the horse, but it makes a perfect fit," Riffle is quick to point out.
There is an art and a science to the process. Each shoe must be balanced and angles adjusted based on whether the horse will be used for polo, carriage or jumping. "Each of those has their own fine-tuning," he said.
A visit will usually cost a horse owner between $35 and $130, ranging from a trim to four new shoes. Special cases can run higher for therapeutic options.
As for taking time off this Labor Day, Riffle said, "No, actually I'm working that day."
Shoes make the man, and this man fixes the shoes
"I love what I do," Quincy Jones said.
Jones talks of his Waldorf shoe repair business as more of a service to humanity than a job. Shoes and boots are often an expression of a person's character, he said. "It's more of a hobby than a job when you enjoy it," he said.
This hobby keeps Jones very busy, though.
"We do a lot of cowboy boots," as well as work boots, he said. "Of course, the ladies, they've always got to look good, so they get their heels fixed."
He also repairs suitcases, briefcases and other leather items.
Jones has worked on shoes for half a century. He started in Charles County in 1988 when he partnered with a few others who had a shoe repair business. Those men left over time and Jones took over the business outright by 1991 when he moved to the current location in a shopping plaza along Route 301.
Like many self-employed people, Jones works long hours. He's in the shop most Mondays through Saturdays and a lot of holidays.
"Normally, holidays are good for me. People are off on holidays so if I'm open I get more business," he said.
A lot of times he'll come in sometime around 5 a.m. and work until noon or so, he said. He'll go home, maybe take a nap, and then come back to the shop to work a few more hours until 9 p.m. or so, depending on the workload.
He has two employees who help out at the shop, including Sean Dortch of Waldorf. "It's a dying art," Dortch said of the shoe repair business.
The machines in Jones' shop show their age, including the heavy industrial presses, sewing machines and other instruments used daily to mend shoes. The machines were built to last, and they still work today as well as they did half a century ago or longer.
Costs vary depending on the work — for example, it might cost $65 to resole a pair of boots. When the original price of the boots is considered, that's a steal to keep them in use. Plus, people grow attached to their footwear and anything that prolongs the lifespan of a favorite pair can be worth the price.
Fine-tuning a busy career
"The first piano I tuned took about a week," said Christian Izzi of Prince Frederick.
The composer/music teacher/piano tuner has gotten a lot quicker over the years and now tunes two or three pianos a day.
"Generally, [now] it's about an hour per tuning, unless there are problems," he said. Things like sticky keys or squeaking pedals add time and money to the job.
He will restring a piano, no small feat on an instrument that has 238 strings.
A piano has hundreds of screws that loosen over time, as well as other moving parts that shift with use. All of that needs periodic adjustment in addition to hammers that go out of alignment.
Like most jobs, there are some dangers involved.
"Generally, they don't break," he said of the strings being tuned. There is a risk, and sometimes the string will snap under the 158 pounds of pressure.
"I've seen a string go through sheetrock. It's not a pleasant sound," Izzi said.
Luckily, he said, the strings tend to snap away from the technician if they do break.
When tuning, he starts with a knock of an "A" tuning fork at 440 hertz. Once the first string is tuned from that, Izzi works up and down to find the correct pitch for the other strings by ear. "I used to use a scope but I prefer to do it by ear because the ear is the final judge," he said.
Piano pitches change with each seasonal change and will go out of tune whether played or not, he said. "The piano does the same thing, it'll actually go high in pitch in the summer," he said. "It's almost imperceptible. It's like watching your children grow."
And, within a month after furnaces are fired up for the winter, pianos will inevitably lower in pitch.
So for most pianos, two tunings a year is the rule of thumb. However, for those that are heavily used or, for instance, played at professional performances, the tunings need to come much more frequently.
A typical tuning can cost between $100 and $150, he said.
So far this Labor Day, Izzi doesn't have anything lined up. But, of course, that could still change.
Izzi has tuned the piano of the band The 5th Dimension, as well as pianos used by Carole King and Lyle Lovett during nearby performances.
He also teaches private piano lessons, mostly to children. He offers not just classical but also jazz and improvisational lessons, something of a niche market.
The composer also has one of his songs, called "Still Not Ready," on an Eva Cassidy album released in 2002, which climbed to the top of the UK album chart.
He's played in a number of bands, including one with several of his brothers called Izzi Does It, at country clubs, cafes, weddings and other social events. He also plays at two churches.
"It's pretty much a full day," he said. "It's a lot of work. I love it."
