For more than 50 years, Graeme McGowan — who is blind — has been tuning pianos.

Mr McGowan, who is about to turn 70, was among the last of the students to learn as part of the Royal Victorian Institute for the Blind (RVIB) training program in the 1960s.

He learnt the intricacies of setting a scale and recognising pitch and frequencies for which an acute sense of hearing is crucial.

It is a skill that is better suited to the blind, according to Mr McGowan, and one he loves.

"To tune a piano properly is just lovely, it makes you feel good, and it makes people happy," Mr McGowan said.

These days technology has replaced people, with many using computer programs attached to mobile phones to do the job

But it is nowhere near as accurate as the ear according to Mr McGowan who laments the lost skill and said the only place in the world for blind people to train closed two years ago in the United States.

"I think it's really sad. Many blind people are unemployed and now living off the NDIS," Mr McGowan said.

A 2018 study by Vision Australia found only 24 per cent of people who were blind or vision-impaired were in full-time employment.

Vice-President of the Australasian Piano Tuners of Australia (APTTA) Michael Ryan said there were no training schools or apprenticeships available in Australia, with the trade removed from the register 10 years ago.

"We have been pushing for a long time for training to be reinstated," Mr Ryan said.

'Lucky to be alive'

Born in 1950, Mr McGowan's optic nerves were damaged when he was born three months premature.

"In those days we were lucky to live, but they couldn't get rid of us," he said.

From the age of two-and-a-half, the RVIB became young Mr McGowan's weekday home, then on weekends, he would return to the suburbs, often greeting Mondays in tears.

"But that's the way it was, you got used to it," Mr McGowan said.

Graeme McGowan applies the tuning hammer to the piano. ( ABC Central Victoria: Larissa Romensky )

The RVIB was the first institution of its type in Australia, opened in 1866 as the Victorian Asylum and School for the Blind before being renamed in 1891 as the RVIB.

However, the era for specialised schools for the blind ended in 2009, when the RVIB made way for Vision Australia, part of a move toward a more integrated approach to education.

"Students who are blind or have low vision are best educated alongside their sighted peers, with access to educational resources and tools of their choosing," a spokesperson for Vision Australia said.

But Mr McGowan does not agree.

"We grew up in the best time possible for blind people, the staff were good, the school was good, the system was as close to perfect as you'll ever get," he said.

Jethro Tull's lead singer a 'really nice guy'

Graeme with his bag of tools including a tuning hammer. ( ABC Central Victoria: Larissa Romensky )

Ever since Mr McGowan was 12 years old, he wanted to learn how to tune a piano.

"I remember when I was five, someone took the top off a piano and I fell inside and felt the bass strings of the bottom, and I kind of liked the feel of it," he laughed.

His two-year course at the RVIB began in 1967, eventually leading to more than a decade of employment at Allans Music, a popular chain of music stores throughout Australia.

The keen piano player has been working ever since.

"I've had a wonderful career out of this job," Mr McGowan said.

His first concert job at the age of 22 was for the American band Chicago. The following year he met Diana Ross and Ian Anderson from the British Rock group Jethro Tull, whom he considered a "really nice guy".

"It's just another tuning job, you've got to make sure you do it properly," Mr McGowan said.

These days he works for three different stores in Melbourne, which includes home visits.

"I'll be tuning as long as I can," he said.