I think we need to quit piling on Jeff...I think the point is taken... David Ilvedson, RPT Pacifica, CA 94044 Original message From: "Michael Magness" To: "College and University Technicians" Received: 10/12/2007 7:34:46 AM Subject: Re: [CAUT] CAUT pay, was Job Opening... On 10/11/07, Ronald E Engle <englepiano at juno.com> wrote: Barbara, My sentiments also. I hope this is not the mentality of most CAUT's!!! If it is we have some educating to do. Ron Engle On Thu, 11 Oct 2007 18:02:40 -0500 "Barbara Richmond" <piano57 at insightbb.com> writes: Oh, Jeff.... Hmm, I just got home after preparing for a two-piano concert that is tonight (in a public hall). It'd be too bad if giving excellent results was only for pianists performing in the academia... ;-) Sorry, I must disagree; excellent work is necessary everywhere. Barbara Richmond, RPT near Peoria, Illinois ----- Original Message ----- From: Jeff Tanner To: Ed Sutton ; College and University Technicians Sent: Thursday, October 11, 2007 2:56 PM Subject: Re: [CAUT] CAUT pay, was Job Opening... <snip> We have such people making very good money in the private sector, where the work isn't nearly as necessary. Jeff Tanner, RPT University of South Carolina (quote) -- at any given time we have some 450 students studying music here at USC Columbia alone. Jeff Tanner, RPT University of South Carolina Hi Jeff, I'm curious Jeff do you just assume that all of those 450 students plus the thousands of others in other universities and colleges only have fine grand pianos at home that they learned on? They all began somewhere! Mostly on those old uprights and spinets that you look down your nose at! There are those of us who have spent our professional lives taking care of those kind of instruments, becoming intimately familiar with them so that the cream of the crop can matriculate to your type of school. <snip> We have such people making very good money in the private sector, where the work isn't nearly as necessary. Without mine and my brethren's "unnecessary" work where would you get the students that support the music programs that require your skills? I believe instead of denigrating or decrying what we do or where we do it you owe us a debt of gratitude! The kind of work and or piano snobbery that you exhibit with your letter is the very thing I swore I would never allow myself to become when I entered this business 38 years ago. In the last month I have replaced a broken agraffe on a Steinway M pitch raised it and sent them an estimate for new hammers, shanks & flanges and a regulation. Pitch raised a couple of old uprights, tuned a Yamaha C-7 for a church and replaced a set of plastic elbows and bridle straps on a Winter spinet c.1950 and finally tuned a Suzuki baby grand that the customer bought online(the only way you can buy them, they aren't offered in dealerships). You see Jeff all of this work had one deciding factor, they asked me to do it and were willing to pay! Being in the private sector isn't all it's cracked up to be, I pay my own social security, self employment tax, retirement, insurance, then there's the overhead. My phone bill is almost $100 a month, just the one on my desk, then there's the cell phone, vehicle cost, advertising, parts inventory, tools all of the things the University provides for you. I have the feeling you have never been in the private sector or if you were it was quite brief. I know your attitude isn't the mentality of all CAUT's because I have one for a friend, colleague and fellow chapter member who can talk in the rarified atmosphere of fine tuning/regulating for specialty artists in specific venues. He also talks about/helps out the newbies with their problems with spinets, old uprights, no-name grands with equal authority. I am on this list because I am the tech for a University piano a 6'7" Kawai grand and I also maintain the pianos for 3 schools districts including the high schools 2 of which have a Yamaha C-3 grand the 3rd has a C-5. They also have numerous studios, some uprights and even a spinet or 2. As I said, everyone starts somewhere, who knows some of these kids I tune for may end up at your school, think about it. Mike -- Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is to not stop questioning.-- Albert Einstein Michael Magness Magness Piano Service 608-786-4404 www.IFixPianos.com email mike at ifixpianos.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/caut.php/attachments/20071012/d824d8b5/attachment.html
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