[CAUT] CAUT testing model

[Kent Swafford]

Concert tunings are "no excuses" situations, in just the same way  
that the pianist's performance will likely be "no excuses." People  
depend upon us to produce a presentable tuning, no matter what, in  
the time available, under the conditions that prevail, regardless of  
any adversity. Concert tuning is about continuously deciding what  
will yield the biggest improvement given the time and resources  
available. "Taking a little extra time and trouble to make sure we  
got it as good as possible" is what you do in your other tunings when  
time is plentiful, to _prepare_ for concert work, so that you will  
know what it takes to produce a certain result efficiently. Concert  
tuning, in my experience, doesn't exist absent a certain level of  
stress. (You can look in the archives for my description of tuning  
for Olga Kern, for example.)

So, with tongue in cheek, I would suggest that in formulating this  
test, don't forget that you will need to simulate normal stage  
activities such as loading in the artist's equipment, setting lights,  
putting the shell in place, checking the sound system, vacuuming the  
carpet in the aisles of the hall, mopping the stage, the artist's  
request to voice down the high treble and regulate the pedal to an  
unusual spec, and for good measure, the stage manager walking up and  
notifying the tech that his time has been cut short by 15 minutes  
because the artist wants to warm up, and, oh, the artist asks that  
you do an extra special fine concert tuning tonight.

All in a day's work, right?

Kent



On Oct 25, 2007, at 3:41 PM, Ed Sutton wrote:

> Glad somebody got the hint!
>
> This story can inspire many possible tests based on the pattern  
> "more than anyone could diagnose in the time limit, but not so much  
> that real improvement is impossible."
>
> -Start with a regulated piano, randomly distribute 20 subtle  
> regulation errors over the piano.  Add a few voicing errors as  
> well. The examinee has 20 minutes to diagnose and correct as many  
> errors as possible.
>
> -Detune a piano in the pattern of a "humidity struck" piano, and  
> the examinee has 20 minutes to get the octaves and unisons back in  
> shape.
>
> In my ideal world these exams would be fairly easy to set up and  
> administer, interesting to take and of value to anyone interested  
> in monitoring and improving their skills past the RPT exams.
>
> I also wonder if something more broad than a pass/fail category  
> like RPT might be of value.  By taking classes and passing exams on  
> a range of topics, a person could gradually build a "transcript" of  
> advanced learning and competency demonstration.  Eager folks who  
> got a "C" score might like to come back and retake when they have  
> higher skills.
>
> Ed Sutton
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Israel Stein
> To: caut at ptg.org
> Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 1:08 PM
> Subject: [CAUT] CAUT testing model
>
> At 08:01 AM 10/24/2007, Ed Sutton wrote:
>> Just for fun, here's a college interview I was told about:
>>
>> The candidate was given a choice of a half-dozen weary studio  
>> grand pianos
>> and told "Pick a piano and show us how much you can improve it in  
>> 3 hours."
>>
>> I think that was a pretty clever idea!  I wish more school  
>> administrators
>> were that clever.
>
> The more I think about it, the more it seems that this is the model  
> on which at least a part of a CAUT tuning exam could be based. Why  
> is this such a clever idea? Because it realistically simulates the  
> conditions under which a CAUT technician typically operates. There  
> is never enough time to do any job, one always has to make choices,  
> do triage, set priorities, make the best possible assessment of  
> what one can "get away" with. This interview is clever because it  
> addresses the candidate's ability to function under those conditions.
>
> I am wondering if a test could be structured along the same lines.  
> Give the candidate a tuning assignment and a time frame way too  
> short to do the job "perfectly". Devise a scoring system rating the  
> results in terms of priorities and score the candidate in terms of  
> how well he or she met those priorities. That might be a better  
> assessment of a candidate's chops than a "concert tuning" in 90  
> minutes. Yes, this would be very complicated and involve a lot of  
> trial and error real-time experimenting. But it might lead to some  
> sort of realistic test of "chops".
>
> Hell, I can't remember the last time I had 90 minutes to do a  
> concert tuning during concert season - I'm always struggling to do  
> what I can in the time I can scrounge with the three concert hall  
> pianos and sometimes the results have to be good enough to last  
> over several performances and rehearsals...  And sometimes, when  
> the heating system is screwy (which is quite often) the work  
> includes a pitch raise or drop. And the voicing always requires  
> attention. And I hear the same thing from other CAUTs. A "concert  
> tuning in 90 minutes" doesn't begin to test the chops - or the  
> judgment abilities - required to deal with this. Something like the  
> above might...
>
> A CAUT requires some very specialized abilities and skills - not  
> just "higher order tuning skills". This is one reason why I feel  
> that the CAUT credential should be an endorsement on top of the RPT  
> - and not a stand alone "supertuner" credential. For this reason  
> (and several others which are political and organizational in  
> nature) the RPT status should be a prerequisite for the CAUT exam  
> and the CAUT exam should narrowly focused on skills and abilities  
> required of the CAUT - and not deal with broad overall assessments  
> of general skills that in many ways would duplicate what has  
> already been assessed on the RPT exam (albeit on the basic level).  
> Thus the CAUT test should focus on specific areas - the ability to  
> tune specific types of octaves, the ability to tune across a scale  
> break, the ability to achieve a stable tuning in pitch raise  
> situations, the ability to tune adequately under "pressure"  
> conditions. This can be done more effectively by the use of  
> "sample" testing techniques focusing on specific areas through  
> specific assignments on parts of the piano rather than through a  
> generalized test that simply requires tuning a piano.
>
> Israel Stein
>
>
>

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