[CAUT] CAUT testing model

[Ron Nossaman]

> Good sounding, solid unisons are of the utmost importance.  However, I 
> question the implications of testing people under severe time 
> constraints and poor working conditions.   Sure, if one is going to do 
> the concert tuning thing out in the big bad world, these WILL be the 
> conditions at times.  

Yes, at times.


>But as CAUT-erizers, doesn't it send the wrong 
> message to suggest that these conditions are acceptable on an ongoing 
> basis?  I think that  runs the risk of casting ourselves as people 
> willing to be insufficiently supported in the pursuit of our 
> professional goals.
> 
>How do we expect to be better compensated if we are 
> willing to accept not-good-enough working conditions as an acceptable 
> standard?   Raise your hand if your goal is to become the piano 
> technician equivalent of the American Tourister suitcase being thrashed 
> by a gorilla in commercials from days gone by.
> 
> Alan Eder

So we have folks working for too often insultingly low wages 
(presumably to get the health care and retirement package?), 
attempting to maintain too many often marginal pianos with no 
parts budget or cooperation from the administration, working 
evenings, weekends, and before dawn tuning for every scheduled 
concert or recital, all the while stirring the political soup 
as gently as possible so as to not disturb the vegetables at 
the bottom of the bowl. It seems to me that the standard is 
already largely accepted. I've been reading some of this 
thread, and since there doesn't seem to be much of a consensus 
on testing criteria for Cauterizement, I think it's time to 
ask what exactly are the professional goals of a Caut that 
differ from any independent tech other than being more 
narrowly limited by the conditions of employment. Isn't Caut, 
like Rebuilder, or Tuner, a subset of Piano Technician? I 
don't see anything indicating that the technical skill set of 
the Caut is in any way different from that of any independent 
field tech other than the difference in the politics. So maybe 
the testing should consist of making the evaluation committee 
feel good about the condition of the test piano without doing 
anything at all to it, considering the lack of time and budget 
available for it's maintenance and repair. The tech that can 
do that is the one they're likely to hire, presuming he'll 
work all hours for the offered salary and benefits package.

Has any of you ever seen a monument to a committee?

Me either.
Ron N