Ed, I very much respect what you are saying and agree with much of it. But it is not reasonable to expect even the best piano tuner to be able to master the historical knowledge and skill for every temperament in Dr. Jorgenson's book, which, as we are recently learning, may be itself a mere scratch on the surface of the subject. (Heck, a big part of us can't even master the skills in our much smaller piano technology books.) We can realistically only skim the surface and become knowledgeable of a small fraction of what would be required to be able to accurately advise in the field of historical appropriateness. By focusing only on those few temperaments we might be able to master, we actually become incompetent in the subject, just because of its enormity. And then, application of all that knowledge might come in useful somewhere around 0.01% of our work, at most. It seems to me that there are a handful of people interested in promoting the interest and not thinking about just how enormous the subject actually is and just how big the eventual consequences of such promoting the subject could be. Taking the reality and wisdom of Richard West's last post into consideration, the enormity just grew considerably. Though I was not there, I suspect what Bill Garlick was probably referring more to has to do with piano technology and its effect for the performer/student. But this is musicology, a subject in which we can merely dabble on the side. I am not arguing like or dislike of particular temperaments, nor the ability to research, learn and execute with reasonable skill, any temperament that might be requested. I am concerned about the promotion of the piano technician as an expert in areas he/she can't possibly master. The times might "be changing", but I think if the piano tuners are the reason for it, we'll regret it. In my opinion, it is wise for each technician to focus on the areas of their individual interest, develop those to the best of his/her ability and promote ourselves as competent in those areas, and charge accordingly. I think it is a mistake to promote the notion that a piano technician can reasonably become an expert in every area of every field tangent to our basic core function, just because a few are interested in that area of knowledge. By attempting to become skilled at everything somebody else thinks we should be skilled at, we actually wind up skilled at nothing. We're promoting making competency slaves out of ourselves and yet our compensation is still going to be tied to the least competent among us. At some point, we've got to leave the library and go make some money, or we'll wind up living in a cardboard box under a bridge. Jim Busby wrote: "Well said. And I would add, charge double anytime you tune an HT. Then they will feel they are getting something "extra special" by someone with the skill to do it. (I say it with a grin, but mean it.)" So, how's that apply to salaried CAUTs Jim? (also, written with a grin) Jeff ----- Original Message ----- From: <A440A at aol.com> To: <caut at ptg.org> Sent: Friday, January 30, 2009 1:27 PM Subject: Re: [CAUT] Claudio Di Veroli & Equal Temperament > Jeff writes: > << However, it seems that it is the tuners who > are making it their business of selling the historical temperaments, > rather > than the customers requesting them because of their knowledge and > expertise.<< > > In this instance, the customers are woefully ignorant. Approached > properly, they delight in the resources offered by non-ET tuning. > > >>I think it is a bad precedent for the tuners to have to sell > particular > temperaments to musicians who have doctorates in their field if they don't > know they need it. It sets us up for becoming the experts at this > temperament appropriateness selection process.<< > > I think that is good. Bill Garlick, long ago, taught us that a > large > part of successful customer relations was to be a teacher. He was right. > >>>There is very little time spent on temperament in collegiate music > education. Apparently, music academia doesn't see it as a high priority. > >> > > Yet, but that is changing. > > Regards, > > Ed Foote RPT > http://www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/index.html > www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/well_tempered_piano.html > <BR><BR><BR>**************<BR>A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. See > yours > in just 2 easy steps! > (http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100000075x1215855013x1201028747/aol?redir=http://www.freecreditreport.com/pm/default.aspx?sc=668072%26h > mpgID=62%26bcd=DecemailfooterNO62)</HTML> > >
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