Piano Technician Training

[Avery Todd]

Doug,

>         I do have a question about training to become a piano technician
>(as I'm sure you have been asked numerous times).  How did you get your
>training?  Currently, I'm looking into both the Randy Potter and the
>Americal School correspondence courses, but I'm not sure if either is
>better or if I should try to find a technician who is willing to take on
>an apprentice.

If you have to do correspondence, DEFINITELY Randy's course! I
took the American course 25-30 yrs. ago and ended up taking
Aubrey Willis's course because at that time, the PTG didn't
endorse the American course. They don't endorse anyone now but
from what I know about Randy's course, I'd definitely go with his!

>         I have issues with how both schools present themselves as being
>the "better" school.  In the case of Randy Potter, he includes a
>12-year-old article from Keyboard Magazine saying that his school is the
>best.  (Written by Larry Fine, no less)  I'm not sure how much relavance
>an article of that age has on training today.

I doubt his course has changed much in the interim, except to
improve!

>In the case of the American
>School, there are email testimonials included, but none of the
>testimonials are from members of the PTG.

Now, I wonder why that is? :-) I'm surprised they're still in
existence!

>They say that they just haven't
>bothered.  Cost, of course, is an issue, since the Randy Potter course
>costs twice as much as the American School course.

There might be a reason for that, of course! And I'm talking
about a good reason, i.e. "you get what you pay for". :-) If I
had to go through that again, I'd definitely choose Randy's
course! (Randy, the bill will be in the mail tomorrow!) :-) I
do hope everyone knows I'm just kidding!

>         Which brings me to the other option.  From what I've read on the
>list and the archives, it seems to me that most piano technicians would
>not be willing to take on an apprentice since they fear that this will
>take business away from them.  How can that be approached?

I'm sure there are some who think that way but I don't really
think that is the reason most techs won't do that. In my experience,
it's usually because most 'trainees' learn just enough to "make
themselves dangerous" and then go out and say "so and so" trained
me and they don't really know what they're doing, so it hurts "so
and so's" reputation! Too many want to learn to be a fantastic
technician in a few months and believe, it doesn't happen that way!
I've been doing this for almost 30 years and I'm still trying to
learn things I haven't had the opportunity to learn yet!

>  Yes, I'd be
>willing to pay a technician for training if they would offer it to me.

Good for you. That's the way it ought to be. I paid many $$$$$ for
the college courses I took and someone wanting to do this should
be willing to do the same. I worked for free for a long time for
a dealership, learning, until he finally decided I was worth paying!
I started learning while I was still in the Army and didn't have much other
choice.

>I have been in touch with the PTG about membership and stating that I'm
>looking to maybe apprentice to someone.  I'm currently living in the SF
>Bay Area, just to give you a geographical reference.
>
>Any help/suggestions/comments would be very welcome.

Let me suggest that you contact someone locally who might be willing
to sponsor you into the PTG chapter there and then go to every meeting
and convention you can, sweep floors for a good tech if necessary and
in short, do whatever is necessary to learn what you want/need to
learn! It isn't a short course, believe me! But it can be very
rewarding!

>You are welcome to
>contact me off-list if you feel that this is not worthy of the bandwidth
>on the list.

Wouldn't even consider doing that! :-)

>Thank you very much.
>Sincerely,
>Doug Jones

Good luck and there are a lot of techs out there who are more than
willing to help anyone who's sincerely trying to learn!

Avery
University of Houston