Piano Technician Training

[SUSAN P SWEARINGEN]

Hi Doug,

While I don't know anything about American, I have taken the Randy Potter
course and I found it to be of very high quality.  However, that said, I can
tell you that it needs to be supplemented by additional training.  Of
course, Randy would be the first to tell you this.  He bills the course as a
beginning/intermediate course and that is exactly what it is.  I could
nitpick about the course (numerous spelling and grammatical errors in the
text), however, that doesn't change the fact that it is a very comprehensive
course that includes video tapes that you have to make for evaluation.  I
thought it well worth the money but please don't stop there.  Randy's course
should be supplemented by the PTG journal and, if you are serious,
involvement in your local PTG chapter.  Randy has done a great service to
people who want to get involved in piano tuning and I would highly recommend
the course!

Corte Swearingen
Randy Potter Graduate
----- Original Message -----
From: "Doug Jones" <limax@plover.net>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Tuesday, July 16, 2002 1:52 PM
Subject: Piano Technician Training


> Greetings,
> I just joined the mailing list a couple of days ago and have been
> enjoying the amount of email sent to me by this mailing list.  It's nice
> to see a very active list.
>
> 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.
>
> 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.  In the case of the American
> School, there are email testimonials included, but none of the
> testimonials are from members of the PTG.  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.
>
> 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?  Yes, I'd be
> willing to pay a technician for training if they would offer it to me.
> 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.  You are welcome to
> contact me off-list if you feel that this is not worthy of the bandwidth
> on the list.
>
> Thank you very much.
> Sincerely,
> Doug Jones
>