Piano Technician Training

[Farrell]

Hi Doug. Ditto, ditto, ditto. I took the Randy Potter course. Very good, complete course. I have heard numerous negative things about the American course - but no first-hand experience. If you can't do an in-house piano tech school, the definately do the Randy Potter thing. It will give you ALL the basics.

Terry Farrell
  
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "SUSAN P SWEARINGEN" <ssclabr8@flash.net>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Tuesday, July 16, 2002 6:40 PM
Subject: Re: Piano Technician Training


> 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
> >
>