RPT, was THE best RPT.....

[Tom Sivak]

I agree that the tests, at least the written and tuning exams, are too easy to pass.  The bar is so low that RPT status does not qualify one as anything more than merely competent.  I haven't taken the Technical Exam yet, so I'm not sure about that one, but for me to pass the Tuning Exam with all scores 93 or higher, with three 100s, well...I ain't no Virgil Smith, I'll tell ya that.  
   
  The tolerances allowed on the tuning test are so wide that Beethoven in his later years could have passed it.  
   
  I'm sorry, I didn't start this out as a rant against RPTs, but I am amused by comments about what other RPTs think of me as an Associate.  Having met hundreds of RPTs, I can tell you this: there are good ones, and there are bad ones.  Having those three letters after your name does very little to increase my respect for you.  (Sorry.)
   
  So what is my motivation to take that final test and pass it?  To join the ranks of other technicians, some good, some bad, who have also passed the test?  What's the distinction?   To put myself among the ranks of Virgil Smith, and at the same time, my friend, Mr. Best RPT in America?  Seems like this is a club that accepts almost anybody into their ranks.
   
  I'll probably take the Technical Exam one day.  As Dave says, why not?  If you join the PTG and accept a lower status, I think that says something about you as a person.  But I will get very little pride out of it.
   
  Tom Sivak
   
  Dave Doremus <algiers_piano at bellsouth.net> wrote:
  On 6/15/06, pianolover 88 said:

>And let's not forget that without rpt tests, conventions, ptg dues, 
>ptj and so on, the PTG is out of business!


Honestly, I think your wrong about all of this anti RPT stuff. I dont 
brag about it, or force it on anyone but its the only objective 
measure of basic competence there is in the field. Whats the big 
deal? I dont think I really gained anything financially from it but I 
havent lost anything either. And I have taken them a couple of times 
since just to see if Im losing anything. The tests really are not 
that hard. Personally, I think they should be much more demanding, if 
you are halfway competent you can pass them. Listen to the deviation 
allowed in a unison by the test and think about whether you would 
leave one sounding like that in a customers piano. I had no pressure 
placed on me when I took them, fresh out of school, apprenticed to a 
harpsichord maker, very little practical piano experience in the 
field, and had no trouble passing. I just dont see why anyone wouldnt 
want to join and take the test, not that expensive, not that 
demanding, the reward of getting together with people in the same 
profession once a month to talk about what you are all going through 
and knowing that anyone who calls you can have confidence in your 
basic abilities. Whats to lose?
-- 
----Dave


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Dave Doremus, RPT
New Orleans
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