Dale, it's great to hear how good Dennis's course was! That's wonderful! The provision of piano tuning and technology courses has dimished substantially in the UK in the last two decades. In the 1980s, a couple of colleges started brand new courses - in Leeds and in Wales, but they didn't last long. The long-established course in Edinburgh also folded. Now there are only three options. There is the facility for the visually impaired at Hereford, the course at what used to be called the London College of Furniture, and the course at Newark-On-Trent. And that's it. This loss of courses must basically be due to lack of demand - colleges do not "pull" courses which are attracting good numbers. In turn, then, why did the number of applicants drop? I don't know. Perhaps there is a problem with the status of the trade/profession in the UK, and in addition, the perception of young people about careers may have altered over the years. I have not hitherto sought schools business, but there is one high school where I tune, and another I did recently. I have found it interesting that, when I have attempted to engage teachers in conversation, they have looked at me as if the geranium spoke! I found this recently in the new school as well as in the one I usually do. Perhaps high school teachers are too trodden down and harrassed to converse, or perhaps they see piano tuners as menials unworthy of civilised chat. This amuses me, because I am a college teacher myself, registered with the same professional bodies as the schoolteachers, and I get paid about $3500 more per annum than schoolteachers at the same grade! So when they won't talk to me, I take comfort in that..... I do think that the profession is not highly esteemed in the UK, and I think it would be hard to sell youngsters on the idea of a career in piano tuning and servicing. I really don't know what the answer is in Britain. Best wishes, David.
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