Hi all, First, thank you Fred, and all the others who have worked diligently on the original guidelines and the proposed revisions. All your effort is greatly appreciated. I know I've been heard from on the subject already. But I would like to express some of my thoughts on the existing formula as a whole. These are simply my observations and opinions. Most of you guys have been at this a lot longer than I have, so take it for what it's worth. It seems to me that our purpose for having a formula in the first place is to determine the actual needs for a particular situation, not to compare it to what others are doing to maintain status quo. The bean-counters already have that information, and this is part of why it is so difficult to improve our individual situations. I really don't see the point of separating institutions into categories based on reputation, performance orientation, status etc., for the purpose of the guidelines, nor is it our place as piano technicians. It would seem that each school or department of music's goal would be to offer a quality music education. Certainly the quality of administrators, faculty, facilities, and budgets seem to separate us already, yet at the same time, a smaller school might be able to offer just as valuable of an education to a gifted student due to lower student to teacher ratios and other factors. But the basic need of having well maintained and tuned pianos in order to provide any level of educational experience does not differ from a local junior college to an institution of highest regard. What we need to evaluate is "need", and let the administrators deal with whether they are able or willing to devote budget dollars to provide solutions. If we're fudging our numbers merely to represent "more realistic" recommendations so that administrators won't laugh, then we are doing our institutions a disservice. "Properly Maintained" is what we're after, and what my neighbors are doing in their situation has no bearing on what my institution needs. Yes, it might be effective to present, for example, that the University of Georgia, only 170 miles away, has 2.5 technicians to maintain their 115 Steinways (or whatever the number is), while there's just one of me trying to maintain our 125 instruments of various makes here at USC and how that might impact a particular prospective student's choice of school. At the same time, our faculty also admits that we're "spoiled" here by having the only full time staff tech in the state, as overwhelmed as he may be. But that still does not address what our institution actually NEEDS to properly maintain our inventory. And I believe that if the PTG is going to go to the trouble to sponsor a standardized solution as an organization of piano specialists, we are missing the target if we don't focus solely on the maintenance requirements of each individual instrument in each individual situation. Whether our calculations come across to administrators as being unrealistic does not change the needs. That said, in my opinion, administrators might seem more able to deal with the solution if they have figures based on actual work hours required to maintain their inventories, rather than what they might perceive as an arbitrary assignment of 60 pianos per technician, with each instrument assigned ratings which either increase or decreases this workload. It just comes across as being abstract, though I fully realize that the formula was calculated with time requirements in mind. Each instrument would have to be evaluated for an estimate of the actual time required to perform the work needed per year. For example, for a concert instrument, the administrator is presented with a clearer picture of what is actually required, such as 300 hours per year rather than 60 pianos per tech x 1.4 x 1.3 x 1.0 x 1.3 x 1.3 x 0.8 x 0.7 (=103.3, by the way). Factors such as humidity control would be represented in terms of the actual time needed for the additional tunings/regulation work needed due to the level of pitch changes caused by humidity fluctuation, etc. Certainly, we might be able to use some of the factors we have in order to calculate the adjustments to the time required by each instrument, but the end report needs to be presented in terms of hours. With the needs of all instruments added together we could present to administrators that in order to properly maintain the 120 instruments of that institution would require 4500 hours per year, for example. I simply believe this approach presents a clearer picture of the need. March 16, 2001, Richard West posted to the CAUT list his "Suggested Ideal Maintenance Program", which I feel is more to the point of how to evaluate the needs of the institution, at least in a manner which is more understandable to administrators. His "formula" is expressed more in terms of dollars than hours, which is probably more applicable to the contract CAUT, but these figures could be easily converted and expressed in terms of hours. The current Guidelines, either old or revised, might arrive at a reasonable figure for the overall inventory, but not because each individual instrument is accurately represented. In fact, each instrument is likely inversely represented in the formula, which gives rise to serious doubt as to the validity of the current formula. Consider the above example for maintaining a concert instrument. Could you honestly maintain 103 concert instruments per year, each of which requires almost daily attention? Our current formula says you can. Conversely, for an old spare upright you might have stashed away unused, the formula might require one tech per 28 such instruments to do nothing to them! Now change your base to 80 and see what happens. The changes Fred proposes serve to offset these effects somewhat, but the overall effect of the formula on each instrument is still inaccurate. It just doesn't present a clear picture of the actual needs of the institution, and justifies administrators current perceptions of the guidelines as unrealistic. And last but not least, I think we need to come up with some way to assist our administrators with determining salary for these technicians they need, and have this somehow included in the "Guidelines". I really think the numbers our administrators have don't represent an accurate representation of the value of a piano technician. Have you all seen the latest "Occupational Outlook Handbook" description for a "Musical Instrument Repairer"? It doesn't paint a very pretty picture, and certainly not the picture Randy Potter appears he will be presenting in his class at the Mid-Atlantic Regional coming up. Thanks for allowing me to share my thoughts. Jeff Fred Sturm wrote: >Fellow Cauts, > Last fall I suggested a couple revisions to the "draft revised workload >formula." I have received no feedback to date, so am reposting in hopes >somebody will have something to say. Well, I know plenty of people will >have plenty to say, so what I am really hoping is that some of you will >take the trouble to write it down and post it <g>... Jeff Tanner Piano Technician School of Music University of South Carolina Columbia, SC 29208 (803)-777-4392 (phone)
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