---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment Ed, Dorothy, and List, Of course, North Bennett Street School offers a summer 2-week (I think that's the length) introductory class. I tend to agree with Dorothy - that Community Colleges are the place for introducing theoretical and practical piano tuning skills. And I like that PTG does have the beginnings of a fabulous program in the publications Ed mentions. Also, I have just been introduced to the Guild of American Luthiers, a group not unlike ours, and I am happy to report that they have self-published into beautiful book format many of their technical bulletins from over the past 15 or so years. Many of the articles read like PTG articles. Very interesting.(info at <www.luth.org>) The bottom line for me is that anyone who wants to pursue piano technology has a bit of a tricky road ahead of them, but the information IS AVAILABLE to those willing to seek it out. Mary At 09:56 PM 11/6/2004 -0500, you wrote: >Well done, Dorothy! > >I think all of us extremist piano folks on this list can design such a >program; in fact your program hardly seems like more than a start. What >about historic keyboard instruments, history of piano manufacture, >principles of conservation, piano performance and physiology, and the >psycho-physics of perception, psychology of human relations,etc.!!!! > >In practice, most of us are life-long learners in this field, and it would >take many years and thousands of dollars to create a curriculum that >equals our self-training. > >Which leads me to think that what is most needed is not a program that >finishes people, but rather one that gets folks off to a good start. > >For example, the PTG Field Repairs Guide, PACE Programs and RPT Exam >Guides would present a very good beginning curruculum, and the act of >learning this material and passing the RPT exams is a good introduction to >the skill of learning technical material. It would be possible to turn >this material into a long distance learning course with summer residency >sessions, if one could find an institution willing invest in it. If it >were heavily promoted through schools of music as a career option for >piano majors, the needed 12 or 15 students nationwide might sign up for >it. A major problem would be that the teacher instituting the program >would be creating an amazing curriculum, and I'm not sure any school would >be willing to pay the start up costs. (I am talking about something much >more intensive than a correspondence course.) > >Comments? > >Ed Sutton > > >----- Original Message ----- >From: <mailto:dabell58@earthlink.net>Dorothy Bell >To: <mailto:caut@ptg.org>College and University Technicians >Sent: 11/6/2004 5:40:22 PM >Subject: RE: [CAUT] teaching piano tuning > >Dear Friends, > >I don't know a lot about technical colleges or community colleges, but I >do know a lot about 4-year colleges and universities. Yesterday I spend >some time starting to design a Bachelor of Sci/Arts program that I thought >I could get through a faculty committee. > >Here it is: > Joint program between Physics Department and Music Department > (requiring a vigorous liaison faculty member from each department) > Of the sixteen semester courses required for graduation, > the following five courses and one practicum are required: > Physics, Introduction for Majors (with lab) > Physics, Mechanics (with lab) > Physics, Acoustics (with lab) > Music, Elementary Theory > Music, Literature of the Keyboard Instrument (two semesters) > Piano Technician Program , practicum, (five semesters) > in addition, three courses chosen from the following: > Music, Orchestral Literature > Music, Chamber Literature > Physics, Advanced Mechanics > Chemistry, Introduction for General Science Majors > Applied Mathematics > Business, Introduction for Non-Majors > In addition, eight courses to meet college distribution > requirements and desired electives. > >So I finished with this and thought, I don't know all this stuff, I don't >think I need it in my piano buriness, but it would make a great major for >the two or three people in the US (world) who are interested. It would be >hard to push through the college because it would be tremendously >expensive (small courses, specialized instructors, lots of space >requirements), but I think that it is a viable academic program. > >But to get real, I don't think that the college level is the place for >piano tech as we now do it. We don't say things like, "In a study of four >different voicing techniques carried out on pianos otherwise identical, it >was found that . . . " unless we are Jim Ellis or some other thinker of >that ilk. We often say, "I tried such and so and it worked pretty well." >That's not the sort of experimental level that would fly for a four-year >major, in my opinion. > >But the tech college or community college might be a place for a more >applied program. My own piano training was at a trade school, so I'd be >curious to know what people from the community colleges think. (This same >argument has been going on for years concerning nursing programs: theory >or practical? Two-year or four-year or trade? It's a continual discussion >with, unfortunately, a lot of potential for hurt feelings.) > >So there you have it, pie in the sky from > >Dorrie Bell >Boston, MA > > > ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/caut.php/attachments/8a/fd/a5/95/attachment.htm ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment--
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