Hi, Richard I'm glad your daughter is training for the business. She may like tuning better once she is further into it, when it starts to connect her with music and people. One thing I'm told is different between men and women (more or less - there's always an overlap, I feel) -- Women have more connections between the right and left brains (the Bicameral Legislature <grin>) so they tend to react more to a whole situation, instead of just one aspect. Never having been of the male persuasion, I can't say if this is true, but one of the attractions which piano work has for me is that it puts me into situations with rich and varied backgrounds (people, places, activities.) She wouldn't get this benefit while working on tuning in your shop or home, but once she got out in the field, it would probably kick in. Upper body strength -- it does get physical. The extension hammer is a great equalizer, as is the impact hammer. One gets adept at handling a longer lever. When Charles Faulk made me a tuning hammer, he called it "Kline's crowbar." <grin> Playing cello gave me some upper body strength and the mental habit of developing techniques which are effective and not physically stressful. Even so, I did some working out with weights (from a book called "Beautiful Body Building for Women" <grin>) while I was in tuning school, and it helped a lot for tasks like lifting large upright actions in and out of pianos. I also try to change my grip a lot as I work -- I try not to get stuck in just one grip or motion, with either hand. As for the address question, we'd all do better to think about such things now and then. Just have her get herself a P.O. Box, and put that on cards and in the yellow pages, instead of a physical address. Also, if she moves, she can still keep the box, so she doesn't have to change her cards. I also always own a vehicle with a rear hatch, which has a little curtain that pulls forward and hides the cargo compartment. No point in shouting "Tools in Here! Help Yourselves!" Also, the rear loading and folding rear seats greatly help in moving actions. With a hand truck (small, cheap) and a board, I can get a grand action and keys from the car into my house and up onto the bench okay, alone. Well, when I brought home the huge Renner action from a nine-foot Baldwin, with totally unchipped ivory keys, I got some help from a neighbor getting it inside and onto the workbench. Now that I'm getting older (59) I have a little folding cart (made by Norman Cantrell - 580-355-5003) which is light to carry, and lets me pull grand actions and wheel them to wherever I want them. It has been a godsend. In a pinch, I can still woman-handle a grand action alone, but it's a lot easier with the cart or with someone else taking one end. When it comes to "businessland" in general, I think that being self-employed sidesteps many problems that women usually encounter. (Glass ceilings, harassment, dull powerless secretarial work, etc.) A self-employed person is actually in a position of some power, with control over pricing, scheduling, work methods, and so on. We can choose not to work for anyone we don't wish to. No union is in our faces. Quality counts. I have found that if customers are given quality and a cheerful approach, they take hiring a woman for their pianos right in stride. Since so many piano techs (practically all of them I know) are roughly my own age, once our generation retires (and we're starting to retire already) people may be delighted to find ANYONE to work on their pianos, and gender may not matter a hoot. Best, Susan At 09:04 AM 1/22/2006 -0600, you wrote: >This has been an interesting thread on many levels. For one thing, >my daughter is coming to my office to learn piano service. She >graduated from college last summer and likes the idea of working >independently. She's pretty handy with tools (she has a minor in art/ >sculpture), and has grasped tuning well, although I don't think she >likes tuning all that much. > >My question is this: What problems do women run into out there is >businessland? I talked to one woman who doesn't put her address on >her business card because she doesn't want it out there for all to >have. This was something I had never thought about, being of the >male persuasion. Also the upper body strength issue seems that it >must be a major problem. One rather petite woman I know had to use >both hands to move the tuning hammer on pianos with tight pins. >Another said she had to lift weights and work out to keep from having >pain. I know this isn't just a female thing, men have upper back >problems too. If my daughter does indeed continue to do well, it >would be nice to know what she should be aware of when she starts >working on her own. Does PTG do anything to help women get together >and talk about these things? Maybe you "guys" just seek each other >out and meet over lunch to exchange ideas. > >On another note, I'd like to make an announcement. I'll be retiring >from my university job as of May 12, 2006. I'll be 62 and will be >moving into a part time piano service business and otherwise have >time to do other things. I'm looking forward to it. I've worked at >the university of NE for 30 years and it's been a good gig. I'm >announcing this so that any of you that might be interested in >applying will know that the position will be open soon. The >department is preparing to advertise. I don't know what the pay >scale will be, but I'm pushing for a decent starting salary and the >benefits are good. > >Richard West >University of Nebraska
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