An excellent post Ed. Just so we are all clear on the subject, I realize that CAUT and the PTG are not collectively going to really go anywhere for the present anyways on this CAUT certification. That said I still stand by my position, which in the present context is just part of an airing of thoughts anyways. It strikes me that the PTG fear of the back door thing is already a factum. The associate issue has created what is effectively that back door, and like the situation over here with the change in rule... the RPT designation in the eyes of the public is getting washed thin. An associate has too many legal ways of presenting him/herself as a full blown member of the PTG, and indeed there is a very strong movement within the PTG to simply do away with the differences an become a pure associate organization... tho I dont see that happening in the immediate future. That said... a further easing of the RPT exams may end up coming about. I made a point off line I think is poignant in all this. Any CAUT certification worth its salt would have to be so tough that all RPT qualifications would be well more then spoken for to begin with. So in reality, the whole issue about a backdoor around RPT status is an illusion to begin with. Such an CAUT exam would more then automatically qualify for RPT status and could easily be accepted as an acceptable bypass. There is to my mind... no conflict of interests here. I agree Ed, we have a lot to learn from Steinways marketing skills. Cheers RicB Jeff! Did you attend this year's annual in Kansas City? PTG has amazing resources! I can't imagine any other organization in the hemisphere that could bring together such a range of teachers and resources. The factory schools are great, but they are only going to teach how to tune,regulate and voice that company's pianos. CAUT work involves so much more than just tuning, regulating and voicing. The only place I know where people can get together and share about all the other stuff is right here: PTG and CAUT! It will take planning, organizing, and especially creating ways to inform administrators of what a good CAUT has to offer. I think a change can be made if we keep plugging at it. By the way, just for comparison, the Steinway marketing campaign is well known in market studies. It began just after the Civil War, and is the longest running unified marketing campaign in history. Many of the Steinway "themes" go back over a hundred years. They never contradict themselves, and they keep saying the same phrases over and over. People in the Soviet Union in 1970 knew the Steinway name, and knew it was "the piano of the Immortals." That's marketing! PTG should learn from it. Ed Sutton
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