[CAUT] Job Opening, U. of Michigan, Ann Arbor

[Richard Brekne]

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