Ralph Onesti wrote: This time...their qualification expectations are a bit afield in my opinion...for example...they want to know exactly how many pianos the tech will do each day, they don't need to be Registered with the PTG, but they do require a college degree. I was hoping you could help Vincent write a reasonable job description for the new tech as you are in the trenches and who knows where they are. Also, you might give input on normal salaries, etc. West Chester, PA is close to Philadelphia in a no-so-cheap residential area. Thanks Ralph! That first statement copied above is hilarious! The void of knowledge and understanding about our work that exists among musicians of high calibre is indeed amazing. Wow. We have a lot of work to do. Requiring a college degree is not only silly, but it weeds out many of the brightest and most talented piano technicians in the country. I have my personal convictions about college "education" which would be better to not be expressed. The salary calculation is easy: Make calls in the local private sector to the most respected technicians in the area. Find out what their average normal "tuning equivalent" rate is and multiply that by 20 per week (which is a reasonable workload for a 40 hour week -- see NOTE below). Adjust that figure by the number of weeks of annual leave, sick leave and holidays are in the benefits package (typically about 8, so you'll likely be multiplying the "tuning equivalent fee" by 880) to come to a total compensation value including the value of benefits. Then adjust again for the actual dollar value the employer contributes to health insurance, retirement, Social Security and FICA match, etc., and you can come to a reasonable salary figure with which to begin negotiations. Factor in whether it is considered a "high profile" position and adjust accordingly (i.e., presidents are generally better compensated than governors are generally better compensated than mayors - same basic job, different level of visibility and expectations). NOTE: By the way, just to clarify, just because 20 tuning equivalents a week is a reasonable workload for 40 hours by no means implies that a college technician will be able to actually "tune" 20 pianos every week, and in fact will likely rarely tune that many a week. By the time you navigate the schedules of 50 or so very busy teaching studios, classrooms and rehearsal spaces, touch up concert tunings 3 to 5 times a week per venue, spend time on necessary repairs, regulations, voicings, shop work, and then more time keeping records of your activity, it would be optimistic to hope to work in "tuning" more than a dozen pianos a week and yet be completely brain fried at the end of the day. How's this for a job description?: ============ Piano Inventory Maintenance Director The Department of Music at West Chester University is seeking a person trained in the art and craft of piano technology to oversee and maintain our inventory of XX pianos in recital venues, faculty studios, classrooms and rehearsal spaces. Desirable candidate should be a responsible self-starter who will report directly to and work closely with the music department head to formulate and implement a strategy for the ongoing maintenance and replacement program of the entire piano inventory. The responsibilities of the successful candidate will include maintenance of our (x number of) concert pianos at a level expected by professional touring artists, (x number of) piano teaching studios at a level that will promote and inspire development of advanced pianistic skills of students and faculty, (x number of) additional teaching studios, classrooms and rehearsal spaces to promote and inspire musical development of all other advanced music students. The successful candidate should have a minimum of 5 years of professional experience as a working piano technician, to include some form of professional skills assessment or training evaluation such as Registered Piano Technician status in the Piano Technicians Guild or equivalent. Experience with piano maintenance in a college setting is highly desireable, as is experience in preparing pianos for the professional concert stage and rebuilding/refurbishing of artist grade instruments implementing philosophies consistent with their manufacturers. Inventory and operations management skills are essential, to include evaluation, planning, scheduling, procurement, supervising employees and contract assistance as well as budget management and record keeping. Candidate should generally expect a normal daily work schedule with exceptions of extreme rarity for events of high visibility, showcasing the entire department. The percentage of inventory the candidate will be expected to personally maintain will depend on results of the evaluation process and available funds for employee and contract assistance. Salary will be competitive with earnings of similarly qualified and established full time self-employed piano technicians in the private sector local to the university with aggressive annual cost of living and performance adjustments, and includes a generous benefits package. Minimum of three (3) references should include at least one experienced piano technician of high reputation. =========== NOTE 2: An absence of professional concert experience is NOT a measure of any technician's ability level. It is merely an indication of geography and/or opportunity (as Franz Mohr will preach). It doesn't mean a technician is not CAPABLE of concert preparation, and this should be noted to any search committee. Any committee which requires such experience is obviously compensating for the inability to otherwise objectively evaluate the skills of a piano technician. NOTE 3: Others may not agree with me, but it is my opinion that the piano technician's personal primary responsibilities should focus solely on pianos, and should not include the maintenance of harpsichords and/or other historical keyboard instruments UNLESS the entire inventory is less than 40 pieces, or else risk the neglect of pieces of the piano inventory at its expense. If the university desires that harpsichord maintenance should fall under the responsibility of the piano (or keyboard) technician, it should be considered that that is an entirely different skillset, and the salary should reflect that persons who specialize in harpsichord maintenance generally charge exponentially higher fees for that service than do those in the piano service market. It is no different than expecting the piano tuner to service a digital keyboard or even a pipe organ (any of you paid for a pipe organ tuning lately?). Those may well be skills a particular individual may have accumulated, but it should not be expected that the overall title of piano technician should encompass those skills. Jeff Tanner, RPT BBA (with music studies), UGA 1993 formerly FTE, University of South Carolina and University of Georgia currently providing maintenance for Claflin University -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/caut.php/attachments/20080906/d27ae6d7/attachment.html
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