<HTML><BODY style="word-wrap: break-word; -khtml-nbsp-mode: space; -khtml-line-break: after-white-space; "><BR><DIV><DIV>On Nov 1, 2007, at 12:18 AM, Ron Nossaman wrote:</DIV><BR class="Apple-interchange-newline"><BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">No promises.</FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><BR></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">When people assume I must play if I tune, I tell them I'm a mechanic, not a performer, and the guy in the pits isn't the one driving the race, but we in the pits make the race possible. And yes, I see and classify myself as a mechanic with no more exotic or self-aggrandizing a description.<BR></FONT></P></BLOCKQUOTE><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>Precisely.</DIV><BR><BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica"> The techs with the degree, or even "just" those who play, largely insist that a tech can't be effective unless he's them, essentially.<BR></FONT></P></BLOCKQUOTE><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>That's kinda what I wanted to say but chickened out. That's tough to put into words without risk of offending some people. But it is true of all of us. We judge each other based on our perception of our own selves.</DIV><BR><BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica"> Meanwhile, the techs who don't play and aren't possessed of the academic and pianistic performance credentials and capabilities generally fail to see how they're sub-standard as a technician because of it.<BR></FONT></P></BLOCKQUOTE><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>So do I.</DIV><BR><BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica"> As I've pointed out in probably altogether too many other instances, anything this ostensibly critical ought to be obvious in practice. In other words, those who have music degrees, or those who play, should be producing piano work that is clearly if not vastly superior to those who haven't, and/or don't. If they aren't, detectably, (your call) it strikes me as a non-issue anywhere beyond the realm of academic pretense/prejudice and into objective real world performance requirements. We are what we can or can't do, whether the bureaucratic mind can grasp it or not. This is just another echo of the age old logic error implying that if there are high function individuals in an organization, then everyone in the organization is high function by association. It's ok to be good at something. I think it's essential that we aspire to just that to whatever degree we're able, but it's a personal worth thing, rather than a membership association thing.</FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><BR></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">I've considered lobbying for an Agnostic PTG classification, but I expect it'd be in committee for a very long time without ever getting to the testing criteria. Too bad. It could make a cool T shirt.</FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">Ron N</FONT></P> </BLOCKQUOTE></DIV><BR><DIV>Really good post Ron.</DIV><DIV>Jeff</DIV><BR><BR><DIV> <SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: auto; -khtml-text-decorations-in-effect: none; text-indent: 0px; -apple-text-size-adjust: auto; text-transform: none; orphans: 2; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; "><DIV>Jeff Tanner, RPT</DIV><DIV>University of South Carolina</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><BR class="Apple-interchange-newline"></SPAN> </DIV><BR></BODY></HTML>