<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII">
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1400" name=GENERATOR></HEAD>
<BODY id=role_body style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #000000; FONT-FAMILY: =
Arial"
bottomMargin=7 leftMargin=7 topMargin=7 rightMargin=7><FONT id=rol=
e_document
face=Arial color=#000000 size=2>
<DIV>In regard to Anne's program offered at FSU, I think we need to tak=
e a
serious look at our caereer as a whole, and what is hapeening to it. We had =
a
short discussion this weekend at NCRC about the need for more piano tuners, =
and
especially educated ones. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Perhaps you are not aware of the fact that the average age of the
members of PTG is 59 year. The main reason is that for a vast majo=
rity
of our members, piano tuning is a 2nd career, either in retirement=
, or
after 10 - 20 years working on other fields. With few exceptions, =
we
are not getting any young people enterring our field. I think what is
missing is a concerted effort on our part to talk to students, both high sch=
ool
and college, about getting into this field upon graduation. Unfortunately mo=
st
of us are too busy to spend the right amount of time instructing and helping=
those students who are interested. But part of the problem too is the lack o=
f
schools that teach piano tuning. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>The question is, why aren't there more schools teaching a course o=
f
study in piano technology? The obvious answer is lack of students. But why
aren't there enough students interested in this field? Is the answer
perhaps our fault, that we have not explained adequately the opportunit=
y
for piano tuners to make a living. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>This is where I think we, as CAUT technicians, should take a more activ=
e
role. Perhaps we should encourage more students to enter our field, if not b=
y
talking about the schools in Boson and London, but at least encouraging=
them to look at what Randy has to offer. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>If we are going to maintain our industry we have to start looking for o=
ur
own replacement. 59 is not old, but it's certainly getting to the point wher=
e
our own demise is imminent.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Wim </DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>