Piano technology courses;

[Thomas C. Cobble]

>Greetings,
>
>     I am looking for some background help here, hoping for some ammo to deal
>with a recalcitrant curriculum committee.
>     Having recently proposed a basic piano technology course for the
>students at Blair school, Vanderbilt, I was told that it was considered
>unnecessary to the students education.
>     To me, this means that the school is granting performance degrees to
>students that cannot tell if their instruments are in, nor can they
>understand what is meant by regulation, etc. ( I am sure all of you have had
>to deal with customer ignorance?)
>     The course was designed to give students enough knowledge to protect
>themselves, and to communicate intelligently with their technicians, NOT
>teaching them how to rebuild or tune beyond unisons.
>    What I think will help me, is to know:
>
> how many  music schools in the country offer some form of instruction for
>the piano students in the care and requirements of their instruments?
>
>     If I can show the administration that I am not some atypical nut with a
>unique agenda, I may have a second shot at this.  (It is important to me).
>     Posting to me personally will probably be appreciated by those that are
>not involved in academic quagmires of their own and would hate to see
>bandwidth spent on this.
>     Thanks for any help.
>
>Regards,
>Ed Foote
>
>A440A@aol.com
>
>Ed. I have delt with this problem at two Universities, and both times I
have run into the samme damm blank stares and stupidity.

In today's world kids comming out of college with performance degrees are
worse than helpless. You and I both know it and that's why we're piano techs.

I have finally begun to understand what's going on and it stinks. But I have
taught two graduate summer-school courses entitled WHAT TO DO UNTIL THE
TECHNICIAN GETS THERE  and EVERYTHING YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT PIANOS
BUT WERE AFFRAID TO ASK>   These courses were two hours every day for three
weeks. in short summer sessions. They were successful, fun and too damm much
work in planning and justifing to the admin. especially when the students
had to buy
tools for $60.00.

to make a long story short. start small or adopt a student or two.. But don't
let the admin and the profs know that you make more $$$ and have a lot more
fun than they do... (They already know it but they are in denial...)

Tom Cobble