Hi Doug. Ditto, ditto, ditto. I took the Randy Potter course. Very good, complete course. I have heard numerous negative things about the American course - but no first-hand experience. If you can't do an in-house piano tech school, the definately do the Randy Potter thing. It will give you ALL the basics. Terry Farrell ----- Original Message ----- From: "SUSAN P SWEARINGEN" <ssclabr8@flash.net> To: <pianotech@ptg.org> Sent: Tuesday, July 16, 2002 6:40 PM Subject: Re: Piano Technician Training > Hi Doug, > > While I don't know anything about American, I have taken the Randy Potter > course and I found it to be of very high quality. However, that said, I can > tell you that it needs to be supplemented by additional training. Of > course, Randy would be the first to tell you this. He bills the course as a > beginning/intermediate course and that is exactly what it is. I could > nitpick about the course (numerous spelling and grammatical errors in the > text), however, that doesn't change the fact that it is a very comprehensive > course that includes video tapes that you have to make for evaluation. I > thought it well worth the money but please don't stop there. Randy's course > should be supplemented by the PTG journal and, if you are serious, > involvement in your local PTG chapter. Randy has done a great service to > people who want to get involved in piano tuning and I would highly recommend > the course! > > Corte Swearingen > Randy Potter Graduate > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Doug Jones" <limax@plover.net> > To: <pianotech@ptg.org> > Sent: Tuesday, July 16, 2002 1:52 PM > Subject: Piano Technician Training > > > > Greetings, > > I just joined the mailing list a couple of days ago and have been > > enjoying the amount of email sent to me by this mailing list. It's nice > > to see a very active list. > > > > I do have a question about training to become a piano technician > > (as I'm sure you have been asked numerous times). How did you get your > > training? Currently, I'm looking into both the Randy Potter and the > > Americal School correspondence courses, but I'm not sure if either is > > better or if I should try to find a technician who is willing to take on > > an apprentice. > > > > I have issues with how both schools present themselves as being > > the "better" school. In the case of Randy Potter, he includes a > > 12-year-old article from Keyboard Magazine saying that his school is the > > best. (Written by Larry Fine, no less) I'm not sure how much relavance > > an article of that age has on training today. In the case of the American > > School, there are email testimonials included, but none of the > > testimonials are from members of the PTG. They say that they just haven't > > bothered. Cost, of course, is an issue, since the Randy Potter course > > costs twice as much as the American School course. > > > > Which brings me to the other option. From what I've read on the > > list and the archives, it seems to me that most piano technicians would > > not be willing to take on an apprentice since they fear that this will > > take business away from them. How can that be approached? Yes, I'd be > > willing to pay a technician for training if they would offer it to me. > > I have been in touch with the PTG about membership and stating that I'm > > looking to maybe apprentice to someone. I'm currently living in the SF > > Bay Area, just to give you a geographical reference. > > > > Any help/suggestions/comments would be very welcome. You are welcome to > > contact me off-list if you feel that this is not worthy of the bandwidth > > on the list. > > > > Thank you very much. > > Sincerely, > > Doug Jones > > >
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