tough enough

[Shawn Brock]

Les:
I couldn't agree with you more.  I recall the first pianos I tuned.  Man I 
thought I was something.  Looking back on it, the pianos were probably no 
better off when I was finished with the tuning.  I thought I could tune a 
piano with the best of them.  Soon after my then instructor Nevin Essex had 
me tune a few practice room pianos at Northern Kentucky University.  He was 
happy with the results stating that I would have probably have gotten an 85 
or so on the Guild Tuning Exam.  Man I thought I was cooking with gas!  A 
CTE telling me I could have passed that all important exam.  I remember 
asking Nevin, so what did you do after you passed the tuning exam and became 
a CTE?  What goals could you possibly have after that?  He told me "well 
after passing the exam that took a lode off my mind and I finely went out 
and really learned how to tune a piano!"  From that day on I saw things 
differently and I still do.  Piano technology has a lot of gray areas so it 
can be hard to develop a test that no one can argue with.  I think back to 
the time when I took the written exam, you talk about a guy who was shaking 
in his boots...  The written proved to be vary easy for me how ever.  I 
recall some of the questions asked and me thinking, only a fool would pick 
this answer!  I'm sure someone did at one time though...  So...  Guess I'm 
not the guy to ask how tough is tough enough?  How tough is to tough?  These 
guys do a hell of a job coming up with these tests and I am not going to put 
them down, because I would be afraid some person might say come on big shot 
lets see what you can come up with.  Maybe the answer is in an only RPT 
organization.  So many people complain about the alleged mistreatment of 
Associates and they have some points.  Others complain that the tests are 
not hard enough and they also might have some points.  So...  What do you 
do?  That's why I hardly get involved in these discussions.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Leslie Bartlett" <l-bartlett at sbcglobal.net>
To: "'Pianotech List'" <pianotech at ptg.org>
Sent: Friday, August 10, 2007 7:20 PM
Subject: RE: tough enough


>
>
> When I completed my pilot's license, I was told, "This is official
> permission for you to LEARN to fly."  The assumption that passing with 
> high
> marks was not enough. It only registered one had a basic understanding.
> Half of my 250 hours logged was take-offs and landings, because there was 
> so
> much to learn.   Every time I touch a concert piano I am aware of the
> hundreds of ways to screw up a tuning, and work with some fear and
> trembling.  Yet I do well because I am basically a responsible person, and
> consider the customer important, not because I took some test.  I thought
> the tuning test was quite hard because of the pressure brought to bear
> psychologically, not because of the difficulty of the test itself. 
> "Tough
> enough" is very simplistic, leaving lots of issues untended which I have,
> for years felt attention was needed.   One can be highly qualified and NOT
> pass the test, ever.  That, too is unfair.   My work speaks for itself
> (www.bartlettpianoservice.com), and my list of satisfied customers keeps
> growing.  I gained not one tiny bit of confidence from having passed that
> test, but only as a consistent work record was established.  I think there
> is yet much needed discussion about the whole issue of the tuning test. 
> les
> bartlett
> houston
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On 
> Behalf
> Of Israel Stein
> Sent: Friday, August 10, 2007 9:00 PM
> To: pianotech at ptg.org
> Subject: tough enough
>
> At 06:11 PM 8/10/2007, Don <pianotuna at accesscomm.ca>
>  wrote:
>
>>Hi Chuck,
>>
>>It is my understanding that no one has yet received a perfect score on
>>the tuning exam. Imho that makes it "tough enough".
>
> Don Tuna,
>
> You don't judge an exam by how hard it is to achieve perfection. You judge
> it by how easy it is to pass. And an 80% tuning isn't anything to crow
> about. Neither are unisons which are off by the maximum tolerance that 
> still
> gets you the point. People with a pair of functioning ears in their heads
> who learned how to use them wouldn't be happy with either. Which is why 
> many
> tuners feel that the exam is not " tough enough".
>
> Israel Stein
>
>
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