back from K.C., too

[Tom Sivak]

List
   
  Everyone seemed to have a great time at the convention but me!  I know that choosing your classes can be a crapshoot, but it was more crap than shoot for me.  
   
  Seems like many of the classes I attended were inappropriately titled or labeled in degree of difficulty. (All the classes are labeled either E for Everyone, B for Basic, I for Intermediate, A for Advanced, etc.)
   
  For instance, a class called "MOVE IT" detailed piano moving techniques.  OK.  I'd like to learn more about moving a piano.   Course decription as follows:
      "Discover basic tools and skills that will allow you to move pianos easily in your shop or from place to place."
    
  Great!  I'd love to be able to move a piano more easily in my shop, OR from place to place!  And, the course is labled (B) for basic, so that's me!  SIgn me up!
   
  Well, maybe the class should have been entitled, "WATCH US MOVE IT", because it was about this guy's moving company, his 2 and a half ton pickup, his trailer and equipment, and his henchmen who actually do the moving.  I've seen professionals move pianos.  I have paid them many times to do so.  Now, I got to sit for 45 minutes and watch slides of them doing it.  

To be fair, there was one tip on lifting a vertical piano with a car jack that is evidently very hard to find, since some of my classmates had already tried locating one.
   
  Then there was tthe class entitled, "BRIDGE AND SOUNDBOARD REPAIR WITH EPOXY".  OK.  I've used epoxy to repair bridges, but not a soundboard.  I'd like to learn about this!
   
  Well, after an hour of bridge repair discussion, someone asked, "Are we going to talk about soundboards, too?"  The reply, "Well, they renamed the class on me.  It's really about bridges."  Then he spent about 90 seconds talking about epoxying soundboards, then back to bridges.
   
  Or "Veneer Repair" that was all about a vaccuum pump that the instructor made all by himself.  He showed us where we could order the parts for the vaccuum pump and how we could build a vaccuum pump ourselves, and how to use the vaccuum pump.  And for a professional cabinet refinsher, I could see that this vacuum pump would come in handy.   We watched his process on restoring a century old S&S 'D' with an art case.  (He used the vaccuum pump ALOT!)  But in terms of learning anything that I personally could use, in a client's home, for instance, very little was offered.  
   
  I did have some good classes, too.  But, I shouldn't even say it that way.  The above classes were undoubtedly "good classes", but just not for me.  If I had never epoxied a bridge before, I would have learned from a master how he does it.  And I will change the way I do it, based on his discussion of the topic.  
   
  And I picked up a couple of real bargains at the exhibit hall.  (A digital micrometer for $42!  No more squinting!)
  
It just seemed like the majority of the classes I took were disappointing to me.  Again, I fully expected to sit through some classes that didn't give me what I wanted, but this is the first time that I wasted entire days sitting in classes that offered me nothing.
   
  Sorry for the brutal honesty, but discussion is what this list is all about.  Without an opposing viewpoint, what is there to discuss?

Tom Sivak
Chicago
   
  
J Patrick Draine <jpdraine at gmail.com> wrote:
  Hello list,
Saturday before last (June 16) I left home (Billerica, MA) for the
"Piano Technicans Guild Promoting Piano Service Excellence 50th
Anniversary 1957 - 2007" (that's what it says on my champagne flute)
aka the 2007 Annual PTG Council and Institute, and after skipping
today's Sunday morning classes in order to catch a 7:55 AM flight, I
am home again.
It was a most excellent event!
Aside from the political activities (appropriate for that other list,
ptg-l), there were many opportunities to learn (and relearn) myriad
aspects of our craft(s), renew and make new friendships and industry
contacts, tempt onself with (and succumb to a few) tool purchases,
expensive meals and drinks (and some moderately priced, and some
comped at manufacturers' receptions), etc.
Thanks to one & all -- to mention a few in random order, the tuning
examiners supertuning and administering exams just below my room, the
PTG Home Office staff, the Institute Team (Malinda Powell, Mel Brooks,
Ward Guthrie, Jeff Hickey et al.), the moving team, and the many
excellent instructors (hats off to Roger J., Jon P., Dave A., Mike K.,
Debra Cyr, Wally Brooks, for starters but I got up too early, fading
fast, so I'll leave it to others to express their own reflections!)
And of course, great to see many of the pianotech gang (John F., John
R., Cy S., Ron N., and the rest of ya).
Many thanks to all,
Patrick Draine

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