Mark, David A., and other friends, Let me start by agreeing with the sentiment that this list and all of the participants to it are very valuable to me too. I do not wish to discourage anyone from learning this great craft; I have donated many hours, days, weeks, and months to help promote the craft and PTG. The folks reading this list are seriously working to upgrade their knowledge and skills. I salute that and love it! Now about the brain surgeon comment. This is a direct quote from the IAPBT convention. This was the response of two dozen or so Korean technicians to the same question asked of this list. I knew in repeating it that I would not win the friend to everyone award for the week. It was repeated because it is relevant. It is a direct answer to the question originally asked here on the list. The perspective of other cultures is worth trying to understand. I learned this week that the UK considers part-time tuners differently than the US. Do you think it would be better for us to ignore these differences? Certainly the size and variety of population differences in areas of the US dictate that we must do things differently. And, of course there are full time hacks in any field, ours not excepted. If they show up on this list, though, they seem not to linger. I remember my friend Ben McKlveen commenting on a technician that got a different kind of start than most of us. Horace Greeley was going to be teaching at a PTG Convention that Ben was the Institute Director of. Horace was first taught piano service by Steinway and went to work for them right after. Ben called him a hot house flower! Very few get that kind of start. I have always considered the art or craft of piano tuning and servicing to be like playing an instrument. Sometimes, like you, I am asked by a client or interested kids about how long it takes to learn how to tune a piano. I tell them that it is like learning to play an instrument. It does not take long to learn how to do it. Learning how to do it at a professional level takes many hours and years. I do not expect this to discourage anyone from learning to play or to tune. The rule of thumb that I have often heard about passing PTG's tuning exam is that a tuner should have about a thousand pianos under his/her belt first. I know that many have passed with less experience, but experienced examiners will say this is about right. I guess many of you would say the amount of time put into the craft makes no difference. Is this kinder to the beginners here or is it perhaps a bit dishonest? No one has commented on the 10,000 hour rule. Do you think that the studies that show this are flawed? Perhaps it just doesn't apply to our work? Yes, the willingness to learn, personal motivation and integrity are crucial to excellence in the field. So is the desire to help pianos sound so beautiful that they will help transport the player to that elusive state of creative bliss. But don't we need to put in the time to learn the craft too? Isn't this the crux of the question about part-time tuners? Perhaps I misinterpreted the question. David Boyce laments about the great old piano factories disappearing. Here in the Chicago area, just over a hundred years ago, there were about a hundred piano factories. The last of the Chicago area factories closed around the late 1960s. They used to be where tuners learned their trade, but they have not been for some time. A few schools for piano technology and PTG have filled the gap. It is hard to know if there enough technicians in most areas or not. If the tuners in a given area charge very low rates, it may not make sense for someone to spend a couple of years studying the trade, becoming well qualified, and returning to compete against the low priced tuners. In the UK, with no part-time tuners to compete against it may be more worthwhile. Now I just implied that part-time tuners charge less. This is not always the case, but often it is. Some on the list have also implied that lower prices are more ethical. but this is another whole can of worms. Most tuners start working part-time at lower prices and raise their prices as they gain more experience and clients. Experience is something we expect and are willing to pay more for. And now for something completely different. This past St. Patrick's Day, Steinway of Chicago opened a new store here in Northbrook. Virgil Smith was among the technicians there. He had given away all of his piano tools to members of the Chicago Chapter in December. I had a good talk with my one time voicing teacher. He is wheelchair bound, needed a special van to transport him to the meeting. He is in good spirits and his mind is still sharp. He mentioned that David Anderson is one of the tuners carrying on his teaching. Virgil wouldn't say this, David, but I will: Rock On! Mark Purney writes: > What is the point of making such comments? All this does is discourage > and discard less experienced technicians, and I hope none of the part > timers on this list pay any attention to it. I believe there are many > excellent part time techs, and there are others that are working hard > to become the best they can be. Many of today's part time technicians > will eventually be the future of this profession; the ones who someday > teach and mentor others. > > The brain surgery comparison is silly. Bruce Dornfeld, RPT bdornfeld at earthlink.net North Shore Chapter -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech_ptg.org/attachments/20090401/f222c2ff/attachment-0001.html>
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