Dear List, I've held back from commenting on Duaine's posts until reading Chuck's post cited below. Briefly, I've been a Guild member for over 15 years. I'm an Associate member and my reasons for not upgrading to RPT are personal and have absolutely nothing to do with the Guild or it's standards. I've never felt anything but welcome. I was an extremely active member of my original chapter and in approx. 10 years I don't think I missed more than a half dozen meetings. I was chapter secretary and treasurer for many of those years as well as a nominating committee member and state conference committee member. I would love to be as active in my present chapter, but distance vs. family obligations have prevented it. I owe a career that I adore to the fine members of the PTG and their willingness to welcome and guide me with open arms. AND...Those same RPTs and Associates have been more than thrilled to send player piano work my way. In general the comment has been, "Thank goodness there is someone willing to do that stuff that I can refer those calls to!" Best, Debbie L. ----- Original Message ----- From: Chuck Behm In my chapter, I feel there is great camaraderie among all the members, RPT's and Associates alike, with absolutely no difference in treatment. I have not once felt that my opinion or presence was looked down upon by anyone. I've been encouraged by chapter members, but never have I been made to feel less important because I haven't attained RPT status. As far as the PTG and the Journal goes, I can safely say there is no discrimination whatsoever against Associates. Anyway, those are my thoughts on the subject. I think by and large, most Associates are very appreciative of the efforts of PTG to make them feel important and included. Sincerely, Chuck Behm -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech_ptg.org/attachments/20090406/0e013d18/attachment.html>
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