On Thu, Jan 14, 2010 at 10:38 AM, Zoe Sandell <yiddishtangofever at shaw.ca>wrote: > As a current student of Piano Technology, trying to carve out my path of > learning on Vancouver Island BC…. I wonder where different people have > gained their knowledge. If you would like to share your experience I would > be thrilled… because there is so much knowledge and talent on this forum!! > > > > Thanks > > Zoe > > > > > ------------------------------ > Hi Zoe, My story is very different than most you'll see here. I had a step-father who was a piano tech, about 4 years after he and my mother seperated I wanted to go to college and had to pay my own way. I remembered that he used to tune in 1 & 1/2 to 2 hour increments which I figured, with all the confidence of a 19 year old, would be perfect for making bucks between classes and after classes. I got the info on an Exstension course taught at the University of Minnesota by a tech, 3 hours a night 2 nights a week for 12 weeks. It cost $250(1968) and included a student hammer, some mutes, temperament strip, combination handle and a few of the rudimentary tools for it, oh and a voicing tool. I completed the course, hung out my "shingle"(put my ad in the phone book and waited for it to ring. While I was building my "clientele" I built pole buildings, sold insurance, drove cab, bartended, got married had a son and after 15 years could finally make a living at piano work. The class had been enough to cover the basics had it not been for my mentor, who, when I prefaced my first question with "This is probably a dumb question", interupted me to explain there are no dumb questions just dumb answers, letting me know he would never ridicule any question I asked him, A very safe feeling to have from a mentor. Paul and I became good friends! I never got to college, unless you count the tuning I do there but I love my craft and learn from/about it almost every day! I just began my 41st year in this business having learned a lot and still having a lot to learn. My advice, don't be afraid to ask questions and if you don't understand how to do something someone shows you, ask another person to show you their way of doing it. The method one person uses may not be the right one for you. We all tend to be solitary creatures, we've each come up with differing methods to make the same repair, to do the same task, if one doesn't fit you, another might. Good luck, Mike -- I intend to live forever. So far, so good. Steven Wright Michael Magness Magness Piano Service 608-786-4404 www.IFixPianos.com email mike at ifixpianos.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20100114/50f52c35/attachment.htm>
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