Hello Everyone; I feel rather unqualified to post opinions but I would like to contribute a bit of my experiences. I began my piano technician's career at Berklee College of Music and worked under the Boston Chapter PTG President for 3 years,(1980-83) sometimes tuning as many a 10 pianos a day, aurally (mostly Yamaha's). In turn, I was assigned the duty of training students who wanted to learn how to tune. Because of a shortage of work-study tuners, trainees were allowed to use the EDT of that day--the Sanderson Sight-O-Tuner. These worked well on the average piano played 23 hours a day but a recurrent problem was that the trainees would be so fixated on the machine they would forget to change the dial when tuning the next note up or down. Hence, I would have to go about repairing broken strings or tuning 2 or 3 "A" or "B" notes in a row. I warned students that learning to tune aurally may be the highest expenditure of mental energy and concentration they may experience in the musical field. My boss urged me at the time to join the PTG but I just didn't have the money at the time (Long story!). I started my own company specializing in antique player pianos restoration. I couldn't wait to go to work each day and things went well until player sales tanked in the mid-90's. I used my BA in music to teach in public school but found it really stressful. I quit and joined the PTG 2 years ago.I haven't regretted one minute nor one PTG penny spent on my education through other technicians, chapter meetings, and PTG conferences. In so many cases, tips from other technician's have saved me hours of work or from making grave mistakes that could cost me my reputation. Like many of you, I have rarely been asked (actually only once) if I was an RPT; but for me it's not as much about the customer knowing that I'm an RPT as it is about me striving for professionalism in every aspect of the trade that I choose to endeavor. This includes customer relations as well as peer relations. I am presently trying out a trial version of Tune-Lab on my phone. It's impressive to see how far EDT's have progressed since my college days but it's also nice to know that when the phone battery dies or the 3-minute delay comes up on the Tune-Lab I can go ahead with confidence knowing I have the tools I need to continue doing the job aurally. My current goal is to gain RPT status by taking all of the exams and getting back into the position in which I started--working as a CAUT; although most customers might not care if there is a RPT after my name, unless they know me and my work personally, college HR personnel will care. Again, I would stress to any associate, to go for the RPT; we never know how our desires may change or our health is impacted by aspects of what we do, so we need to be well-rounded and educated to expand our options. A Biblical proverb states, "As iron sharpens iron, a friend sharpens a friend (Prov. 27:17). I find that this holds true with both praise and constructive criticism. Thanks for all your posts! Jim -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20110126/2d721c72/attachment.htm>
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