<HTML> <HEAD> <TITLE>Re: Bad Student Piano Insight</TITLE> </HEAD> <BODY> <BLOCKQUOTE>Having a pi= ano technician for a husband is not the norm, of course. We both belong to t= he Music Teachers Association of Calif. and the board has discussed having m= e as a presenter but so far haven't asked for my input. There is widespread = reluctance to peek behind the fallboard, I think. Likely they are daunted by= a piano's complexity and don't want to spend the kind of time it would take= to learn even the basics. I haven't given up hope, though, and I'm working = on ways of making the subject palatable to the more technophobic. Maybe if t= eachers can understand a little about what makes a piano tick (or, hopefully= , not tick :-) they would have more confidence to speak to parents about the= pianos their children are playing on. Tom Cole </BLOCKQUOTE> Hey Tom----great subject; you might think about having a presentation that = makes the teachers feel comfortable about asking what could be construed as = “stupid” questions; I’ve done presentations to SoCal Music Teacher’s Association meetings and revealed MY shameful truth--= -I don’t know as much music theory as  I should.  Then it&#8= 217;s much, much easier for them to feel comfortable revealing how little th= ey know about the piano; I also let them know I understand they were never e= xposed to the nuts and bolts of the instrument, and I humorously make fun of= the “magic box” paradigm----a piano is this mysterious, “= musical” Creation that only needs occasional tuning, rather than a machine, like a c= ar or boat, that needs maintenance and tweaking. I think good teachers WANT too inspire their students---if you give them an= opportunity to learn how to take care of a piano, the god ones will be grat= eful. Best, David Andersen </BODY> </HTML>