<!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en"> <html> Hi Roy Your recent disgruntled post.. and then this one prompted me to respond, as your situation as you describe it struck a note from my own experiences.. especially those of the past 4-5 years. Let me first say that you should set your sites on joining the gang... and passing the RPT test. Not because it is or is not in itself worth anything... but simply and mostly because of what you can learn on the way. True some RPT's get as far as passing the test.. then stop learning.. and true the RPT test in itself is no horrific testimony of distinguished learning, but you do have to work to get there, and you may, as I did for the Norwegian variation... find you have to unlearn some of what you have learned before. In any case the experience is very achievable and more valuable then you may know. I first took such a test 4 years ago now. And I flunked. This after 20 years or so of nothing but sucess in some pretty demanding situations. 15 years (then) I had tuned for Molde International Jazz festival, many of the best jazz pianists in the world came through. From 1990 to 1993 I was living in Seattle, and the festival payed to fly me back and forth so as to not loose me. During that time I met some of Seattles fine membership, I got the honor (grin... well....)of tuning the Steinway that was to be used for Sherman and Clays annual tuners dinner one year. About 40 techs typically show up for this. Got nothing but compliments from all present. All in all, I had absolutely no reason to suspect anything then that I could "tune with the best of them". Ahhhh... how dangerous and silly is complacency. Then I met Lars... a fellow who would become my "mentor" if you will. He talked me into taking the test.. I did.. and it wasnt good enough. Very inconsistant bass and too low as well.Very sharp treble.. shakey but acceptable temperament, tho the tuning was solid as a rock, nice unisons. I also got critical marks on upright damper regulation. All in all... they sent me home with encouraging words... to come back and try again, but I didnt pass. Now this was discouraging... threatened my ego... etc.. etc. After all the success I had had... why should I bother listening to a couple guys from bumf--- Nordland ?? I ask you ? grin.. A couple days of thinking it over and something inside me began to say... hey... I shouldbe able to please these guys. It wasnt long before I set out to do just that. Not long after I started working with Lars.. and he was confident indeed that he could get me straightened out on the tuning. The damper regulation part was up to me to straighten out. I knew what I had to do.. just needed to do it. So 2 years goes by..I passed the test just before summer... Got second best in tuning.. waaayyy best in grand regulation theory.. and best in regulation of uprights. During the last few months leading up to this second attempt at the test.. I started reading this list. I plagued the hell out of Jim Coleman about this para-inharmonicity thing... grin.. sorry about that Jim... but he recommended some reading that was to really contribute, and just now is starting to really take off in helping me further along the road. A fellow on this list named Ron and I have had it out on a couple occasions..but this guy knows one hell of a lot and his advice and consul is invaluable... I got into it a bit with a fellow named Keith... just these past couple weeks over tapping pins... its all in fun, we all have our opinions.. Some of us are wrong when we dont know it... and some of us are right (grin.. and sometimes we dont know that either) The list of names of these fine fellows goes on and ever on.. Del.. Jim.. Roger.. Bill.. Newton... Ed... Ron Overs from Australia.. and so many more.   Point is Roy... the PTG is a long ways from perfect..but it is indeed a great organization. Full and rich in knowledge and freindship.  Hell I spent 20 years or so thinking I didnt need them.. "just a bunch of shouting angry ego maniacs with nothing really to offer". Jimminees if I could have that thought to rethink again.. I've got a good ear... if I had been only smart enough to get good training from the get go.. instead of winging it on my own. Despite whatever its lackings,.. there is very very much that is good and incredably valuable in the PTG. You just gotta let humans... well be human, for better or for worse. Join freind Ron.. be a part of it you wont regret it for even a second. I look back on these past 4 or 5 years, and see that I have improved immensly, and understand a whole whale of a lot more about what it is I do.. Most important of all that I have learned.. is that there is so very much more out there to learn. And more then anything else.. I owe it to the fact that there are these organizations and people who keep them going ...  who are ready and willing to help... who challange you to be good enough for them... and encourage you to be better then you ever thought possible. Go for it. Yours sincerely Richard Brekne I.C.P.T.G.  N.P.T.F. Bergen, Norway  </html>