Statement?

[Jeff Tanner]

I meant to comment on Mike Jorgensen's statement posted on April 23.

This sounds good Mike, but unfortunately, according at least to the
responses in the CAUT survey, we as a group appear to not yet fall into the
category of "highly paid professionals".

How about the following or similar statement as a part of the Guidelines?

"The piano is the most basic tool required for teaching music in a
collegiate level school of music, thus large diverse inventories are
required to be able to offer a quality education.  Pianos are expensive
investments, and their upkeep in the institutional setting requires
exponentially more attention than in the home or church setting due to more
frequent use and abuse combined with inadequate climate control situations
which create additional damage and instability.  There is also a higher
level of performance expectation for the institutional instrument due to
the higher level of instruction.  Institutional schools of music, for these
reasons, cannot view piano maintenance as a luxury, but as one of the most
fundamental requirements for its successful operation.  Therefore, it
follows that the upkeep of pianos in an institution would involve greater
cost than for the average piano in a home, church, or school system.

The salary for a full-time institutional piano technician should be
competitive with that which can be earned by successful technicians and
other similarly skilled professionals in the local private sector
reflecting the true value of the skill involved in piano maintenance, with
fair consideration given to compromise for the value of added benefits of
group insurance and retirement plans available to the institutional
technician and the stability of a predictable income, while it must be
sufficient to support a respective standard of living for a family in the
area where the position is located without requiring the employee to seek
supplemental income in the private sector."

The first paragraph sort of rewords ideas found throughout the current
Guidelines, but sets up the second (yes, one long sentence), which
addresses a subject the current guidelines does not.  This is from my
research report to my dean.

Thoughts?
Jeff

Michael Jorgensen wrote:
>Hello,
>    IMHO the "Guidelines" should in include the following or similar
>statement:
>
>"We strongly recommend piano technicians report exclusively to the
>department chair, director, or dean of music   Because the service is
>vital to the well being of the entire school, and must balance
>appropriately the needs of all constituencies, it should not be
>subjugated to a lesser authority.   This  helps to ensure that, as
>highly paid professionals, technician time and resources are used most
>wisely."
>
>Comments?
>
>-Mike


Jeff Tanner
Piano Technician
School of Music
University of South Carolina
Columbia, SC 29208
(803)-777-4392 (phone)