[CAUT] Forum format (was Re: Requirements forcontributing/posting; RPT status

Israel Stein custos3 at comcast.net
Thu Jul 17 23:13:10 MDT 2008


At 09:33 PM 7/17/2008, caut-request at ptg.org wrote:

>Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
>From: Ron Nossaman <rnossaman at cox.net>
>Precedence: list
>MIME-Version: 1.0
>To: Pianotech List <pianotech at ptg.org>, Caut at ptg.org
>References: <695f236e0807171516g11b66985jea8e5c1d85abbf6c at mail.gmail.com>
>In-Reply-To: <695f236e0807171516g11b66985jea8e5c1d85abbf6c at mail.gmail.com>
>Date: Thu, 17 Jul 2008 21:43:47 -0500
>Reply-To: College and University Technicians <caut at ptg.org>
>Message-ID: <48800363.60909 at cox.net>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
>Subject: Re:
>Message: 3
>
>
>>IMHO Israel Stein's letter on how people learn or don't learn and 
>>why was rather illuminating and apropos to this discussion.
>
>That would be the one in where I was personally condemned for not 
>accepting the status quo of the Steinway sostenuto system, and 
>presuming to change it rather than just learning to deal with it?

Actually what you were accused of is refusing to take seriously the 
objections of those of us who actually like the action-mounted 
sostenuto. When you have to make a quick damper repair in a rush 
(like in concert situations or in some professional/institutional 
settings) - that belly mounted sostenoto really does get in the way 
and takes up time one might not have...But you highandedly dismissed 
those objections because - from your perspective - it is an 
improvement. Which is what the rest of my post was about. (For your 
information, it takes me about as much time to regulate an action 
mounted sostenuto as a belly mounted one - so  I don't need your 
"improved" sostenuto - and it does get in my way when I have to work 
on the Hamburg Steinway dampers. Or Yamaha or any of the others).

>And being ignorant of the give and take of the formal educational 
>process, having acquired my apparently sub standard education 
>outside an institutional setting?

No. Just a lack of respect for approaches other than your own...

>And being myopic in my inability to understand the value of 
>knowledge acquired from others in a give and take instructor/student setting?

I think your original message reeks of that attitude - where you 
dismiss knowledge acquired in institutional settings in a rather 
jaundiced peroration... I took it as an attack on all those who 
attempt to teach and learn in that manner - and tried to give you a 
taste of your own medicine.

>And screwing up pianos for years as a result of lacking competent 
>instruction, again, presumably in an institutional setting?

That remark was aimed not at you personally - but at the customary 
way in which an awful lot of technicians gain their knowledge. 
Perhaps you only screwed up pianos for a few months. Or perhaps you 
got it right on the first try - I mean you are a pretty smart 
guy...  Or did someone show you how?


>And one of the worst among the "self taught" in suffering from the 
>lack of varied perspective of others, universalizing my own 
>miserable experience, as a result of being unwilling to listen to anyone else?

The operative word there was "perhaps"...

>You mean that illuminating missive, with the comments of both 
>parties being attributed to Mr Stein by virtue of lack of 
>differentiation within the text, and the absence of my own signature 
>and credit for my own comments?

I believe I took pains to correct that...

Israel Stein

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/caut.php/attachments/20080717/b923228c/attachment.html 


More information about the caut mailing list

This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC