Getting back to the original aphorism, conceptualizing this would bring clarity to a host of topics recently being discussed. If we are to determine whether or not the piano technician makes more moral decisions than a preacher, we need to determine exactly what moral decisions a piano technician makes. We have plenty to work with where preachers are concerned, but not a whole lot with the piano technician.
Before proceeding, however moral this particular observation, Dad (Kenneth Sloane, RPT) never saw a whole lot of reason to fight over pianos. It never was worth it to him. It was so disarming. No matter how much he frustrated you, when you got in the same room with him, it was so tough not to like him. I’ve seen this happen. I’ve seen people who don’t like him sit down at a table with him, and they have a great time together. And all dads do upset sons at times. At the end of the day, people and friendship mattered more to him. I honestly don’t think enough piano technicians I meet get this, to their own detriment. A hunk of wood, iron, and steel; you want to disown flesh and blood over that? Get a life. Of all the people in the world, why do piano technicians take themselves so seriously? When piano technicians are laughing at you, not with you, I just laugh with them at myself. Who the heck am I?
Many are familiar with an oft remembered article in the PTG published in the popular press, in the 90’s, I believe, about how piano technology is a great job because it is a low stress job. I can’t remember where or when, just that it was remarked about a lot. I think when we begin considering the idea of getting better at working with pianos through education, we get fearful, because when considering another perspective on things, we get uncomfortable about the way we do things, and the risk of forfeiting the low stress aspect of what we do because of considering another perspective looks so daunting, that we stick our heads in the sand, cover our ears, squeeze our eyes shut, and start screaming, “I can’t hear you, I can’t hear you, I can’t hear you” over and over so by avoiding being challenged, and doing things the way they always worked before for us, we retain the low stress aspect of working on pianos. There are loads of successful piano technicians doing things this way. How can we make continuing education and testing less stressful? I think one way is to realize there is more than one way to skin a cat.
I would like to take a by no means exhaustive look at a couple of the technically specific moral dilemmas of working on piano in and out of the University milieu.
1. As salaried CAUT technicians, there are loads of moral dilemmas. These have to do with the most efficient use of time. Two good examples are tuning and Stanwood. Am I gaining enough from the time investment?
So many pianos need action jobs. We can come up with all sort of curriculum about juggling inventory. How many schools can afford to be well staffed enough to Stanwoodize every action or only the ones that we think are good enough for us to work on that don’t even need action jobs (D’s in concert halls, B’s in studios, or the fledgling L in the practice room with square hammers). We do not get paid by the hour. Why do we devote ourselves to Stanwood so much so that only Stanwoodized pianos are worth regulating? Is there a part of the inventory that is below us?
Splitting hairs over tuning also is a time efficiency question. I’ve tried both aural and electronic. Mostly, aural. Both could potentially have time advantages. Some people don’t think in an educational institution it is their responsibility to explore the possibilities of both. I disagree, though lean somewhat heavily toward aural tuning. I just had dinner with a flight attendant who learned piano technology at a vo-tech school who finally just stopped working on pianos altogether because the moral dilemma of how much stretch is too much stretch became so stressful that she couldn’t take it anymore, and just started taking flights full time and give up the struggle. She is not the first person I’ve met who attended a vo-tech school for piano technology only never to actually enter the profession.
I never could think about tuning the same after taking the RPT exam. Education and testing permanently changes the way you look at things. It leads to decision making based on alternative considerations. The Tuning Examination; A Source Book forced me to struggle with questions I had avoided for years as a successful aural technician, and I am still struggling with them. If I want something approaching a 2:1 octaves in the top octave, how do I accomplish this without the piano sounding flat in the high treble? The Source book forced me to ask that question. Do I cater to popular opinion, and use narrow octaves in the mid-range, only to run out of stretch too soon to make the octaves in the top octave sound sharp enough when not over-stretched? Or do I make the octaves in the mid-range wide enough to the objection of both piano technicians and musicians to accommodate the idea of 2:1 octaves in the top octave without sounding flat? Morality is not popular. I know I am doing the right thing with 8:4 octaves in the mid-range, but some people won’t like it, or realize they like it until they try it for a while. What do I do? None of these questions occurred to me before dealing with education and testing in piano tuning, not to mention the cost and time these things take.
2. Fees
As a contract and floor tuner, I always had to compare what I charged the dealer and institution with what I charged my personal clients. Why do I charge my clients more? These are more devoted to me than both the dealer and the institution. They provide me with the substantial part of my income. Is this fair? I know piano technicians will curse me, accuse my work of being inferior, accuse me of catering to the price shoppers, and generally I will be unpopular if I charge my clients something that is comparable to what I charge the dealer and institution, but is it fair for me to charge my clients more to compensate for the relative paucity of the wages the institution or dealer generates for me?
I still ask this question as a salaried employee of a College. This parasite I am host to, when viewing the public record of salaries, why do they deserve such special treatment? How do I deal with the lopsidedness of what I can charge my clients now that I do not need them? How much do I need to pace myself to punish the institution for not recognizing the validity of my work as a piano technician? How loyal am I to the skill of being a piano technician when I go the extra mile for this parasitic school?
There are loads of moral dilemmas we are faced with on a daily basis as piano technicians. These are just a couple examples.
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC