[CAUT] pin drop

[Susan Kline]

At 02:23 PM 10/28/2009, you wrote:
>Yes, this job is so often a second career.  My degree is in 
>broadcasting and when I finally decided that was a bad fit I 
>changed.  When I was young (I can still remember it!) this work 
>didn't seem glamorous enough.  I was after a job with "T&T" (Tie & a 
>Title).  I fear that young people still perceive this work in the 
>same way I did.  When I became unhappy with the T&T at age 33 I made the move.
>
>I'd think we really need to do what we can to raise the image of our 
>profession.
>
>dave

Well, Dave, that certainly wouldn't hurt!

Maybe at some point the word will get out that while people 
previously holding responsible big company positions are now lined up 
around the block at job fairs, and sharing their woes in self-help 
groups, piano technicians are just tuning away, some having trouble 
with too much work coming at them. I saw "Frontline" on PBS last 
night, showing what is going on in New York City and Florida. 
Businesses shutting down right and left, houses foreclosed, people 
who had run divisions with hundreds of people out of work for months 
or years ... in spite of knowing that for many people, tuning the 
piano is very discretionary and apt to be put off, somehow work just 
keeps coming in, thank heavens. And we can keep overhead absolutely 
rock bottom, so we don't have to shut down because we can't make the 
rent for a storefront.

You couldn't find a better job than piano tuning to accommodate other 
part time work. Complete flexibility for scheduling and for the 
amount of work one wishes to do. I would think that these virtues 
might make piano work attractive to those in their twenties. And yes, 
I came to pianos at age 32, after several orchestral positions and 
two sabbatical replacement jobs in cello didn't give me any job security.

Susan Kline