tuning exam

[Mitch Kiel]

      Mike, congratulations on your committment to take the RPT tuning exam.
      Call the PTG Home Office and ask for a free Pre-Screening Manual. In
conjunction with an experienced RPT, it can help you assess your exam readiness.
If you discover you're not quite ready (or if you want to improve your skills
even more), ask HO for the "Tuning Exam Source Book" ($28 plus s&h), a
collection of Journal articles designed to help you acquire the skills to pass
the tuning exam. There's also a companion volume for the Tech exam and a free
brochure on the written exam.
      I applaud your determination to take the aural tuning exam. It's a choice
that makes a lot of sense, and one I support.
      If you choose to take the electronic tuning exam, whatever machine you
may use, you will *first* tune pitch, temperament, and midrange aurally-only,
which will be scored before you proceed. The piano will be detuned again, and
then you will electronically tune 85 notes and be scored on pitch, temperament,
midrange, bass, treble, high treble, stabilty. Finally you will tune 2 middle
octaves of unisons aurally-only.
      My friends Dean Reyburn and Jim Bryant gave you good advice about
preparing for your tuning exam. I might add that statistics reveal that
examinees taking the electronic tuning exam almost never have problems passing
electronically, but have a relatively high error rate in the aural portion (even
compared to examinees taking the exam aurally-only).
      My point? Aural skills are of primary importance and should be mastered
no matter what form of the tuning exam you take.

      The RPT exam is a great opportunity to measure your ability against a PTG
standard, so it makes sense to use the tuning method you will use on the job.
Are you planning to use the SOT on the job? If so, consider Dean's advice and
think again. If not, why use it for the exam?

      Good luck and practice hard,
      Mitch Kiel, RPT, chair of the Examination and Test Standards Committee