Part-timers again

[David Boyce]

Hi folks,

Thanks, Barrie, Mike and Willem, for your thoughts on part-time tuning.

Willem, you wrote:
"But that should not be a reason be left out of an organization that
promotes
the welfare of the profession."
The stance of the PTA in Britain is that they would _not_ be promoting the
welfare of the profession, if they admitted to the ranks persons of
inferior ability, which would be the case, they say, with part-timers.

Barrie, thanks for your comments.  I owe you a letter, and will email
personally soon. Sorry for delay.  Respecting the I.M.I.T., I do know about
that body.  

Actually, my reason for asking about the attitude shown to part-timers by
the PTG as opposed to the British PTA was not that I'm desperate to join an
organisation.  What I'm interested to explore is the difference in attitude
that I suspected between the USA and here, both to working practices and to
training.  I'm intersted with the aspect in view of  what is most practical
for getting pianos properly looked after in the 90's and beyond.  Your
comments have confirmed what I suspected about differences in attitude
between there and here.  

When the PTA in Britain opened the conventions and classes to non-members
for some years, that seemed to me a very positive step.  I must say I
learned a great deal from classes I took, and benefitted in other ways from
happy association with many very experienced tuner/tecnicians.  But the
Association must serve the wishes of its members, and I think it was deemed
impractical to continue the conventions in the same format, so they were
scaled down, and closed to non-members.

But I think the question needs to be addressed of what is the most positive
way forward, recognising that there may be individuals with a keen interest
who would like to learn to tune and repair pianos but who may not be in a
position to take up a full-time 2-year course as a school-leaver might
traditionally have done.  (Or, even more traditionally, an apprenticeship. 
Highly unlikely now that piano makers and workshops hardly exist.) 

I wonder, related to all your comments disagreeing with the view of the PTA
that part-timers can't maintain a good standard of tuning, if there is in
fact any published evidence on this, one way or the other, or if it's all
based on the perception/prejudice/supposition of some committee members
somewhere?  Does anyone know of any published studies on this?  Why do you
think the PTG has a different view from the PTA?  Further comments welcome.

Richard, may I as a relatively new member of the list and the second from
Britain, welcome you as an even newer member, and the third from Britain
(now in Holland, of course.)  I'm sure you will find the list as
stimulating (even Schimmelating) and enjoyable as I do.  I visited Newark
College some years ago, when i was looking into courses.

Jim Bryant - I loved your quip about removing a rib to make a female piano!
 Actually, what sex are pianos?  Male in French, at any rate.  Just a
thought.

Best wishes all,

David Boyce.
David@bouncer.force9.net