ETD's, calculators and the exam

[Richard Brekne]

Wimblees@AOL.COM wrote:

> ETD's, calculators and the exam
>
>  A tuner who uses an ETD to tune a piano can probably
> do it easier, and in some aspects, more accurate. But that tuner should know
> how a piano sounds to recognize if a mistake was made. Maybe not as blatant
> as the $350 mistake, but enough to realize the machine is not working
> properly. And if the tuner knows how to use the machine properly, then he/she
> should be allowed to use it to take the RPT tuning exam.
>
> Willem

I aggree in principle Wim, bBut if this is to be allowed... then the test has to
be redesigned such that it can be confirmed that the examinee can indeed identify
when the machine has made a mistake. Ergo... the examinee must be able to tune on
his / her own without the help of the machine. Since thats what we need to assure
ourselves of. In the end I am not quite sure I see the point in moving towards
ETD assisted tunings when we already know a qualified tuner can use ETD's very
successfully and the purpose of the test is to see whether or not a person can
tune without them. Seems like we are actually making things more complicated.

This whole issue boils down to my mind of thinking on what we are willing to
define as a Piano Tuner.  If you are willing to accept that a piano tuner need no
other qualification then to be able to leave the piano in a tuned state as Keith
seems to purport... then fine... bring on the ETDs. I reject this standpoint
catagorically. A Piano Tuner is a human being who him/her self is able to steer
the process of tuning the instrument, both intellectually and mechanically. The
ETD after this definition is no more and will never be more then a tool, where as
in the former it becomes the principle factor and the human element is reduced to
simple mechanical motion.

--
Richard Brekne
RPT, N.P.T.F.
Bergen, Norway
mailto:Richard.Brekne@grieg.uib.no