> . I can imagine he may have been difficult to work with. >>Unfortunately such is often the case with very talented and artistic >>people. >> >>Dean > > Hi Dean, > Then we had better learn how to work with this kind > of > talent, or we will lose. As we have. Let's face it, many of us work with > this kind of Artistic temperament on a regular basis. As professionals we > have learned to adapt. Those that never learn, rarely reach the top. > > John may have been difficult and passionate, but he strove for excellence, > and attained it. Unfortunately he was surrounded by mediocrity. > > > Regards Roger > Exactly true, Roger. Thank you. Now: can I rant a bit? What I see when I look at us as a profession, and PTG as an organization, is hesitancy, and doubt, and low self-esteem, and resistance to change, and suspicion of vibrant creativity, and the willingness and eagerness to blame someone or something else for our discontent. I've been a piano technician for 30 years; in that time, I would say that at LEAST 95% of the pianos I've come across for the first time, having been "maintained" by another tech, have been in horrific, unacceptable condition regarding anything other than tuning, and most times the tuning sucked. What does that say about our profession as a whole? What if the vast majority of car mechanics did that? Plumbers that just changed washers; doctors that just took temperatures and gave pills? It would be a joke---a dangerous, cruel, absurdist joke. And that's how I see our profession as a whole, based on the evidence I've seen. We have failed----failed---to educate teachers and artists and venues and schools about service. Despite the excuses that are flooding your head right now, that is the truth. We have accepted their excuses and poor-mouthing and ignorance, and just not cared enough to change the paradigm. We have failed to reach out to the many, many, fantastic technicians that are working on some of the best pianos, for some of the best players, and welcome them to our lives, and beg them to teach us, simply because they choose not to join PTG. If you look at magazines other than our Journal that are dedicated to the piano---from Keyboard Magazine to the national music teacher's publication---it's as if piano service, piano tuners, piano restoration, literally doesn't exist. No articles. No ads. No recognition. No mention. This is truly pitiful; we have no power as a Guild in our little world; we are consistently undervalued and dismissed unless we, as individuals, are agressive enough to demand respect, money, and recognition. Our Guild does NOT demand or lobby for it. We should hire, at a whopping retainer each year, a kick-ass PR firm to GET US IN FRONT OF THE PIANO WORLD. Where is our liaison to the manufacturers, the artist community, the music schools, the teacher's organizations? Where is our VP of Education? How many schools of music at American universities are trained and challenged to truly service their instruments? In LA, there's 3 out of dozens. Each one of us needs to look long and hard at our personal reasons for accepting this miserable staus quo. I was speaking to a colleague this AM; he used to be in the field a lot, maintaining most of the performance pianos in his area, making his clients happy because he knew how to tune really well, and he knew how to repair, regulate and voice, and he was really good at it. He demanded that his clients keep their pianos in good shape because he didn't want to work on a bunch of doggy, lame pianos; his customers were so happy that he was strong, and demanded excellence. Now he's pretty much full-time in the shop, and in an area where there's a million or so people, and plenty of studios and schools and money and work, there's just not anybody else around who wants to, or CAN, do the work. There the work is, just waiting to be done. His clients are calling and begging for a good replacement; $100K a year is waiting; and nobody there, no technician is willing to get up off his ass and be a small business owner and serve his community----they just wanna keep pumpin' gas--- tune it in 45 minutes, get the check and go. Where's our residency programs with great, successful practices? Where's our support of the exististing quality piano technology training (North Bennett Street and Western Ontario come to mind)? Why should I become an RPT when the requirements are so incredibly, stupidly low in the face of the reality of what real-world pianos actually need? Medocrity indeed, Roger. So---please excuse me; I'm tired, and I'm angry that we treat ourselves so poorly as a group. I guess it's up to me to keep saying this, and to get involved. Stay tuned. No pun intended. All the best, David Andersen ......................................................................
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