Well I think it's great that you are pursuing it and encourage you to continue in spite of the fact the piano work is not always compatible with piano playing (too hard on the piano muscles). Yet there are many pianists, like the ones you mention, who are very capable. Unfortunately, the music school piano technology courses are a bit of a joke with the unspoken game of who can pass without actually attending being all the rage. That's why we still get paid to extract pencils (joking reference to a previous thread). Books, classes, seminars, conventions and mentoring still remain the best way to learn. Even then, at some point you just have to open the damn thing up and go at it with the brain fully engaged. You won't likely break anything and if you do there's not much I can think of that can't be fixed. David Love www.davidlovepianos.com Here is my background. Soem time ago I started a correspondence course in piano technology and I am an Associate member of the Boston Chapter of the PTG. Shortly after I started the course, training as an apprentice, and a few tuning customers, I developed very painful tendonitis in my left arm and back pain. Piano tuning seemed to make the pain worse. I put the piano technology work on hold for a while and concentrated on teaching piano students and giving recitals (I am a concert pianist and I have played in the USA and overseas). Playing the piano didn't seem to bother me as much. I have now recovered from that and now want to get involved again in learning more about piano technology with some practical experience. I think everyone has to learn and start somewhere, and maybe ask questions that some might consider trivial. It's a huge field and there is a tremendous amount to learn, and it takes time. As far as pianists understanding about how a piano works and about the technology, I couldn't agree more. I think an overview about this would be useful in a piano degree course if it isn't already. There are some famous concert pianists who are very knowledgeable about piano technology. Krystian Zimermann comes to mind. I believe he built his own piano? I think Alfred Brendel also knows a lot about piano tuning and technology as well. Thank you all very much for your suggestions and advice so far. All the best. Robert
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