Wim, Thanks for the response. My first experience with the PTG was when I became a member of the St. Louis chapter, back in the late 90's for just a couple years before I moved here. As I recall, we met in your shop quite often for chapter meetings or to work on a grand rebuild that the chapter was working on at the time. Anyway, I appreciate yourself, David Porter, and others that made me feel welcome, even though I was VERY green! Chapter meetings were, and continue to be very important for me in my growth as a technician. Anyway, that's beside the point. You mentioned St. Louis. I was just starting out in the business then, so I was largly unaware of "the bigger picture" and the musical culture of St. Louis, specifically the relationship (or lack thereof) between techs and teachers there, but I faintly remember from talking with other techs there that had been around much longer than I that that was typically the case. I kind of assumed that it was either an isolated case (just the way people were in St. Louis), or something maybe typical of big cities, but it sounds like you're saying that it's generally that way. It would only seem natural that teachers would want to have a great relationship with their techs, and visa-versa, since they have many students who could benefit from well serviced instruments, and we definitely appreciate their business and referrals. I haven't noticed a "dislike" or other such attitude from piano teachers towards us around my parts, however, I am quite surprised at the lack of communication, referrals, tunings, etc. from them. Some teachers even have pretty crummy pianos themselves, and have them tuned less than some of their students. One or two use digitals so they don't ever have to pay for tunings...go figure. Not to open a HUGE can of worms, but any thoughts on why the disconnect? Do other chapters notice this? What, if anything, can we do about it to change the tide? Back to our situation, our chapter president has already spoken with the MPTA president and from what I understand, there was interest...of some sort, anyway. I did remember, since my last post, about all the links on the ptg.org site for students and teachers, the learning center, tips on the special care and maintenance of the teacher's piano, etc. so that is a good place to start. I have a projector, so with a laptop and internet connection, we could show and demonstrate some of those links. I will contact Kathy at home office anyway for additional info. It may or may not fly, but I'm curious to know if it could, and if not...why. Still open to other's ideas and experiences if you care to share. Thanks. Richard W. Bushey Richard's Piano Service www.RichardsPianoService.com www.RichardsPianoService.com/blog Rbushey at RichardsPianoService.com 573-765-9903 ----- Original Message ----- From: tnrwim at aol.com To: pianotech at ptg.org Sent: Monday, January 14, 2013 12:04 PM Subject: Re: [pianotech] PTG chapter/piano teacher's meeting ideas Richard The Home Office has information that can help you. Call or e-mail Kathy. The first step you should take is to call the president of the local music and/or piano teachers association. Not to put a damper on your enthusiasm, but when I was in St. Louis and also here in Hawaii, the piano teachers just don't seem to want to hear from us. In St. Louis, the first time I called the president to set up a date to give a presentation, I was told that the schedule for the year was already set. And when I call the next time, I was told that the schedule will be set in a couple of months, and they would contact me. But they never did. In Honolulu, the only meeting I was asked to come to was an executive board meeting, held pool side in a condo building, at which only 6 piano teacher showed up, and I had to give a a presentation on tuning without a piano. But as I said, have the president of your chapter contact the president of the MPTA, and go from there. Wim -----Original Message----- From: Richard W. Bushey <rbushey4 at embarqmail.com> To: pianotech <pianotech at ptg.org> Sent: Mon, Jan 14, 2013 7:07 am Subject: [pianotech] PTG chapter/piano teacher's meeting ideas Our PTG chapter (Southwest Mo, - Springfield, Mo.) is trying to come up with creative ideas on how to connect with, and build PTG relationship with the local piano teachers. More specifically, the piano teachers have association meetings from time to time and we had thought of getting our groups together for a combined meeting sometime and have a presentation of some sort, a question/answer time, etc. This would be the first meeting like this for us, so it's a given that we should each present basic information about each other's organizations, what we're all about, etc. and then.....what? Have any chapters out there done similar things successfully. Where did you meet, what kind of set up, topics, etc. Brochures? Fliers? Pamplets? Information packets? Stuff of that nature that summarize basic piano care, or tips for the teachers/students on buying or selling their piano. Share business cards or swap contact lists? Time for idea sharing! Samples appreciated! Thanks in advance. Richard W. 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