future technicians

[Greg Newell]

Careful where you steer those younguns. Will 
there actually be enough piano players to need 
tuning by the time there looking to establish a career?

all the best,
Greg Newell





At 01:12 AM 6/1/2007, you wrote:
>Annie,
>
>That's very cool. I wasn't around when piano 
>tuners came to our house when I was a kid. (My 
>mom assures me that she had the piano tuned...) 
>I do the same as you and invite kids and their 
>nervous moms to take a look and get a quick tour 
>of how things work. One of the most rewarding 
>parts of this job, for me, is making the family 
>piano less mysterious. The tour also opens the 
>door to showing why regular maintenance is needed.
>
>When I read last year that the mean age of 
>technicians in the PTG was something like 57, I 
>decided to start mentioning Piano Technology as 
>a career for aspiring piano students. It is a 
>career that most teenagers haven't considered, 
>and hopefully more will *and* lower the average 
>age. On the other hand, the current statistics 
>make me look young for a piano technician. Ah, it's good to be only 50.
>
>Dave Davis, RPT
>
>----- Original Message ----
>From: Annie Grieshop <annie at allthingspiano.com>
>To: Pianotech <pianotech at ptg.org>
>Sent: Thursday, May 31, 2007 9:37:14 PM
>Subject: future technicians
>
>This afternoon, I wrote a letter to the first piano technician I ever
>watched tuning a piano.  That was back in the early '60s, and even as a
>pretty young kid, I thought it was the most wonderful thing ever.  He'll be
>80 this summer and is celebrating his 40th year in the PTG.  I don't expect
>him to remember me, but he surely did change my life.
>
>So, when I work in a house with kids (or interested adults), I always take
>time to show them what's going on inside the piano and how things work, in
>general.  With case parts removed, I encourage them to play so they can see
>it all in motion.  (I've heard that the little ones don't pound as much
>afterwards.)
>
>And this month, I've heard from two young tuning customers who have decided
>they want to try their hands at being technicians.  They're both good
>pianists and budding composers, but I'm pretty sure neither of them had ever
>considered being a technician until we spent time talking about it and
>poking around inside pianos together.  And you can bet they've heard a lot
>about the PTG and why they should join! <g>
>
>What goes around does come around..........
>
>Annie Grieshop

Greg Newell
Greg's Piano Forté
www.gregspianoforte.com
216-226-3791 (office)
216-470-8634 (mobile)

2003,04,05 & 06 winners of
Angie's List Super Service Award