future technicians

[David Boyce]

Dale,  it's great to hear how good Dennis's course was!  That's wonderful!

The provision of piano tuning and technology courses has dimished 
substantially in the UK in the last two decades.

In the 1980s, a couple of colleges started brand new courses - in Leeds and 
in Wales, but they didn't last long.  The long-established course in 
Edinburgh also folded.  Now there are only three options.  There is the 
facility for the visually impaired at Hereford, the course at what used to 
be called the London College of Furniture, and the course at 
Newark-On-Trent.  And that's it.  This loss of courses must basically be due 
to lack of demand - colleges do not "pull" courses which are attracting good 
numbers.

In turn, then, why did the number of applicants drop?  I don't know. Perhaps 
there is a problem with the status of the trade/profession in the UK, and in 
addition, the perception of young people about careers may have altered over 
the years.

I have not hitherto sought schools business, but there is one high school 
where I tune, and another I did recently. I have found it interesting that, 
when I have attempted to engage teachers in  conversation, they have looked 
at me as if the geranium spoke!  I found this recently in the new school as 
well as in the one I usually do. Perhaps high school teachers are too 
trodden down and harrassed to converse, or perhaps they see piano tuners as 
menials unworthy of civilised chat.  This amuses me, because I am a college 
teacher myself, registered with the same professional bodies as the 
schoolteachers, and I get paid about $3500 more per annum than 
schoolteachers at the same grade!  So when they won't talk to me, I take 
comfort in that.....

I do think that the profession is not highly esteemed in the UK, and I think 
it would be hard to sell youngsters on the idea of a career in piano tuning 
and servicing.  I really don't know what the answer is in Britain.

Best wishes,

David.