Piano Technicians Guild
WESTPAC - Western and Pacific Regional Conference
February 22-25, 2012
Salt Lake City, UT
Conference and Class Schedule [PDF]
Revised 2/4/12
Business Classes
NOTE: Click on an instructor's name to see a bio.
NEW!
Customers for Life
Rick Florence
Rick is a third generation piano technician, having apprenticed in his grandfather’s
(Carl Swendsen) shop in Calgary, Canada. He has since received training
at Yamaha USA (Disklavier, Little Red School House, and advanced training with
Terry Nimi), and factory training at Steinway, Schimmel and Bösendorfer.
Rick is the Senior Piano Technician at Arizona State University. In his 19
years as ASU, Rick has prepared pianos for over 4700 concerts, collaborating
with students, faculty, and some of the great musicians of our time.
Rick joined PTG in 1986 and his service includes local offices, Director of
the Utah State Seminar (1991), Director of the Arizona State Seminar (1994-2001),
Assistant Institute Director (2003-2005) and Institute Director (Rochester,
2006).
With a little practice and an electronic aid, anyone can tune a piano. What we do in addition to tuning sets us apart from the other guys in the phone book. Fast, simple procedures that transform pianos. Learn methods and procedures that will help you develop a loyal clientele.
NEW!
Isaac's Business 6-Pack
Isaac Sadigursky, RPT
Isaac Sadigursky, RPT, has been in the piano tuning business since 1974. After immigrating from the USSR with solid professional musical training, he worked for Bill Finnegan's Piano Brokers as an apprentice, prepping pianos and sweeping floors in the shop. Isaac attended the UCLA Extension course in Piano Technology under Leon Levitch, studied piano tuning privately with Darwin Kristall, RPT and studied under Dennis Nicholson, RPT, at the American Institute of Piano Technology. Isaac's clientele grew to over 7,000 including 4 school districts, many churches, synagogues, country clubs restaurants, music and piano teachers and private clientele. Isaac does a large variety of repairs in his well-equipped shop and often works with apprentices, raising a new breed of PTG members. Isaac has taught at local chapters, regional and national conventions, covering a wide variety of topics on tuning and repairs. Isaac still likes to perform and plays accordion and clarinet with different folk and casual groups on weekends. www.isaacspianoservice.com
As with Isaac’s great 6-pack classes of the past this new class promises to be fun and provide valuable information. It will focus on ways to make your business more organized and time efficient. He will share time saving tips, show new tools and gadgets and offer problem solving techniques for improving piano service.
“If You Did Not Earn $80,000 Last Year... You Need to Attend This Class”
Randy Potter, RPT
Randy
Potter has been tuning and servicing pianos for over 36 years. He is the founder
and director of the Randy Potter School of Piano Technology, which is the largest
school training piano technicians in the world, and has students and graduates
in over 80 countries. He has attended the on-site factory technicians training
programs at Baldwin, Kimball, Mason & Hamlin, Steinway and Yamaha in the
U.S., Steingraeber in Germany and Bösendorfer in Austria. He is a frequent
instructor at local, state, regional and national PTG conventions, and has
taught at seminars in the U.S., Canada, Europe, Asia and Cuba, and has served
PTG in all capacities in his local chapter, served as delegate and assistant
delegate to Council, served on several national committees, chaired four national
committees, and has assisted giving PTG Exams at many regional conventions
throughout the U.S. www.pianotuning.com
Randy begins with the premise that we ought to be earning at least $80,000 a year – and many piano technicians do - yet the recent PTG survey makes it clear that only about 25% of our members are in this income category.
We will look at why we should earn this much, help attendees determine why they did not - and show what you can do to increase your income this year. And next. And next. And . . .
Four pages of handouts includes an article titled "How Much Do Piano Technicians Earn", which is very insightful, and which we use as a stepping off point. It also includes a glimpse of Determining Your Professional/Business Appearance Quotient, a very useful method of assessing yourself and your business Randy developed a number of years ago.