PTA Annual Convention 2024
Like last year, Pianoforte Tuners’ Association Annual Convention 2024 took place at The Cedar Court Hotel in Harrogate, on 15th May and 16th May. It was considered to be one of the most important events for PTA and about 80 delegates attended this convention.
Cedar Court Hotel has been refurbished with a more comfortable meeting suite. Several classes were given through two days, quite intensive and fruitful. They cover general areas for piano technicians to learn and accumulate better understandings through works, such as regulation, pitch raise, voicing and maintenance. Furthermore, considering that it was not only pianos a technician would face, how to deal with difficult customers, how to manage time, how to create estimates that sell and how to use tools like Gazelle as a powerful assistant, were provided as well.
I was impressed by John Paul Williams’ classes last year so went for his classes this year too. In the first day’s class: Tone Building by Regulation, JP talked about the different approach on understanding key weight between pianists and technicians: it may be a sharp distinction on touching feedback for a pianist with a subtle adjustment by a technician. These experiences also apply to upright piano, which is helpful on daily jobs. In the second day’s class, JP shared 40 pieces of techniques to improve treble voice. Treble voice is often regarded as the most critical and challenging area to improve, I felt happy and more confident with so many to digest.
The interesting auction was held as usual, a good chance to find more tools, as well as to practice evaluating skills. This year I got a string tape so measuring string length will be more straightforward. Meeting and talking to other delegates have always been enjoyable. We appreciate the effort PTA has put and look forward to the annual convention next year in Bournemouth, to float some notes over the sea.