A time-line from the beginnings of the Canadian Association of Piano Technicians until the present…
1971 – the beginnings of a local piano technician organization in Edmonton, Alberta.
1972 – the organization was officially established as the A.P.T.T.A. … the Alberta Piano Tuner Technician’s Association. Although this association operated mainly in Alberta, piano tuners from other provinces were welcomed and participated in those early seminars.
1979 – in an effort to increase membership beyond the four western Canadian provinces, the A.P.T.T.A. went through a name change … being renamed as P.T.G. Canada.
1983 – ‘Unisonus’ … this in-house technical publication and its name were first approved by the membership at a convention in Vancouver that year. Aime Dery served as the first editor as he began his term as newly elected president and all printed issues of Unisonus since that time are archived as pdfs for members of CAPT / ACAP.
1985 – Another name revision became necessary to continue the vision of establishing a truly national piano technician association with a uniquely Canadian focus. President Aime Dery was able to announce at a Winnipeg convention that a new charter had been registered in Ottawa in both of Canada’s official languages (English and French). The official name of this organization was now the Canadian Association of Piano Technicians / Association Canadienne des Accordeurs de Piano, with a Canada-wide mandate. The organization is registered as a non-profit organization in Canada under Industry Canada. Along with the name the official logo was designed by Bruce Bischoff.
1987 – 2008 – After Aime Dery left the Presidency in 1987 the organization continued to advance and grew under the leadership of several presidents including Gordon C. Miller, Al Jeschke, Grant Ferguson, Norm Duckworth, Fred Lewis, Tom Thievin, Rick Wiens, Bruce Bischoff and Wayne Ferguson.
2008 – 2009 – Another time of transitions and growth. The bylaws were revised under the leadership of president Wayne Ferguson with a strong administration team to address the geographical challenges of the organization truly becoming a progressive Canada-wide piano technician organization with members from Vancouver Island to Newfoundland.
2009 – 2011 – The strong focus on piano technician education continued under the direction of president Marcel Carey. During his 2 year term the conventions of Vancouver (2010) and Ottawa (2011) were highlights and established a pattern of annual conventions alternating between western and eastern Canada.
2011 – 2013 – Following the AGM elections held during the 2011 Ottawa convention Bruce Hettinger took on responsibility as president and provided leadership for conventions in Edmonton (2012) and Montreal (2013).
2013 – Following elections held during the 2013 Montreal convention Mark Larin took on the role of CAPT/ACAP president.
2023 – The organization is currently being led by an Administration team with Daniel Mykiwka as Chief Operating Officer under the responsibility of an elected Board of Directors.
Over the years, the organization has continued to maintain its effectiveness through the hard work, contributions and sharing of many CAPT volunteers including past presidents, editors, designers, organizers, and instructors. The complete Unisonus archives as created by the efforts of previous editors have included Aime Dery, C. E. DeArmond, Rick Wiens, and Rob Kiddell are available for the use of CAPT-ACAP members. Unisonus publications continued for some time under the direction of Mark Larin, Ernest Unrau and Ron Giesbrecht. Website and email communication has replaced the original Unisonus mail-out format.