Our comprehensive Piano Technology programs give you the skills you need to start a successful business and pursue a deeply satisfying career. We offer two nine-month courses—Basic Piano Technology (PT) and Advanced Piano Technology (PA)—both of which provide intensive training with master faculty in a stimulating environment.
Both programs attract students who share a passion for music, problem solving and mechanics, and the hand skills used to restore and care for beautiful musical instruments. Our facilities include two bench rooms and sixteen individual practice rooms, outfitted with a variety of pianos. Combined with business instruction, you’ll have the opportunity to develop the skills and knowledge to become a successful technician.
The PT program covers all phases of aural piano tuning, including the concepts on which equal temperament is founded. You’ll learn to tune, regulate, and repair the actions of both upright and grand pianos. Classes include hands-on work, lectures, and field trips to such venues as the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Mason & Hamlin Factory in Haverhill, the Steinway factory in Long Island City, as well as various workshops and collections throughout New England.
The PA program focuses on the entire piano and comprehensive piano service. This includes advanced tuning and regulation practice, and resolving service problems that occur in the field—an example of which is the School’s 72-piano service contract with the Boston Public School system. Each year, PA students work in teams of two or three to dismantle, rebuild, and repair grand pianos.
A former instructor in Piano Technology at NBSS, Jack Stebbins PT '82, PA '83 has earned the Examiner of the Year Award from the Piano Technicians Guild (PTG) on a number of occasions. So often in fact that the 4,000-member-strong organization, the industry's only recognized piano service certification program, decided to rename the honor after him.
Michelle Stranges, a 1993 graduate of the Basic Piano Technology program and a 1994 graduate of Advanced Piano Technology, knew she wanted to be a piano tuner from a young age. She was recently featured in an article by her employer, Western Washington University, where she tirelessly works to keep all 85 of their pianos (and four harpsichords) in tune.
The Surdam-Murphy Scholarship honors Patty Murphy PA '94 whose "technical work was exquisite, and her work ethic was second-to-none," according to donor Lew Surdam PA '80. The scholarship will provide half-tuition for two students in Advanced Piano Technology every year, for generations to come.
The town of Harvard, Massachusetts, is undergoing a capital campaign, including a plan to restore the town's 1931 Steinway M baby grand piano, preserving an important part of the town's cultural history. As the town investigates their options, they called upon NBSS alumna Mariana Quinn PT '05, PA '06. Her thoughts were featured in a December 21, 2017 article in the Harvard Press.
Nowell Gatica PT '10, PA '11, Chief Piano Technician for Steinway Hall Dallas, is also the lead piano technician for the quadrennial Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, one of the most illustrious piano competitions in the world. Nowell was featured in a Dallas Star-Telegram article about this year's Competition.
Educating Basic and Advanced Piano Technology students for employment may begin in our practice rooms and program spaces, but the work doesn't end there. Newly learned skills are tested in the real world, via a wide variety of internship opportunities, from tuning grand pianos at summer music festivals to servicing upright models in the Boston Public Schools.
"It is impossible to overemphasize the respect this school has in the piano technology industry. When [employers] see NBSS on your resume, they will take a serious look at you."
Brian Turano PT '13, PA '14
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