Brian Turano PT ’13, PA ’14

I first became interested in piano technology watching my family’s piano tuner when I was a teenager. I didn’t know how to learn the trade at the time so I didn’t take it any further.

I studied vocal performance for 2 years at Santa Rosa Junior College in northern California. I was working many hours as a lifeguard and decided I needed to get a better day job to complement my opera singing. I thought again of piano technology.

I went online and found NBSS and the University of Western Ontario on the Piano Technician’s Guild website. My brother Mike Turano (he had also become interested in piano technology and would go on to complete both Piano Technology programs at NBSS) and I attended WestPac in San Francisco that year and met with NBSS Piano Technology instructor Debbie Cyr. Ultimately, I decided to go with NBSS because of the more in-depth rebuilding program offered here.

I worked during my time in the Advanced Piano Technology program as a piano technician at Boston University, which was been a great opportunity to apply and develop the skills I learned during the Basic Piano Technology program.

Prospective students should know that this school is literally unique. The education is as comprehensive as possible for a program of this length. Attending NBSS is a fast track to a career. It can’t teach you everything you will need to know, but it will take several years off the learning-curve faced by self-taught or apprenticed technicians. It is impossible to over emphasize the respect this school has in the piano technology industry. Many of the leading technicians in America are NBSS graduates, and when [employers] see NBSS on your resume, they will take a serious look at you.