Rory MacNeil PT ’24, PA ’25

“This mystery that I wanted to learn”

Basic Piano Technology ’24 and Advanced Piano Technology ’25
Age 35
Pawtucket, Rhode Island

After studying jazz saxophone performance at the University of Texas at Austin, Rory enjoyed a thriving career as a freelance musician. When the pandemic hit, the disruption to the live music industry pushed him to diversify his skill set, leading him to piano tuning and ultimately North Bennet. 

Can you tell us a bit about yourself—how old you are and where you’re from?

I just turned 35. I grew up outside Boston in Milton, Massachusetts. I lived in New York and Texas for a long time, and then I moved back to Massachusetts when I started at North Bennet.

What were you doing before NBSS, and what inspired the change?

I went to college for jazz saxophone performance at the University of Texas at Austin, and I was a freelance musician for a long time, playing in wedding bands in New York and Texas. During and after COVID, there was a big disruption to the live music industry, which was my impetus to think about diversifying my skill set and branching out into something music-related but a little different.

My fiancée and I were thinking about moving back to the Massachusetts area, and I read the book, “Pianos Inside Out,” by Mario Igrec, who taught at North Bennet for a while and is head piano technician at Juilliard. The book said North Bennet is the place to go if you want to learn this field. It worked out that the best school happened to be right in my backyard.

When/how did you discover your discipline/field?

I always thought piano tuning would be cool because the piano is a complex instrument—it was this mystery that I wanted to learn and felt I could be good at. I took piano lessons and played to some extent, but not professionally. You don’t need to be a musician to be a piano technician, but there was still a music element, which was awesome.

Why did you choose to invest in training for a new career?

I went to the NBSS open house, and that was the moment I thought, ‘This place is amazing.’ It just blew me away—the facilities, talking to the students and the teachers, the setup. It was the perfect environment to learn.

When I went into Basic Piano Technology, I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to do the subsequent program, Advanced Piano Technology. But the idea grew on me. I had this desire to know how everything works, and ended up enrolling. It’s given me an even deeper understanding of the instrument.

In what ways have you felt supported during your time at NBSS?

I was lucky to receive financial aid and scholarships, which I’m extremely grateful for. That made it feasible for me to take two years to do this. Plus, the people I’ve met—the students, teachers, everyone at North Bennet—they all work so hard and are so invested. That alone is a great support network and reminder, ‘I can do this.’

I live in Rhode Island and have a long commute, but it’s been easy to put in the time and the hours to learn because it’s the perfect place. You could spend more than two years here and still get better and learn.

The mentorship I’ve received during my time at the School has been incredible—not only from the talented team of instructors in the Piano Tech department, but also through summer internships at Doghouse Pianos in Connecticut and the Brevard Music Center in North Carolina, both with NBSS alumni.

How do you feel at the end of a full day in the shop today compared to before NBSS?

I’d never built things before North Bennet. That’s new for me, and it’s an awesome feeling. In the Advanced program, my classmates and I rebuilt a piano. We spent months on the project: We began with an initial inspection and evaluation of the original piano, then took precise measurements before completing the teardown process. Then, we began reconstructing the piano, starting with the action, then fitting and drilling a new pin block, building up to the point when the bridges were on, fitting the sound board to the rim, and capping it off by gluing in the sound board, which will be there for 50 years. It’s a big milestone for a piano. 

For me, I’m proud to be able to say I built something—a concrete, tangible thing.

What’s next for you?

I’m going to be working at Brevard Music Festival in North Carolina as a piano technician for the summer. It’s a festival where they bring in artists and have a teaching institute. This is an internship I got through the School, and a North Bennet graduate is the head technician there. That’s just another example of the amazing opportunities and connections you get at NBSS. After that, I’ll be headed to Queens, New York to work on the quality team at the Steinway factory.

If you could sum up your NBSS experience in one word or phrase, what would it be—and why?

Life-changing. It’s hard for me to imagine how different my life was before I came here. The amount I’ve learned in two years blows me away. I barely knew how a piano worked two years ago. 

North Bennet changed my life in an amazing way.

What’s one of your favorite places in or around Boston?

I walk to the School from South Station every morning and love walking along the Harborwalk, with the sun rising over Boston Harbor.

What’s your favorite tool or technique you’ve learned to use?

Hand planes for bridge work are so fun. It’s satisfying to get those smooth, little shavings of wood. I find myself going around just planing pieces of wood.

This story is from our Summer 2025 issue of Benchmarks magazine. View more issues.