Trade Schools

State Trade schools offer a more traditional style of schooling, complete with classroom instruction, bench time, and core curriculum courses to round out your education. Financial Aid is available, and you'll go through the program with a cohort of friends you'll rely on for years to come. These programs range from 9 to 18 months with summers off, and job placement is easy. 

Student housing is made available one way or another. For instance, Renton Technical has a housing arrangement with a neighboring school, but does not offer their own. Meal plans for on-campus eating are available, and each institution has varying costs for tools and books. 

You can download the full pdf of all training options by clicking the link below. 

Apprenticeships

Apprenticeship programs like Badger State Repair - a working overhaul shop in Wisconsin - have been training technicians for decades. These working repair shops offer on-the-job training, limited to no classroom time and no core curriculum classes to pay for. Most of these options are 1 year commitments with a wide range of tool costs and cohort sizes. 

A distinguishing factor for apprenticeship programs, continually brought up by store owners hiring technicians, is the difference in the number of instruments repaired by graduation. Trade school graduates average 15 completed repairs while apprenticeship graduates average 250. This difference is significant to the technician's ability to earn a great wage their first year in a real job. 

Short-Term Training Options

This is a fun category with many options to choose from. Whether you're looking to refine your already practiced skills, or step in to the trade more slowly, there is a training option for you! 

There are limited European training options with a few notable exceptions, namely Trevor Head in England. There is an option in France with limited positive reviews, and an option in Germany by Bohm. The USA is the hub of training options with several to choose from. 

Several of these short-term options are perfect for the music educator interested in learning more about how to care for and maintain their school-owned instruments, while others are focused on those looking to improve their professional skill sets. NAPBIRT (which is the National Association of Professional Band Instrument Repair Technicians... which is why we call it NAPBIRT) offers regional clinics all across the US while NAMIR (a European trade association) offers similar clinics in the UK. 

Online Training Options

Online options include small, focused classes covering one single topic to full online apprenticeship programs. One notable shortcoming of all online training is the ability to work side-by-side with a skilled technician to both inspect the quality of work being done and to adjust the tactile touch and feel necessary for high-end repairs. That said, these options do include the ability to go back again and again to the training materials, both written and on video, to learn and know you're doing it right, all from the comfort of home anywhere in the world!