I Want to Fix Instruments When I Grow Up

Sometimes people will come into my shop and ask if they, or a son or daughter, should get into band instrument repair or not. BIR (band instrument repair) is a good job, but it is not for everybody, so I procede to ask some questions. Are you patient? Do you have a good mechanical mind? Do you enjoy working with your hands? Are you content to be alone or do you need people around all the time? Are you able to live on near poverty wages? After I ask these and other questions, usually, they have decided for themselves that BIR is not for them. That is okay though, because there are only so many BIR technicians needed in each city. Sometimes someone is still interested. If he is, I am happy to help in whatever way I can. I will tell him about the 5 colleges with BIR courses. Also, an apprenticeship is a good idea in some cases.


The 5 colleges that I know of that have BIR courses:

Souteast technical College in Red Wing, Minnesota (formerly Red Wing Technical College)

Western Iowa Technical College in Souix City, Iowa

Renton technical College in Renton, Washington

Keyano College in McMurray, Alberta

South Thames College in London, England