Piano Technology
Program Facts
- Program Type: Graduate
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- Master of Fine Arts (MFA)
Program Director
Executive Director of Keyboard Technology
Contact
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John Cavanaugh, Executive Director
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440-775-8275
Quick Links
The Oberlin Difference
Oberlin’s emphasis on developing technicians into concert-level specialists in tuning and voicing sets the program apart from traditional piano technology programs. Our students experience guided interaction with conservatory piano faculty and visiting concert artists, through which they learn how to translate the artists’ intentions into technical plans that meet their needs.
We don’t go to a piano and just start working on it. We survey the problem. We think about how we can make its strengths better and how we can camouflage its weaknesses. And then we go to work.
John Cavanaugh, Executive Director of Keyboard Technology
![Teacher John Cavanaugh works with a piano technology student.](https://www.oberlin.edu/sites/default/files/styles/width_1160/public/content/program-ensembles/image/john_cavanaugh_piano_tech.jpg?itok=cEC8FHr1)
Piano Technology News
Oberlin Offers MFA in Piano Technology
Two-year graduate program prepares students for careers that blend artistry and technology, with no prior musical training necessary.
![Piano technology students works on an instrument in the shop.](https://www.oberlin.edu/sites/default/files/styles/fp_w560_h420/public/content/card/piano_tech_students_web.jpg?itok=VvD8zR54)
Home Township Hero
Tshepiso Ledwaba ’20 brought the talent to become a world-class piano tech. Oberlin gave him the training.
![Tshepiso Ledwaba.](https://www.oberlin.edu/sites/default/files/styles/fp_w560_h420/public/content/card/tshepiso-ledwaba-unisa.jpg?itok=8Jidtkrr)
Master Technician Eric Schandall Works with Oberlin Students
Graduate program in piano technology bridges gap between technicians and concert pianists.
![Schandall demonstrates a repair technique.](https://www.oberlin.edu/sites/default/files/styles/fp_w560_h420/public/content/card/piano-tech-22_1.jpg?itok=1ljjzNac)
Oberlin Launches Artist Diploma Program in Piano Technology
Designed in association with Steinway & Sons, the two-year graduate-level program launched in 2014.
![Close-up of hands using needle nose pliers.](https://www.oberlin.edu/sites/default/files/styles/fp_w560_h420/public/content/card/piano-tech-hands_1.jpg?itok=AXUaQGpf)
Where There’s a Will, There’s a Steinway
For conservatory students still living at Oberlin, a week without a piano was a week too long.
![A student practices piano in a residential lounge.](https://www.oberlin.edu/sites/default/files/styles/fp_w560_h420/public/content/card/jianyi_gu_photo-crop_1.jpg?itok=uu2X03g5)
Oberlin Forges Piano Technology Partnership with Shanghai Conservatory
Union calls for faculty residencies, student exchanges, advanced-level Oberlin degree, and more.
![A group of students gather around a piano in a bright workshop.](https://www.oberlin.edu/sites/default/files/styles/fp_w560_h420/public/content/card/piano-technology-partnership_by_julie-gulenko_1.jpg?itok=lnJrdGNJ)
Admissions
Oberlin Conservatory’s Piano Technology program welcomes students at any stage in the profession, from beginners to working technicians.
![Piano](https://www.oberlin.edu/sites/default/files/styles/width_1600/public/content/cta-feature/image/birenbaum-piano.jpg?itok=unXf53x_)