Arlington instrument repair class hits right note with marketable skill

That jarring sound of a baritone horn clattering to the classroom floor is hardly the stuff of halftime dreams, but it drew only a couple of rueful smiles from students last week at Bowie High School.

After all, they’re learning to fix it.

The Arlington school district’s innovative instrument repair class is in its second year for juniors and seniors, and the professional course is aimed at equipping students to enter a career field in critical need of skilled technicians.

“We’re in the process right now of cleaning instruments, oiling valves and aligning slides,” said instructor Joe Strohl. “One of our mantras is Problem Solver.”

The district entered a public-private partnership with Music & Arts, Strohl’s employer and a well-known instrument retailer and music lesson provider, to set up the course and provide training from within the field.

The program will help students earn certification as an instrument repair technician after completion of the two-year course. “Within the industry itself, there are also various degrees and certifications in instrument repair,” Strohl said.

Strohl’s five students include two from Bowie, two from Lamar and one from Martin. Three are juniors and two are second-year seniors.

They work with brass instruments during the first semester and woodwinds the second semester. Seniors hone their skills during their second year and gain the experience to be job-ready upon graduation.

“This is how I learned the field — I apprenticed,” Strohl said. “I apprenticed for a solid three years, then I went into the retail side to learn the business: pricing the cost of repairs and learning to talk to customers to see what their needs were.”

He later studied and earned various specialty certifications, including a custom flute modification named after the technician who came up with it.

According to a 2015 report of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, annual wages for musical instrument repairers and tuners in the Dallas County area ranged from $43,120 to $55,250.

“Once they learn, they can do trumpets, trombones, French horns, saxophones — anything they want,” Strohl said. “Hopefully, once the [planned districtwide] fine arts center is completed, we can get into string and percussion repair.”

Band students in Arlington are especially attracted to the marching horns, but plans call for expanding the scope in the next couple of years.

“It’s a CT class; it builds a skill set like woodworking, but when we move to the new fine arts center in 2018, we will have the opportunity to design the perfect music repair shop,” said Robert Myers, a coordinator in the district’s fine arts department.

The course draws the student tinkerer as well as the music lover.

Gerardo Navarro, a second-year student from Lamar, will be taking instruments from their poor condition all the way to a useable state during this year.

He played trombone for several years in the Lamar marching band, but that was not the motivating reason he enrolled in instrument repair.

“What I’m doing, it applies to soldering, plumbing, welding,” Navarro said of the intricate details. “The other thing is, he shows us how to communicate, how to talk with customers properly in the business world.”

Mia Heath, a junior from Arlington High last year and now a senior at Martin High School, plays cello in orchestra but still enjoys her involvement in the less-familiar world of rehabbing band instruments.

“I think it’s really beneficial to know a craft,” she said. “I’m super-into music and I want to always have something to do with instruments and playing.

“Band is really big,” she said, “and it’s a big part of orchestra.”

She is the first orchestra student and the first female student to take the course

A Seguin graduate from last year’s instrument repair class is currently working at Music & Arts’ Dallas hub.

Music & Arts has also provided all the parts, materials and tools. Some of the salvage instruments are factory rejects that have been donated by manufacturers; others are district-owned marching horns at the end of their useful lives.

The district furnishes the three-lab space next to the journalism publication offices at Bowie. There is a main classroom with plenty of counter space and room for tools and supplies. A photography lab has been converted into a tool room with a dent machine that reshapes brass instruments. There is also a belt sander, a bench grinder and a mill/lathe combination apparatus so students can learn to manufacture their own parts and tools.

Students wear aprons and use protective gloves, goggles, headphones and other safety gear throughout their work.

Another room contains an ultrasonic vibrating cleaner machine that contains a citrus degreaser to thoroughly clean tarnished and oxidized instruments, which are then treated with a freshwater bath. Buffing equipment makes the finished instruments shine.

“I’m so jealous,” said Myers. “I wish I could’ve taken this class 25 years ago.”

This story was originally published September 24, 2016 at 11:06 AM with the headline "Arlington instrument repair class hits right note with marketable skill."