A piano technician in Houston, trained by the makers
I am Carlos Boza, a Registered Piano Technician and the Head Piano Technician at the Moores School of Music, University of Houston, where I look after the school’s pianos, from practice-room uprights to the concert grands on stage. Before Houston I held the same role at the University of Southern Mississippi, and before that I spent two decades caring for pianos at Loyola University New Orleans, Louisiana State University, NOCCA and Hall Piano Company, after starting out in my father’s shop. I bring that institutional standard to every home I visit.
It started with my father
My father was a piano technician, and he took me along on client visits when I was small. I learned to hear before I learned to fix: by playing intervals I could tell when a piano was out of tune long before I understood why. I started formal piano lessons at six, and I still play today.
At seventeen I began working in his shop, learning tuning and repair the slow way, one piano at a time. Together we visited piano factories in Europe and the United States, including the Bösendorfer factory in Vienna in 2006, to see how the finest instruments are built from the inside.
Training at Steinway, Yamaha and the Guild
I completed four intensive Steinway & Sons technical programs over four to five years at the C. F. Theodore Steinway Academy: comprehensive piano service, damper installation, voicing and tone building, and concert piano service.
I also completed the Yamaha piano technicians course in Panama in 2014, and I am certified by QRS as a PNOmation player system installer (2016). In 2025 I trained in polyester and lacquer finish touch-up, so I can also repair chips and scratches on a piano’s case.
I am a Registered Piano Technician (RPT) of the Piano Technicians Guild, having passed the Guild’s technical and aural tuning examinations. As an RPT, I went on to complete the Shigeru Kawai Technical Academy at the Colburn School in Los Angeles, the maker’s intensive course for professional technicians. Several of the photographs in the gallery below were taken there.
Where I have worked
| Years | Institution | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2000–2015 | Boza Pianos | Piano tuner and technician |
| 2015–2018 | Loyola University New Orleans | Piano tuner and technician |
| 2015–2023 | Hall Piano Company | Piano tuner and technician |
| 2018–2020 | Louisiana State University | Piano tuner and technician |
| 2018–2020 | New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA) | Piano tuner and technician |
| 2023–2026 | University of Southern Mississippi | Head Piano Technician |
| 2026–present | University of Houston, Moores School of Music | Head Piano Technician |
Working inside institutions teaches a particular discipline. A concert grand has to be ready at seven in the evening, regardless of what the weather did that afternoon; forty practice-room pianos have to survive forty students a day. That is the standard I keep now for the piano in your living room.
Houston
Houston is home now, and the Moores School of Music is where I spend my working week. Beyond campus I serve homes, schools, churches and institutions across the city and its neighbors: West University Place, Bellaire, River Oaks, Memorial and Sugar Land. Our climate is hard on pianos, and I would rather explain what your instrument needs than sell you something it does not.
When I finish a job, I tell you what I found and what I did. My clients mention this more than anything else. It is how my father worked, and it is the part of the job I like most.
I also help clients sell pianos through Pianofort, my listing portfolio; see my current listings there.
