The Durante's Music Technical Services story
Beginnings
Durante's Music Technical Services is the brain child of Thomas Durante. Thomas (Tom, Tommy) started his love of music as a young lad kicking inside his mother to the theme of Jeopardy. His parents also would play Beethoven through headphones to their child. When he was 7 Thomas was given a small electric keyboard, and in short order learned to play "Love me tender", and "White Christmas" by ear. Soon after that his parents enrolled him in music lessons with Greg Rohr, who instilled a deep love, and thorough enjoyment of music and all things related. In middle and high school, Thomas took part in the various school orchestra's playing violin, and viola. When it came time for college, there was only once choice for a path to pursue.
College and University Studies
Thomas started at the local college (formerly Manatee Community College, now State College of Florida) where he studied piano with Joyce Valentine, and also studied composition with Rex Willis. During his tenure there he received the award for 'most outstanding music student', earned an associate of arts degree, and also met the requirements for a certificate in musical skills and performance. The certificate required that he play a half hour concert, which consisted of a majority of solo piano pieces and ended with a portion of his compositions for ensembles (all of which are on youtube here)
After MCC Thomas transferred to the Florida State University College of Music to pursue a degree in music composition. Piano being his major instrument, Thomas studied with Caroline Bridger (an accomplished accompanist and solo musician) who took his skills and honed them into a formidable understanding and musical force. He also studied composition, and digital music creation techniques with Dr. Mark Wingate. His time in the studio at FSU was very beneficial to his perception of tone. Dr. Wingate taught a digital music class as well, which was rooted in the history of electronic music (which dates back to the late 1800's!), as well as the physics of sound. Another important aspect of his perception of tone took place in the form of Thomas' involvement with the FSU African ensemble under the direction of Wilbur Davis, singing songs, performing complex rhythms, and dancing traditional as well as modernized dances to eastern and western African traditional rhythms. This experience broadened the otherwise western musical styles that had previously captivated Thomas.
In his last year at FSU Thomas enrolled in a class taught by Anne Garee called "Intro to Piano Technology". Little did he know this would be the beginning of his career as a piano technician. In that course Thomas started to learn the parts that comprise the modern piano and the techniques associated with repairing them. Also there was a good bit of history of how and why the modern piano came about, starting back with Bartolomeo Cristofori, right along to Ignace Pleyel, including of course John Broadwood and Henry Steinway as well! It was at FSU in Anne Garee's intro class where Thomas knew he wanted to make a life in the world of Piano Technology. In the pursuit of further education, Thomas learned about Anne's Master of Piano Technology degree, and to that end required further certification in order to pursue the degree. This requirement led him to The Chicago School for Piano Technology.
Real World Prep
During Thomas' time at CSPT, the culmination of his love of music and a desire to conquer the world of Piano Technology led him to great heights. Under the tutelage of Paul Revenko-Jones, Oksana Revenko-Jones, Robert Guenther, Laura Olsen, Christa Andrepont, and many others Thomas' skills were honed to a professional level, leading of course back to where we started. In the summer of 2013 Thomas began filing all the paperwork for the creation of his new business Durante's Music Technical Services. As his first paid tuning Thomas tuned two pianos for Young Chang in the exhibition hall of the Piano Technicians Guild National convention in Chicago in 2013. He hasn't looked back since.
The Future
Looking ahead to the future of DMTS Thomas plans to acquire a site to build a piano workshop, which will house all the tools required to do full rebuilds on antique pianos, as well as building historic instruments from scratch. Thomas enjoys working on Harpsichords and Pianos currently, but in the near future will begin learning how to build clavichords, fortepianos, virginals, as well as guitars, ukulele's and other stringed instruments. The road is laid out long ahead of us at DMTS but we plan to make something of the journey. Here's to having you join us along the way!
Thomas (Tom, Tommy) Durante Owner/ Sole Proprietor Durante's Music Technical Services Certified Piano Technician Bradenton, Florida since 2013 941.932.0878
Copyright Durante's Music Technical Services © 2013
Bradenton, Florida