Full Time Study
The Professional Service Technician Certificate is designed to be a full-time educational program structured to be a blend of vocational school and a Master’s program at an institution of higher education. This can be completed in as little as two-years but our students frequently take 3-5 years to complete this program. Regardless, there is no time limit on how long a student takes.
The goal of this certificate track is to combine learning with experience so students can have core tools and understanding of the pipe organ and how to service them upon graduation. Unique aspects of this educational track is classroom learning, field work, technology lab, organ lessons, and an optional work study program.
Students are required to take at least four semesters of organ lessons. Knowledge and experience in playing an organ is an essential element in becoming an excellent organ builder. Just as performers must know how the instrument they play works, a builder should be familiar with how the instrument is used.
Classroom instruction takes place in a classroom setting. The credit hours are listed next to the course in the course catalog listed earlier in this handbook. Unless otherwise noted, classes are in-person and must be attended in-person.
16-hours per week of Technology Lab is prescribed for this program. This lab time will be a time for students to put their working knowledge into practice on an AOA project or their Capstone project. Field Lab work will occasionally be part of the curriculum.
The Capstone project is the final project in the professional service technician certificate program. The purpose is to give students an analogous real-world project that demonstrates the core skills needed in the pursuit of servicing and repairing pipe organs. releathering, repair, electrical, comprehensive experience. This task should address taking the organ apart, cleaning it, re-leathering, electrical components, tuning, voicing, and repairing or recreating parts as needed. In addition to doing the actual work, the student gains experience in writing a project proposal, establishing a budget, and other business aspects of organ building. Once the project is complete, our students have to provide a defense of their project, report, and answer questions relating to organ building from our executive board plus one additional board member.
At the end of this curriculum, our full time students will be ready to be productive employees and be able to pass the AIO exam.