APS music instrument repair shop receives upgrades

The faint sounds of a tuba playing the songs of German composer Richard Wagner could be heard Monday through the halls of the Albuquerque Public Schools’ Lincoln Complex.

Chris Smith was testing out the instrument after repairing it in the Fine Arts Musical Instrument Repair Shop, which had recently received upgrades thanks to the APS Education Foundation and other funds within the district.

“It was a little bit in the background,” said Smith’s colleague, Andy Pilcher, repair shop manager. “It wasn’t really a huge focal point for the district.”

Nonetheless, the repair shop, which dates back to the 1970s, was cleaned up and an extra room dedicated to cleaning the instruments, Pilcher said. He, Smith and Catherine Cunningham, a string instrument specialist, also received some new tools to help repair instruments.

“(It) was an old school shop up until pretty recently,” Pilcher said. “It’s been awesome.”

The new room includes a machine that cleans the instruments, but the sounds of the machine’s work are deadened. Also, “by making it a separate room, we made it safer by removing the threat of wafting chemicals,” with new ventilation, Pilcher said.

“Without that room, there was no place for any of those fumes to go — and it was loud.”

Pilcher said the repair shop receives 1,000 instruments per school year. The upgrades have allowed shop personnel to turn around instrument repair projects faster, with brass instruments coming back to schools in less than a month. In turn, the shop has improved its reputation.

Smith said he used to do a lot of musical instrument repairs on his own when he taught band at James Monroe Middle School.

“It would take forever (to send instruments to the shop) because just didn’t have the manpower to keep up with the workload,” he said. “You knew your instrument was going to be over here for weeks and months.”

Caitlynn Camacho, director of bands at Madison Middle School, said she sends instruments to the repair shop all the time.

“What they do makes what I do possible,” said Camacho, who has about 145 students who mostly play APS instruments. “Without the shop ... the kids wouldn’t be able to get their instruments and get them repaired. The expense of that is so great for many families.”

Camacho has noticed the time it takes for the shop to repair an instrument is shorter than ever. She even has extra horns in her band room, “which is amazing,” she said.

Camacho said the repair shop includes personnel who care about making the instrument playable for students, especially beginners, so it isn’t “fighting back” when they use it.

“For a beginner, the instrument has to be working perfectly,” Camacho said. “They really care, at the shop, about making sure that that’s what they’re giving back to us when they fix something.”

She calls the upgraded repair shop “pretty spiffy.”

“It was like, ‘Wow, you guys! Fancy!’” said Camacho, who has known Smith for years.

For Smith, repairing musical instruments gives him more than a sense of accomplishment.

“To me, everyone of these instruments should be in the hands of a kid,” he said. “It’s important that these instruments work properly and kids have the ability to participate in class.”