David Brown

David C. Brown is the Assistant Director for Music Operations in the Division of Music at SMU Meadows School of the Arts. He received a Bachelor of Arts Music/Vocal Performance in 1979 and was a working musician prior to beginning his technical training in 1984. He became a Registered Piano Technician with the Piano Technicians Guild in 1989. Until 1996, he managed an independent rebuilding shop as well as service and rebuilding shops for retailers.

Prior to his arrival at SMU, Brown was a member of the piano technical staff at The University of Texas at Austin from 1996 to 2006 and Arizona State University from 2006 to 2010. While in Austin, he was a concert and artist technician for Steinway and Sons, and was first-call technician for many of the city’s live music venues. At ASU he served on the technical team for the USASU Bösendorfer-Schimmel International Piano Competition.

He has trained in New York with Steinway & Sons; Los Angeles with Yamaha USA; Vienna with L. Bösendorfer; and Braunschweig, Germany with Wilhelm Schimmel Pianofortefabrik. Brown has also traveled and served as a consultant and instructor in Shanghai and Ningbo, China. He is a sought-after educator, having taught throughout the U.S. and at the PTG Annual Convention and Institute on subjects as varied as tuning techniques, shop practices, repair, voicing and rebuilding. His work has been heard on scores of recordings and concert stages throughout the U.S.

In addition to his duties as head piano technician for SMU Meadows, Brown also directs the stage management crews, ensemble crews and recording technicians and supervises all aspects of music events in Meadows.