37 professional delegates from across Europe have visited Yamaha’s Atelier Hamburg to take part in specialist training courses for brass and woodwind technicians.

As part of the Yamaha Technicians’ Guild programme, delegates undertook bespoke training in the repair, maintenance and adjustment of brass and woodwind instruments — the first of the 88 members of the European-wide Guild to take part in the advanced programmes.

State of the art

Initially established in the UK in 2006, the success of the initiative has since led to the European programme being launched, with the first training seminar taking place in 2011 at the state of the art Hamburg Atelier.

Since then, the Yamaha Technician’s Guild Programme has grown in professional prestige and importance, supporting Europe’s most skilled technicians with practical and in-depth information about how best to maintain and repair Yamaha instruments.

Unique platform

Thomas Lubitz, Yamaha’s R&D Manager told 4BR: “The Yamaha Technicians’ Guild gives us a unique platform from which we can engage with technicians from across Europe.

This is really important for Yamaha as it allows us to ensure that the level of support for Yamaha instruments is maintained at the highest level possible.

He added: "We recognise that technicians are extremely important for musicians and with this, we can give musicians not only a high quality musical instrument, but also the added assurance of unrivalled technical support for many years to come.

Of course, the training is not only a one way process, an important part is for it to also be a forum where technicians from different countries come together to share different ways of working."

Ground breaking Neo

Over the past few years, Yamaha’s Atelier in Hamburg has been the hub for the global development of the ground breaking Neo range of instruments.

It has worked closely with some of brass banding’s top artists and continues to offer support to artists throughout Europe in addition to the professional technicians.

This is really important for Yamaha as it allows us to ensure that the level of support for Yamaha instruments is maintained at the highest level possibleThomas Lubitz

Support

A spokesperson added: "The Yamaha Technicians’ Guild has been a phenomenal success and it is a key aspect of how Yamaha aims to support all of its customers.

Over the coming years, its seminars will continue to grow and with it, the support for Yamaha instruments will go from strength to strength."