This wonderful article was written by Elizabeth Wilson in 2025 as part a university writing course. We loved the story that Elizabeth put together so beautifully, and we think it deserves to be shared on our site for our followers to view. Enjoy a snippet of Boyds history, chronicled from the very beginning of our shop and our Piano Club. Our sincere thanks to Elizabeth for her research and insight into our much-loved small business. The article is published as provided by the author.
Turning Twenty
Boyds Piano Shop: a family business creating a community
As I approach the shopfront door of the 1920s weatherboard cottage on the tree-lined street in Kalinga, the sound of chatter is accompanied by Clare’s soft, virtuosic piano playing. Entering the cottage, I see people crowded around grand pianos lined up either side of the long white showroom—Yamaha, Kawai, Bösendorfer, Schimmel, Grotrian. There are around thirteen of us tonight, some playing, some, like Robin and Rosalind, just there to listen and chat. Jason Boyd pokes his head around the door to say hello to everyone before he returns to the back room to work on an old grand he’s restoring.
Alison Boyd, holding a bunch of numbered business cards, is raising her voice a little, bringing everyone to order. For it’s the first Monday of the month, and that means Piano Club at Boyds Piano Shop.
We each take a card to find out whether we’re playing first, last, or somewhere in the middle. Julie is always eager to play first or second, so she can sit back and relax, and Alison keeps a mid-range number for Brenda who’s driving up from the Gold Coast.
Perching on piano stools, we crane our necks awkwardly towards the Yamaha for the first performance. Silence falls over the room as the first performer takes their seat at the piano and announces their piece.
Jason and Alison Boyd’s business, The Piano Shop, turns 20 in June this year. When I visit Boyds on an overcast morning in May, Jason tells me how Boyds began. After finishing high school in the 1980s, he worked as a salesperson at Ellaways music store in Brisbane, selling musical instruments and scores.
‘The in-store piano tuner introduced me to the basics of piano maintenance’. Being a trombonist, Jason could read music and had an excellent ear for intonation. ‘Noticing this, as well as my handyman skills, the piano tuner suggested I study to become a piano technician’.
Jason enrolled in the piano tuner and technician 2-year course at TAFE in Melbourne. The course was run by renowned Australian master craftsman and piano technician Wayne Stuart, and as a student, Jason was involved in building Stuart’s first prototype upright piano—the one with 108 keys, rather than the standard 88 keys. Upon finishing the course, he returned to Ellaways in Brisbane, this time as an in-house piano technician.
There are over one million pianos in Australia, with 5,000 being imported annually. Most pianos need to be tuned annually, but concert pianos are usually tuned before each performance. According to the Australasian Piano Tuners Guild (APTG) there are 250 piano tuners in Australia, with around 160 being over 50 years old. Approximately 20 of these are high-level piano technicians, able to restore and rebuild pianos, like Jason.
This points to a serious supply and demand problem. Only one institution currently offers training for piano tuners and technicians, the Australasian School of Piano Technology in Melbourne. The school offers an intensive year of training which costs just under $28,000, without government study assistance.
Brenda Hunting, a piano club member and widely respected Brisbane piano teacher echoed Jason’s thoughts that it is simply not be possible for the current cohort of tuners to tune all pianos at least annually. ‘Governments don’t see the need to subsidise training. I don’t have a problem with getting my three pianos tuned,’ says Brenda, ‘as I’m a professional musician and the AMEB uses my studio for exams. So, tuners give me preference if it comes to the crunch. It’s much harder for non-professional clients as tuners can’t prioritise them. Also, experienced tuners, like Jason, often have contractual relationships with large organisations/concert halls, so may be called on at short notice’.
Jason tunes and maintains pianos for the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, ABC Studio, Queensland Ballet, Brisbane Jazz Club, QPAC, schools and other venues. Community groups borrow Boyds pianos for performances (e.g., the Redcliffe Eisteddfod), only paying for piano transport and tuning.
‘My most rewarding experience was restoring the 1930s Steinway concert grand for the Bundaberg Moncrieff Entertainment Centre. I brought the piano back to our Geebung workshop and spent four months working on it, taking it apart then putting it back together’. James Morrison, the jazz musician, played the restored piano at a concert. Jason attended with his son Ben. ‘It was a very proud moment for me.’
Jason also maintains harpsichords—much appreciated by club member, Rosalind, who while ambivalent about the piano, loves the harpsichord.
‘Jason was a great help to me when I bought my second-hand harpsichord in late 2020’. She emailed Jason the details of the harpsichord. He thought it seemed fine and arranged for a piano moving firm to transport the delicate instrument from Melbourne to Brisbane. ‘Harpsichords are entirely different creatures to pianos and not many people play them. Still fewer know how to maintain these delicate instruments, so Jason is a godsend.’ After its three-week acclimatisation, Jason checked the harpsichord. Rosalind said it was an ‘enlightening experience’. He not only tuned the harpsichord, but also reinforced its wobbly trestle legs, and fixed the keyboard, which was slightly adrift. ‘He taught me how to tune it with the help of the ClearTune app, and advised me on how to achieve an acceptable temperature and humidity for it to live in’.
On that gloomy May morning I sit in the kitchen just behind the workshop and showroom. The piano racket increases, with one mite using his tiny fist to thump the keyboard, while a potential client plays some syncopated Joplin rags, followed by mellifluous Debussy and raging Rachmaninoff chords. Alison pops in to the kitchen to chat, as Jason returns to the Japanese clients in the front showroom. It’s their second day in Australia, and their first task is buying a piano.
I asked Alison how she liked selling pianos and generally managing the business after being an accountant in one of the Big Four firms. When she was expecting their first child, Harriet, Jason decided to open his own piano tuning business so he could work flexible hours. At the same time, the international economy was going through a downturn, so Big Four companies were keen to shed staff. This suited Alison and she left her employer on amicable terms. The Boyds then operated the piano tuning and technician business, as well as selling a few pianos, from their Everton Park home.
In 2005, Alison started looking for a new business location. She found Bumble Bee Crafts on Lodge Road, Kalinga for sale; now, it’s Boyds Piano Shop. The high ceilings with pressed metal ornamentation are now painted white, while piano-themed artwork hangs around the main showroom. A large part of the cottage has been given over to the piano restoration side of the business.
Initially, Alison would break out in a cold sweat when talking to prospective buyers. But eventually she warmed to the role. ‘I’m not a salesperson, but I love to help people and give them information about our products.’
‘Buying a piano is a fairly emotional purchase for most people’ says Alison. ‘Parents are often scared they’ll buy the wrong one. Some parents have musical knowledge, but some don’t’. She sees quite a few older buyers, like advanced level pianists wanting to upgrade, or retirees and empty-nesters want to learn. ‘One client worked as a cleaner but used his mortgage redraw facility to buy a Bechstein. It was his dream’.
Some clients ‘buy for fashion.’ One person saw a little black grand in the shop window, thought it would look great in their living room, so walked in and bought it – they didn’t even try it out as they didn’t intend playing it. Clients have spent in the region of $100,000 for a piano just to sit in their lounge – unplayed.
Like many businesses, Boyds had to find ways of coping during the Covid lockdowns of 2020 and 2021. Alison remembers the upsides as well as the downsides.
‘The tuning side came to a grinding halt. Luckily, Jason had a 9 foot Steinway grand to restore, and he had all the parts ready to go. So, when he couldn’t go out tuning, he spent his time getting that done, ready to sell once we were back trading.’
Immediately after the lockdowns in 2020 ‘we actually had the best financial year we ever had’ Alison recalls, ‘until this year, which has also been great, in the ‘cost of living crisis’ we are currently having. In times of downturn people turn to other ways to feel better and music is surely top of the list.’ During the Covid lockdowns several clients said that because they couldn’t holiday overseas, they put the money towards a beautiful grand piano instead. ‘As Jason had more time to restore and rebuild, it meant we had more beautiful grands to sell. So, a happy combination of circumstances.’
Mike, a retired economist and euphonium player, met the Boyds in May 2013 when was looking for a piano to play. As he also wanted to fill the vast empty space in his dining room, he decided to buy a grand. Although he enjoys playing in Queensland Wind and Brass, he tells me, ‘Playing in brass groups is different, because of being in an ensemble. With the piano I can disappear into my own world.’
His thoughts are mirrored by club member, Julie, also an amateur pianist and Boyds client. Playing piano is ‘a form of escapism’, she says. ‘The piano is so important to me. I love music. I can express my emotions on the piano’.
Alison ‘seemed to be a decent human being’, said Mike. He left the shop with a receipt for a Yamaha grand in his hand. Over the years, he also bought a couple of electric keyboards from Boyds. While processing the Yamaha sale, Alison suggested Mike come along to club. A trad jazz fan, Mike first played some ragtime numbers when he joined the club. But after listening to others play some classical repertoire, he decided to learn from Alison, who obtained her AMEB Certificate Teacher of Music in 2017.
I asked Jason how the Monday night piano club came into being.
‘When I was in people’s homes, tuning their pianos, I often came across people who were looking for somewhere to play just for fun. Playing piano is a solitary business, so I thought it would be great if like-minded people could come together just to play. No judgement.’ Alison emailed a few clients, put an advertisement on their website, and in 2008, piano club was born.
Mike and Julie enjoy being introduced to composers and works they’ve never heard before, and learning from the technique of professional musicians like Brenda. ‘We’re all learning from each other’ says Julie. Mike loves going to club as it’s ‘like an enjoyable lesson where I’m learning from others in a spiralling upwards feedback loop. It’s a fabulous outlet, socially and musically.’
Piano club has had an ‘extremely positive’ effect on members. In Mike’s view, it ‘gets the endorphins going’. Brenda, Julie, and Mike feel playing at club gives purpose to learning and setting a performance target, without the pressure of competition or judgment. A club member since 2011, Julie says ‘I would never leave’. Like some other members, sometimes Julie ‘tries out’ a piece at club even if it’s not ready. ‘I don’t want to focus on mistakes – I just want to enjoy playing’.
Piano club hosts players of all levels. ‘It’s a ‘very welcoming environment’, says Brenda. She joined the club in 2012, on the recommendation of her teacher, Therese Milanovic, a piano lecturer at The University of Queensland. Brenda is a Melbourne University music graduate and accredited teacher in the Taubman approach for piano technique. I’ve heard Brenda give concert-standard performances of works ranging from Bach to Bartok, with her lugubrious performances of Poulenc being a standout for me. She only likes to perform pieces at club when they’re ready. Trying to fit in her own practice amid her busy teaching schedule is difficult, but Brenda says ‘There is also so much repertoire still to learn and it helps to have an external motivation. Also, it’s nice to take my students along to play themselves in a different environment, on a different instrument, and it’s good for them to see me play.’
A couple of years ago, the club was so popular it became overcrowded with people squeezing together on piano stools in the showroom. As a solution, Brenda and some others formed a breakaway group for the southsiders. Brenda firmly believes ‘the establishment of the southside club is a testament to the Boyds’ initial idea of a non-judgemental piano club’ and that performing at club is so important for mental health and ‘a sense of personal achievement.’
‘One of my students had a ticket to the footy,’ recalls Brenda. ‘The date clashed with his piano performance. So, he gave away the footy ticket, but sadly couldn’t play anyway due to a migraine. This really shows the importance of the club to some members’.
As for me, an ex-professional piano accompanist with a love of playing and seeing others enjoying the piano, Boyds provides everything serious, and not so serious, pianists need: honest advice, fair prices for their new and second-hand pianos, and technically expert piano maintenance and restoration. There are other businesses that provide the same. But Jason and Alison have given us more. They have provided a small piano-loving community a place to share regularly their love of playing in a spirit of friendship and mutual support. And build lasting friendships along the way.
Works Cited
Boyd, Jason. Personal Interview. 17 May 2025.
Boyd, Alison. Personal Interview. 17 May 2025. Email. 3 June 2025.
Hunting, Brenda. Personal Interview. 21 May 2025. Email. 22 May 2025.
Norton, Julie. Personal Interview. 21 May 2025.
Bellingham, Mike. Personal Interview. 22 May 2025.
Wilson, Rosalind. Personal Interview. 24 May 2025.
Lange, Elsie. “‘We’re running out’: decline of Australia’s piano tuners hits a sore note” Guardian Australia, 8 August 2023, https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/aug/08/piano-tuning-tuners-technicians-australia Accessed 25 May 2025
“The APPT Story”, https://australasianpianotechnology.com.au/school Accessed 25 May 2025 Accessed 25 May 2025
