Musical Family Continues Legacy in Montville

While a common cliche, for Todd Lindeblad, music actually is his life.

The 31-year-old owner of in Pine Brook, said he, his wife, and virtually his whole family recreationally plays piano, in addition to being in the piano business.

"Piano's pretty big with us," he said.

In the 1920s, Lindeblad's grandfather, Ed Lindeblad, worked for Steinway, the company that produces one of the world's most premiere brands of pianos, as a tuner. In the 1950s, he started his own piano restoration business in Randolph where he also sold pianos and organs.

That business was passed down to Todd Lindeblad's father and now to him. But many relatives, including an uncle and several cousins, remain involved in the Lindeblad piano business.

"We sell and restore mainly high-quality pianos," Todd Lindeblad said.

Lindeblad is a West Caldwell resident and Fairfield native. In 1999, he and his family opened the Pine Brook showroom, at 101 Route 46 East, and store where the restorations are done. Lindeblad employees do not restore pianos off-site, but do restore pianos from and sell to locations around the country. In fact, much of the restoration company's business is non-local.

"Only 20 percent of our clients are in-state. The other 80 percent is out of state," Lindeblad said.

But to be able to offer something for the local community, the Lindeblads decided to open a music school, the Lindeblad School of Music, located next door. Lindeblad said he got the idea when visiting a Canadian piano restoration store with an attached music school and decided to bring the concept to his family business.

"We didn't use our location to our advantage," Lindeblad said.

In under a year since the school opened, the music school has reached nearly 200 students, all from the local area, Lindeblad said. It has a separate administrator from the restoration business, director and about 10 instructors who specialize in piano, vocal and guitar music lessons. Classes are offered to students of all ages, including Music for Little Mozarts, for 3- to 6-year-olds, and Kindermusik, for younger students, as well as lessons for older kids, teenagers and adults.

Between 60 and 70 pianos have been sold a year through the piano sales and restoration business and more than 100 are typically restored in a year. Lindeblad said the business sells many Steinway pianos, all of different styles, and is able to offer comparable prices on older models that are restored to be like new.