Adventures of a Piano Man

Brayden Drevlow ’19
Pianist/Adventure Traveler
Major: Piano Performance (Bachelor of Music degree)

If there’s such a thing as a modern renaissance man, Brayden Drevlow ’19 gets pretty close.

He’s a professional scuba diver. He speaks five languages with hopes to learn more. He can underwater basket weave. He’s an EMT and spent some time providing emergency services in Compton, California. He's been detained in Afghanistan on the accusation of being a spy.

But at the root of it all is his passion for music, for pianos.

Upon entering Concordia in 2015, he knew he wanted to major in piano performance. He’s not the first in his family to attend Concordia — he’s one of 11 kids, six of whom (so far) are Cobbers.

At Concordia, the doors are open.

“Concordia is special because of the number of opportunities provided for students. If you go to a place like Juilliard, you might get one opportunity to perform in your junior year,” he said. “But at Concordia, the doors are open. You can try whatever you want. I had so much fun getting to try everything — accompanying musical theatre, choirs, jazz ensembles, church music, whatever. That ability to try everything helped me understand what I actually wanted to do once I got out of college.”

^{Drevlow when he was a student at Concordia College}

Drevlow started performing across the country during his sophomore year. He used breaks and long weekends to arrange concerts. Doors started opening. He played at the White House for the president, the Norwegian Embassy in D.C., and started exploring international opportunities.

After graduation, he started setting up his own concerts.

“Especially in Europe, I used a lot of connections to try and make opportunities for a concert,” he said. “To fund it all, I was working as a piano teacher back in Fargo.”

As he continued traveling, he started playing in more and more remote places — securing his identity as both musician and adventurer. He’s traveled to about 120 countries and counting.

“I played some concerts in Siberia, which is the coldest inhabited place on the planet. You get frostbite in 90 seconds,” he said. “If there’s a piano there, it’s likely never been fixed.”

Drevlow’s unique adventures led him to gain his next skill — fixing and tuning pianos. Now, he uses this knowledge as a way to direct his travels. Most recently, he’s been fixing pianos at American, Italian, German, and French embassies in countries ranging from Fiji to Niger. He travels to remote locations where pianos are often uncommon. When he finds a piano, it’s time to get to work.

“It’s a nice way to give back with a unique kind of skill,” he said. “It’s very interesting having this knowledge of where the very few pianos on an entire continent are.”

So, how does he find these pianos?

“There is no magical list,” he jokes.

His search for these remote pianos often ends up like an elaborate scavenger hunt. First, he chooses a country he’d like to visit. Then, he looks on Google Maps to see if there are music schools, universities, dance schools, etc. Next, he looks at photos to see if there’s any sign of a piano. The final step is to talk to people.

“I’ve had it happen so many times that I’ve searched every nook and cranny for a piano,” he said. “In Somaliland, for example, there’s not a single piano there — I looked everywhere, but it’s a lot of false positives.”

If he gets a lead, he can call ahead. He’s learned the very specific questions he needs to ask to determine if the piano is acoustic: Does your piano need to be plugged in? Does it have plastic keys? When your piano plays, does it sound like a harpsichord?

These adventures have led him to some pretty interesting pianos.

“I’ve fixed the piano at the Hotel Rwanda, the piano that was used during the genocide when everyone was trapped inside the hotel,” he said. “I fixed pianos in Sudan, like the only piano in the entire country, right down the street from Osama bin Laden’s old house.”

Drevlow will occasionally capture his adventures on his YouTube channel — an interesting look at paths not often traveled. And what’s next? Well, more adventures.

“A lot of people ask me if I want to visit every country in the world. Yes, in due time — there are about 195 countries in the world, depending on who you ask. I still have some 70 countries left to go, but no mad rush,” he said. “I’m very happy with exactly what I do now, which is to go to a country and have a good, long, proper time there to make new friends, take time to learn the language, and to say that you actually had really been there, rather than just visited.”

^{Published April 2026}