Authorship and institutional use.
CAUTtools was designed and developed by Willis Glen “Chip” Miller III, D.M.A., a piano technician, pianist, educator, and systems designer.
Evidence last reviewed: August 3, 2026.
About the creator
Chip Miller is a Registered Piano Technician (RPT) and has worked in piano technology, performance, and instruction, with prior information-systems architecture experience in database design, integration, automation, and web development — including roles as a data architect, database administrator, and senior data engineer.
He currently serves as staff piano technician for the University of New Mexico, maintaining 109 instruments, and as president of the New Mexico chapter of the Piano Technicians Guild.
RPT certification and chapter office are personal professional credentials held by the author. They do not imply that the Piano Technicians Guild has reviewed, certified, or endorsed CAUTtools.
From 2018 to 2021, he served as Faculty and Resident Piano Technician at Interlochen Center for the Arts, with responsibilities that included piano technology instruction and institutional inventory stewardship.
He holds a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Houston, a Master of Music from the Eastman School of Music, and a Bachelor of Music from Virginia Commonwealth University.
View résumé Professional biography Current practice Independent biography Temperament research
Nine years, built in the field.
CAUTtools was not designed in the abstract. It began in 2017 as a scheduling tool written for a six-hundred-instrument fleet in New York City, and nearly everything added since exists because an institution needed it. The earliest files still carry the name of the shop it was written for.
| Period | Context | What it added |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | New York City — Nuernberger Piano Company | Origin. A scheduling application written against a working fleet of more than six hundred instruments in public and private spaces, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Manhattan School of Music, Columbia University, and New York University. |
| 2018–2021 | Interlochen Center for the Arts | First institutional fleet. Inventory stewardship at scale, and the recognition that scheduling alone does not explain a program. |
| 2025 | Eastern New Mexico University | Institutional inventory and reporting in a university setting. |
| 2026–present | University of New Mexico | Current deployment. CAUT workload analysis and administrator-facing reporting. |
| 2026–present | Rio Rancho Public Schools | Current deployment. A multi-site K–12 fleet, a different problem from the university case. |
Currently in active use at two institutions: the University of New Mexico and Rio Rancho Public Schools. Earlier entries describe development history and the settings the software was built against — not current deployments. Corroboration status for each institution is listed below.
How evidence is presented
Institutional names are included to describe documented professional context. Inclusion does not imply institutional endorsement, sponsorship, or procurement approval unless explicitly stated and linked.
| Institution | Status | Summary |
|---|---|---|
| Nuernberger Piano Company, New York | Independent third-party source | An independently authored biography at the Bach Cantatas Website documents the role and the six-hundred-instrument scope. The software's origin there is additionally evidenced by file names retained in the codebase. |
| Interlochen Center for the Arts | Independent third-party source | Official event programs, résumé, and an independently authored biography support Miller's role and activity; no public source currently names CAUTtools. |
| University of New Mexico | Owner-attested use; institutional confirmation pending | Miller's professional site identifies the staff technician role and a 109-instrument fleet; public CAUTtools-specific institutional confirmation is pending. |
| Rio Rancho Public Schools | Owner-attested use; institutional confirmation pending | Miller's professional site lists the service relationship; independent district confirmation of CAUTtools use is pending. |
| Eastern New Mexico University | Verification pending | Institutional inventory context is public; direct public source tying Miller and CAUTtools use is pending. |
Suggested attribution
CAUTtools was designed and developed by Willis Glen “Chip” Miller III, D.M.A.
Questions, corrections, or additional documentation may be sent to hello@cauttools.com or (505) 600-1077.