The boys guitar teacher from Performance Music School in Woburn quit at the beginning of the summer to help start a new music school in Burlington: The Real School of Music.
Last night we attended the open house for the Real School and it was real cool.
They gutted a two story building and rebuilt it into a music school for guitar, bass, drums, keyboards, and voice. The walls are painted contrasting bright colors and all the fixtures are very cool, in the Apple Mac and iPod fashion. They gave the boys Real School t-shirts that say "Work Hard. Play Hard." on the back with a silhouette of a guitarist jumping up in the air, sort of like the early iPod posters.
There is a 100 seat performance hall, a couple recording studios, a few ensemble practice rooms, and many rooms for individual lessons. All the rooms are soundproofed, of course. At the entry there is a comfortable waiting area with a big screen HD-TV and tables, and there are smaller common areas with comfy chairs and TVs for hanging out while the kids are in lessons. In addition, the whole building has free wireless internet.
The school offers the instructors benefits like health insurance, so they expect to attract and keep musicians who can make instructing be a full time job (plus gigs on the side, I expect). For the students, the benefits include not just individual lessons, but the opportunity to play in an ensemble of students with similar skill and musical interest, also known as a band. The ensemble practice session will be "coached" by one of the instructors. As they students progress, they will have access to the recording studios and can make CS, mp3s, whatever. The Real School also offers lessons to people who want to learn how to run the recording equipment. They also plan to have small concerts that are free for Real School members (aka students).
It seemed like Winchester night at the Real School. We were there for about an hour and saw many friends. The architect (and one of the 4 founders, who are all musicians) is Weldon Wickerham, Michael's little league baseball coach. We saw Larry, one of the Rippers I bike with. Larry's neighbor (Tom or Don?) is another of the founders. Mary Kay McIntyre was there with her youngest son; her older son is Nick's friend. In addition, Michael learned through Facebook that a couple of his friends are playing a concert/recital there on Saturday night.
Some kids were fooling around with the drum kits and guitars in the ensemble rooms. I was amazed how good they sounded. Will was playing the Chili Peppers' Snow on guitar, and an older teen was giving him pointers on improving his technique. I enjoy listening to Michael and Nick and Chocolate Thunder practice, but these kids were about the same age and sounded really, really good. Dave (the instructor) said that playing in an ensemble helps take your playing to a whole new level.
As you might have guessed, we signed the boys up; their first lessons are next Monday night.
Last night we attended the open house for the Real School and it was real cool.
They gutted a two story building and rebuilt it into a music school for guitar, bass, drums, keyboards, and voice. The walls are painted contrasting bright colors and all the fixtures are very cool, in the Apple Mac and iPod fashion. They gave the boys Real School t-shirts that say "Work Hard. Play Hard." on the back with a silhouette of a guitarist jumping up in the air, sort of like the early iPod posters.
There is a 100 seat performance hall, a couple recording studios, a few ensemble practice rooms, and many rooms for individual lessons. All the rooms are soundproofed, of course. At the entry there is a comfortable waiting area with a big screen HD-TV and tables, and there are smaller common areas with comfy chairs and TVs for hanging out while the kids are in lessons. In addition, the whole building has free wireless internet.
The school offers the instructors benefits like health insurance, so they expect to attract and keep musicians who can make instructing be a full time job (plus gigs on the side, I expect). For the students, the benefits include not just individual lessons, but the opportunity to play in an ensemble of students with similar skill and musical interest, also known as a band. The ensemble practice session will be "coached" by one of the instructors. As they students progress, they will have access to the recording studios and can make CS, mp3s, whatever. The Real School also offers lessons to people who want to learn how to run the recording equipment. They also plan to have small concerts that are free for Real School members (aka students).
It seemed like Winchester night at the Real School. We were there for about an hour and saw many friends. The architect (and one of the 4 founders, who are all musicians) is Weldon Wickerham, Michael's little league baseball coach. We saw Larry, one of the Rippers I bike with. Larry's neighbor (Tom or Don?) is another of the founders. Mary Kay McIntyre was there with her youngest son; her older son is Nick's friend. In addition, Michael learned through Facebook that a couple of his friends are playing a concert/recital there on Saturday night.
Some kids were fooling around with the drum kits and guitars in the ensemble rooms. I was amazed how good they sounded. Will was playing the Chili Peppers' Snow on guitar, and an older teen was giving him pointers on improving his technique. I enjoy listening to Michael and Nick and Chocolate Thunder practice, but these kids were about the same age and sounded really, really good. Dave (the instructor) said that playing in an ensemble helps take your playing to a whole new level.
As you might have guessed, we signed the boys up; their first lessons are next Monday night.
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