We’ve had the honor of instructing some who were truly excellent musicians in their own right before ever even coming through here, including two who have had their music on MTV, one nominated for a Grammy, and performs regularly at the Grammys, and several music instructors, one with a PhD in music education, three with Masters Degrees in music, one in music education. An even greater honor is to get them started as young children and see them grow up and begin successful careers.
Regularly performing musicians that we have been proud to have as our students include:
Original member of the R&B singing group En Vogue. Maxine Jones.
Former drummer from the Glenn Miller Orchestra and author of drum instruction book The Level System, Richmond-based drummer Jeff Johnson.
Composer, Pianist, Keyboardist, Music Producer, and Audio Engineer Shelby Lock.
Co-Principal Flute for the Lahti Symphony Orchestra in Finland, Eva Ryan.
Winner of the 2014 James W. Simmons Solo Competition and the Rev. Genevieve Murphy Scholarship for Young Musicians, and featured soloist with the Charlottesville Municipal Band at its Dogwood Festival Spring Concert, flutist Geneva Knight.
Singer/songwriter Brian Kingston, who was written up in Performing Songwriter magazine.
Former Hackensaw Boy and founding member of the Hogwaller Ramblers and Jolie Fille David Goldstein.
Leader of numerous local bands and multi-instrumentalist Peter Markush.
Jazz singer Mary Robinson.
Winner of the Charlottesville Jazz Society’s 2013 Jazz Educator of the Year, the great drummer and band-leader Robert Jospé.
Miami, Florida-based singer-songwriter, producer, and DJ Vera Icon.
Here are some more samples of what goes on in here:
Tyler’s Volume 2 graduation recital:
Here is a typical 7-year-old after one year:
Emma, starting Volume 3:
Beyond Suzuki, into the Romantic era
Beyond Suzuki, into “Modern” (modern is in quotations so as not to be confused with contemporary) music, a duet with Elena, “En Bateau” (In a Boat) from “Petite Suite,” by Claude Debussy.
Beyond classical, into American music, Scott Joplin:
Now into the real, true American music, jazz. To play this music authentically one must be able to improvise, not read someone’s arrangement. This is a fun way to learn theory, theory being, of course, absolutely essential for any aspiring musician. Aside from mastering music theory, this is one of the ways that all the greats learned to play jazz, by transcribing the masters. Our students must not only transcribe, but be able to play along with the recordings, as it really is all about, not the notes, so much as the phrasing. This is more than is expected at the college Jazz Improvisation class. Harang was 13 at the time:
More romantic music, from beyond the Suzuki repertoire, from Kelly, an old favorite, Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata, at Fellini’s #9 – thank you, Jacie!