People take lessons to learn, to accomplish a goal, to progress, TO DO SOMETHING, not just attend endless lessons. Unfortunately most people who take lessons have no clue how to pick a teacher, which is understandable given the thousands of teachers out there, the hundreds of instruments, approaches, and methods available, and the fact that most people aren't skilled musicians (hence the lessons) and don't quite know what they're looking for anyway.  Couple that with the natural respect most students have for whomever their teacher is (after all, they can play better than I can) and students frequently wake up after a year or 5 of lessons and realize - hey, I haven't actually learned anything in a long time; I'm not where I wanted to be by now.  Every element of a teacher's instruction should be powered by the idea of getting the student to where they want to be muy pronto, cutting to the chase, and getting to making music as soon as possible: leaving nothing useful behind, but taking nothing useless along. Within a context of understanding and encouragement, all students need a result-oriented curriculum (but not a pressurized curriculum).

At Promethean Studios, we absolutely hate doing something just because you're "supposed to". So we've gone through the different techniques used in every area we teach and found what's effective, and eliminated what isn't - regardless of who said you should use it. We have a high success ratio with our students because they learn techniques that work, they understand music and how to make it work for them, and they get to play the music they like. A correct technique is something that produces the best results the most quickly; we abandon any technique that cannot be shown to produce practical results. If your instructor tells you to do something a certain way, it should be because it's the smartest way, the quickest way to play or sing awesomely. So, we believe our students can become musicians, singers, and players - not just people who take lessons.

The first priority we have in our studios is getting you to play or sing a song, period. Whatever we can do to get you actually making music is what we do. Music is a performing art and we work to get you comfortable performing songs well, even if it's just at home.

Also, people take lessons to speed the process of learning, to make 1 day of work equal 3 or 15 days of progress, to cheat time as it were. We add into lessons proven time savers like targeted exercises, licks, and music theory that make your learning time potent and focused - all directed toward the music you want to play.

A word about group lessons - we offer group lessons for the first 6 to 12 months of learning in several instruments. However, it's important to realize that usually group lessons don't produce the most progress possible. Having taught hundreds of group classes, it's a fact that in any group class 1/3rd of students are lost and need to go slower, 1/3rd of students are ready to blaze forward and are held back, and 1/3rd of students are moving at a speed that just fits them. It's like the 3 bears - too cold, too hot, just right. Please consider private lessons whenever possible and when enquiring about any lessons be sure to ask if the lessons you are talking about are truly private. Some studios offer "semi-private" lessons, which are sort of like "pre-owned" cars. Private lessons are one student and one teacher in the room the entire time paid for. GROUP LESSONS CAN BE BENEFICIAL (especially at Promethean!), just be aware of what you're getting.