Music changes over time, by the century, decade, and year.  Martin Luther used popular beer-drinking songs to spread the ideas of the Reformation: "There once was a girl and her name was Matilda" was used as the melody for "We praise You, Our Father, Redeemer, Creator".  Bach and Liszt were famous as improvisers in their day - they could just make it up as they went along, dude!  Music changes and is changing right now. You may love classical and/or jazz, you may just respect them, but a large percentage of people just endure them because they've heard it's supposed to be good for you, like drinking 8 cups of water a day or reading the Iliad.  Current music, I mean the hits you heard on the radio this morning, are in many respects just as good as any other music ever written and just about as good for you to learn - IF you use good technique and learn music theory as well.

We want you to play your music, to enjoy the music you like right now.  Sure, we'll try to expand your tastes as well as your abilities, but we actually do believe that rock, blues, country, soul, metal, and most all other kinds of music are totally cool, too, not musical step-children.  Music is so big, you could spend your life on just one style and never master it all...so start with what you love.  We'll make you play with detail, excellence, and precision.  That's another reason we let you pick your music, because we're going to get you to play and sing with great technique and learn music theory no matter what you do.  But within a few guidelines you get to choose the music you work on in class - music you love, music you sing and tap your foot to, the albums you buy and the songs you download.  If you like classical music, study it here and be the best.  In fact we carry the same fire for classical music as we do other music, and we have many of our students learning the most amazing, exciting classical pieces constantly, not just from the "classical period" (1750 - 1830) but ALL periods of absolute (classical) music - Ancient, Medieval, Rennaisance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, Impressionist, and Modern.  Many of our teachers are trained classical musicians.  Classical and jazz are awesome, it's just that rather than being best choices on a list of "good" music, they're one of the spokes on a wheel that includes rock, pop, hip-hop, blues, alternative, metal, country, rhythm and blues, bluegrass, funk, gospel, and contemporary and traditional Christian.  And much other cool music.

Bottom line: the techniques, theory, and brainpower used in classical (and jazz) music are wonderful tools, but since we incorporate those ideas into all our lessons, you can play what you like and not miss anything.  That's right, I'm saying you can study the blues or pop music here and not be very far, ability and brain wise, from where you'd be if you were just studying classical music.  So, attention all "I wanna do it right" kids and adults, you or your kids can learn what you like without sacrificing the benefits of classical or jazz music (or excellence).  And you can rest assured the methods we use here are right for YOUR music or we won't do them.  If you don't believe it, just ask us about it - your teacher will be happy to explain how what you're being asked to do is directly useful for you to make your music.