I considered buying a new guitar, but the Guitar Center did a great job renewing and restringing my…read moreacoustic Yamaha guitar.

I highly recommend avoiding the Guitar Center for lessons. Their system is designed make it…read moredifficult to get all the lessons you pay for. I wanted to take the summer off but still have make up lessons I was owed. They use automatic deduction for payment and refuse to refund any money claiming that they can't once the money has been taken from your account. So I was charged for four more lessons than I wanted but here's the thing - once you are no longer allowing automatic deductions they remove you from the schedule. Pretty difficult to get the make up lessons you may be owed if you're not on the schedule. I spoke to the manager about this and he personally scheduled a make up lesson for me for yesterday. I showed on time only to be told the teacher wasn't there and I wasn't on the schedule. Then he tried to blame the lessons manager. Another interesting thing that happened was that once I was no longer doing automatic deductions the teacher canceled twice. She had not canceled once since I started in September. Avoid this place for lessons.

Everything you need in one place!! Lessons, instruments and supplies, repairs and recording and…read moremastering!! Scott Apicelli has done a great service to the community and for keeping music alive!

I met the owner when I wandered in looking for sheet music. Had such a nice time I ended up buying…read morethree instruments! We also brought three instruments donated to a music scholarship I was working on. They took the time to estimate the value and what each instrument needed. No charge. Will always go to them from now on - even though it's about an hour north of us.

Do you have any idea how expensive it is to buy a cello? And did you know they come in sizes. So,…read moreif you have a kid who wants to learn how to play an instrument, they will soon grow out of the size that fits them. It's kind of like buying them sneakers except with a few more zeros tacked onto the end. Welcome to the world of rental instruments. We rented a cello for the boy down in Princeton last year. It seems the rates in Albany are generally higher than the rates in central Jersey. I guess it's like anything else, business can charge what the market will bear. The good news is that John Keal Music has an introductory offer which is really really cheap for the first few months. So if your kid turns out not to be into it, you won't have to lay out a lot of money every month. Fundamentally, I don't like renting. I would prefer to buy. So we were able to use our introductory period as a chance to try and find a cello we could own. Fate smiled upon us and now we are the proud owners of a slightly larger cello than the kid should be using. But like his dress pants, he'll grow into it. John Keal was great about taking the instrument back. They made the entire process super easy. It was a pleasure working with them. If the shop were a little less expensive, I'd give them that fifth star. And should the next kid want to take on an instrument, I'll be sure to check in here first. I'll also be sure to try and push her in the direction of something cheaper than the cello.

This place has outstanding service. Everyone that I've had the pleasure of dealing with here has…read morebeen incredibly knowledgeable and seems to be willing to go to any lengths to help me. The instruments here are also beautiful and make me wish I could play all of them.

MDM did not put my daughter's feelings about her singing first. They did not listen to her when…read moreshe was trying to explain to them that a certain singing situation made her uncomfortable. I was so hoping that MDM would be a place where they cared about my daughter's singing and her confidence. Management did not follow up with issues or get back to me when I asked questions. Very sad situation and experience for our family.

Our family loves MDM! The staff are so friendly and approachable. I have had nothing but great…read moreexperiences since I sent my inquiry into vocal lessons. Ms. Nicole is such a patient, attentive, and professional coach. I love the diversity at the center; it makes it welcoming and comfortable. MDM also communicate with parents via a communication portal. I never knew how much I needed something like that until they sent me a video of my kiddo singing her first song. Had no idea that was gonna be a remember forever moment. I'm glad I have copies of it. Soooo affordable and very accommodating with online lessons to help support the community during Covid. Love what they are doing to keep us all safe! Thank you thank you!!

The Music Studio provides lessons in music fundamentals for children beginning at age 4 and group…read moreand private piano lessons for children through high school. There is also a limited adult learning program. My daughters started at The Music Studio at age 4 with music fundamentals that links musical games and activities to learning rhythms, notes and the very basics of keyboards. I don't think the kids realize they are learning as the group lessons are fun. After 2 years in fundamentals, the girls went on to creative keyboarding, which continues the group atmosphere but is focused on piano keyboarding; students are required to practice daily to support the in-class lessons. There is also a recital where students perform individually. After completing the 4 years of group instruction, some continue on to private lessons. The complexity of music pieces increases, and students have 3 recitals plus an evaluation where three pieces of music from different periods are performed for outside evaluators. The teachers are highly skilled and dedicated. All have bachelors or higher degrees in music and piano.

Eh, why not. I think I wasn't born for piano, so why give it only three when they really tried?read more