Too cool for school. Signed my kiddo up for singing lessons. He has a couple learning…read moredisabilities-dyslexia and auditory processing. Really not too big of a deal, just needs to take his time learning. Told the owner that when we signed up. He told me to tell the instructor. Tried to talk to the instructor about his needs before his first class, and she blew me off saying "It's singing. He won't need to read." A week later she prints out lyrics to read on the spot. I watch him freeze up and just stare at the paper. My kid learns by listening and needs to take his time reading. She would know that if she didn't blow me off. A few weeks later, after the lesson she reminds him to practice, and as he says he will, the owner, who was in the room, laughs out loud at him. My husband even calls him out on it. No response or apology. We never went back. Here's the thing. Many artists have quirks that are actual gifts. But society often deems them as not enough because they are not neurotypical. I thought for sure this business was about lifting up ALL kids. They project as a laid back cool musician business, but really aren't.

Great place for the kids. COVID safe and Awesome people. My…read moredaughter has made long term friends there who share passion for music and understands her on a different level. I do recommend this program. They really work with each student to help develop the confidence to preform and be thier best selves. I have seen positive changes in my daughter that I am very thankful for. They do shows everywhere. You get a band page with videos and pictures. So many wonderful memories in such a positive experience.

We feel so blessed to have found Rob Mahoney for piano lessons for our son! Our son started…read moreworking with Rob 1.5 years back, at the age of 5. Our son can now read music, and play basic piano beautifully! Rob is patient, kind, and fun too. He has a detached recording studio at his house with a full grand Yamaha piano, keyboard, and drum set. We are so grateful to Rob for all he has taught our son, and we look forward to working with him for many, many years to come!

After just four lessons with Dylan my guitar playing and confidence with the instrument has…read moreimproved dramatically. Learning by yourself through youtube lessons can only take you so far. Dylan will take you the rest of the way by teaching good learning habits and providing a wealth of great resources. Whether you've hit a wall in your progress of learning your instrument or are just starting fresh. I highly recommend Rivendell Music Academy and look forward to more lessons in the future.

I came over with my guitar, which was extremely out of tune due to complex problems. I had just…read morereplaced the strings myself and did basic tuning with no improvement. I showed the guy at the store exactly what the problem was. I left the guitar with him. A few weeks later, I was told that the "guitar was ready". I came over, plugged my guitar in, and saw zero improvement. I showed the guy that the problem persisted, and he asked to try again to fix it. A few weeks later, once again my guitar was 'ready.' I tested the guitar again with no improvement. The guy explained that there was nothing he could do. It didn't prevent him from charging me!! What a crook!!! This guy is a complete scam! BEWARE

Huge scammers! They over price their instruments then artificially cut the price. When I realized…read morehow bad he ripped me off I went back to see if I could get a refund and he said it's not policy despite no attempt to make this know on a receipt or postings in the shop. I'm all for supporting small businesses but it makes it hard when they are so willing to scam you.

Ben is an amazing teacher! I started practicing as an adult. He's extremely patient and is able to…read morebreak down any obstacle into manageable parts. Can't recommend enough!

Our 13-year old was transferred to Ben when her previous teacher, who had been highly esteemed for…read moreclassical piano training, decided to retire. So far her progress with Ben has been great. He's got her playing some very advanced pieces with good rhythm and clean fingering. He's enrolled her in a demanding program that requires a lot of music theory training - stuff I never heard of when I was learning music theory as a kid - and I think it will pay off down the line, especially if she goes into an area of music that uses non-standard modal keys or jazz. Ben's got a formal approach to teaching, and this is probably good for kids like my daughter, who need a short leash to be reminded to polish what they're leaning before moving on to new material.

Sam is a super energetic teacher! She is great with the kids and really knows how to get them…read moreinvolved and learn! She always creates a fun environment for the kids to learn in.

Sam is an amazing teacher! Passionate, enthusiastic and energetic.read more

Russell provides excellent professional service and is highly knowledgeable and skilled in his…read morecraft. Don't be misled by the negative review by "Kevin S." who asked Russell if you need a "trained ear" to know if a piano is tuned correctly. Really, Kevin ?! Russell tuned Dave Brubeck's pianos -- which speaks to his level of appreciation on the part of piano aficionados as well as families who love their pianos.

Unresponsive and immediately became defensive and suggested I look elsewhere when bringing up…read morequestions about whether he needed a trained ear around to help judge the tuning. Being unfamiliar with the process of tuning a piano, he shooed me away as a potential customer instead of standing behind his work and experience to help educate.

I've been taking vocal lessons with Audrey and she's a wonderful teacher. Knowledgeable,…read moreencouraging and inspiring. Everything you want from someone helping you with your musical journey. The Skype lessons are super helpful as she takes video and the ability to watch and listen back to your exercises is incredibly valuable. I'm a drummer who is adding vocals to my repertoire and her assistance has been invaluable! I highly recommend!

Pulled my daughter (6 years old) out of the Disney Princess camp due to concerns that camp was…read morebeing treated more like a day care than an actual vocal camp. When we first dropped my daughter off at camp, my wife and I immediately felt a bit weird about this place. None of the instructors welcomed us in. In fact, only one of the instructors spoke to us. He actually recognized my wife from somewhere, but they couldn't remember where. After they figured out where they recognized each other from the coach's response was "Jesus F@#%$&* Christ, that's where I remember you from. Time sure flies!" Not exactly the type of language to be using in front of children. We checked in at lunch on the first day, and unfortunately, the instructors seemed to be more interested in whatever was going on with their phones than actually interacting with the kids. The scene was the same at pick up time. Coaches on the couch, kids playing on their own. When checking in with my daughter at lunch on the first day, she told us they hadn't sung anything yet. But instead watched a movie. At the end of the first day, we asked her "What songs did you sing today?" She told us she learned part of 1 song......over the course of a 6 hour camp. The following day was even more alarming when my when my wife went to pick our daughter up from camp and the coach informed her that they had a "very chill day." We asked our daughter what they did at camp and she said "We didn't sing at all today. Instead, the kids voted not to sing because there was a new kid and she didn't want to sing. I wanted to sing, but we voted. So we just watched movies and played dress up." I was dumbfounded. We had paid over $200 for a VOCAL camp. 2 days into this "vocal camp" our kid had watched Disney movies, played a lot of dress up and learned part of 1 song. After hearing all of this, I decided to call Forte. Nobody picked up the phone. So I drove down to their location to try and ask what had happened during camp that day. I proceeded to ask the lead vocal coach about the days events and why there was no singing today. Her response was (loosely quoted) "The kids decided they wanted to spend double time on costumes and so they voted not to sing today." "Also, the kids are young so they can't sing and do stage work all day, despite this being a vocal camp." I then asked when they are going to sing, and her response was (again loosely quoted) "Well they will have to spend the whole day singing tomorrow because they didn't sing today." (Wait....what? I'm confused. I thought the kids were "too young to spend all day singing...????) Never once did I receive an apology. But I did receive multiple attempts to justify why things at camp fell short. I notified the coach that my daughter wouldn't be attending the remaining days of the camp as I felt like this camp was totally misrepresented. To us, this camp acted more like a daycare. (But a daycare where the employees are more interested in whatever is happening on their cell phones than the children they are supposed to be interacting with.) We might have been able to just write this off, and chalk it up to one of those "you live and you learn lessons." But then something too coincidental happened and we felt like we just had to say something. We purchased a spot in this camp after seeing a posting on the Facebook site "Scotts Valley Virtual Garage Sale." The head vocal coach says a parent bought the spot, but their child came down with pneumonia, so she was trying to help her sell it. OK. Well interestingly enough, 2 weeks later the same head vocal coach posts on Scotts Valley Virtual Garage Sale again that a parent purchased a spot for their child for Katy Perry camp, but instead they decided to go to Hawaii, and thus she decided to help sell her spot. Coincidence? Maybe, but it sure feels more like a deceiving way to sell spots in your vocal camp. It feels unethical. I took screen shots of the two postings and uploaded them to yelp so you can review them if you want. Our daughter has attended many dance/performing arts camps for similar or even cheaper pricing. So this was not our first go-round. The other camps we have been a part of have all been professionally run. Unfortunately, Forte Vocal Academy's Disney Princess Vocal Camp felt completely thrown together. It lacked structure, professionalism, and even common courtesy.