John has a wealth of experience and some beautiful instruments. I highly recommend this shop,…read moreespecially if you are looking for high end vintage instruments.

In summary: best of the best and highly recommended!!!!…read more My unusual string instrument arrived from overseas with a broken headstock. I contacted various other stores and luthiers for repair but to no avail. They either don't work on unfamiliar instrument, they can only do a partial repair, the wait is too long, or the cost is too high. Very thankful to Schoenberg Guitars for referring me to Amazing Grace as a trusted store that can deal with all sorts of string instruments. Sure enough, the owner (John) recognized the instrument right away (I was very impressed) and done a great job repairing it in a reasonable time and cost. I couldn't be any happier with the results. As an extra bonus, the store has very interesting instruments that made it fun to browse around.

I can't say enough good things about MCMS. With no musical experience, I came to MCMS as an adult…read morebeginning cello student. My teacher, David, has patiently and thoughtfully worked with me as I very slowly progress. When I'm in the school before and after lessons I get to listen to other students, or all ages, with David and the other wonderful teachers. There is a great sense of community and the interest and enthusiasm the instructors have for each of their very different students is heartwarming. From talented mini-rock n' rollers to older students, everyone is treated with care.

I am 66yo with long forgotten high school music experience and wanted, if I could, pick up were I…read moreleft off. What was I to do? I found MCMS and it was exactly my answer. This small but loaded school caters to the young and older alike. It has a bevy of accomplished and practicing musicians; teaching drums, guitars, piano, violin, cello. I see it as a place to perhaps learn to be a multi-instrumentalist. My first inquiry to the school was answered quickly and then put in touch with it's cello instructor (the instrument I wanted to learn). I was given a complementary hour of introduction and was sold after that. I appreciated the instructor's encouragement and that he did not sugar coat the road ahead to learn; I liked the challenge of that. This school has checked off all the boxes for me to learn. It is conveniently located in not quite down town San Anselmo and has a neighborhood feel about it. It is San Anselmo's very own School of Rock and Bach!

I know negative about guitars. I have a nephew graduating from high school this spring and I…read morewanted to get him something meaningful and useful. He plays bass in one of those School of Rock type places and is passionate about it. I called my sister to see if there was anything he could use and she sent me a blurry photo of some kind of board he uses and told me he needs a carrying case. I went to Bananas at Large because of their reputation for being kind and knowledgeable. Their reputation is well deserved. I was greeted right when I walked in, I decided to look around a bit before asking for help because while I don't know anything about guitars, some of the instruments they had on the wall were works of art and I enjoy looking at art. When I was ready, I found the first employee, showed him the photo and explained the situation. He knew exactly what it was and where to find what I was looking for. He then took the case over to where they had the exact thing in the photo to show me how well it fit and other features of the case. He explained the 14-day return policy if it turned out to be the wrong thing and let me decide what I wanted to do. I wound up purchasing the case. I loved that I was nicely greeted when I walked in but left alone to browse. I loved that I didn't have to hunt down someone to help me when I was ready. I loved the general vibe of the place. I loved that they had what I needed and clearly a ton of things I might need if I ever decide to get into playing. I loved that parking was easy. I loved that they were excited to help someone who had no idea what they were doing in a guitar shop, were in no hurry to get me out of the store and patient enough to answer all my questions. I even loved that they accept Venmo for payments. Great place to go if you don't know anything about guitars but love someone who does.

This place is everything a music store should be. Yes they have great selection, and yes their…read moreprices match anything you can find online (even Reverb, often) but it's their service and relationships they build with you that's special. True stories of what they've done for me even in just the last month: My guitar needed some repairs before a gig, and they fast tracked the service and ordered an uber to bring the guitar to my house! I wanted a tuner pedal that was out of stock basically everywhere in the country, and they took their last one from Santa Rosa and shipped it to San Rafael store for free for me to pick up the next day. Best of all, I was unhappy with my guitar tone and Dan spent nearly 2 hours sitting with me trying different pedals and setups, before settling on showing me some different settings on my own amp, some different plectrums and swapping a pedal I'd bought recently for only a $10 difference! It would have been so easy to have sold me another pedal or 2 that I didn't really need, but the fact he didn't builds complete trust and makes me a customer for life!

Saved By The Magic Flute!…read more My newish Nord Electro 6 took a major tumble and several of the lower keys were mangled, ugh..I thought I needed to plan a keyboard funeral. Needless to say, I was DEVASTATED when I discovered my baby at the beginning of a gig.. The Magic Flute repair rep didn't guarantee a successful fix, BUT TOTALLY DELIVERED IN LESS THAN ONE WEEK!! My keyboard funeral was canceled. THANKS MAGIC FLUTE!

The Magic Flute has been providing solid instruction for a myriad of instruments for decades…read more Currently, Chris Collins is an insanely talented musician who is a wonderful piano teacher. He is able to tailor his lessons so the material is relevant and age-appropriate and engaging. His ability to not only play music by ear but to create sheet music from that is brilliant. Highly recommend!

Music Together Tamalpais is the actual Music Together program, not a spin off or copy. Teacher is…read moreexcellent , warm and honest!

From the owner: Music and Movement classes for children 0-6 years old, and the grownups who love them…read more Music Together is an internationally recognized Early Childhood Music and Movement Program - the trailblazing first of its kind! Our family music classes are taught by trained, certified Music Together teachers, and our original tunes and carefully curated traditional songs from around the world will have the whole family dancin' in no time. We offer the original mixed age Music Together classes children age 0-5 years, as well as Canta y Baila Conmigo, a Spanish-immersion music program with the dual focus of music and language acquisition, and is for everyone from absolute beginner to native speaker with children from 0-6 years. Did you know that all children are musical? It's true! Kids can learn to sing in tune, keep a beat, and participate with confidence. Even grownups comment on their palpable improvement after attending our classes. Good news: it's a skill, not a talent. Come see what all the fuss is all about!

Let's start with the bottom line: I can't recommend Pollyanna highly enough. I am learning so…read moremuch, and I have gone from disliking my voice and thinking that I would never sing to anyone other than my wife and dog, to craving opportunities to sing. It is kind of a miracle. I decided to take voice lessons after many years of "just singing" as best I could. I wasn't happy with my tone, I couldn't hold notes worth a hoot, and I was getting really frustrated with my limited range. I had read a few books, but found them unhelpful. I chose Pollyanna Bush/Alleycats Music School because I had had a little bit of contact with her socially, and she seemed approachable and smart (and I had heard some of her performances, and was impressed with her singing...but teaching is different than performing, so I was adopting a "wait and see" attitude). And her studio is near my house, which is nice. But before I went for my first lesson, I discovered that a friend's daughter had travelled from the East Bay to take lessons with Pollyanna, and LOVED working with Pollyanna (and my friend told me his daughter is an amazing singer who has won some competitions). My first two or three lessons were challenging, because I felt so badly about how little I knew, and even though I was making progress, I still found lots of things to dislike about my singing. But I turned a corner after a couple of more lessons, and things started to change rather quickly. And after a dozen sessions, I was REALLY pleased, and started to sing for friends, and felt much more comfortable singing in jams. Of course, a dozen lessons is not very much...I have had to take a lot more guitar lessons than that to make any reasonable progress. The more I think about it, the more impressed I am. I had to stop lessons for a few months, but I maintained my gains pretty well despite limited practice on my part. I resumed lessons with Pollyanna a couple of weeks ago, and I am blown away. I think her teaching is getting noticeably better (she was certainly no slouch before...but sh has shared that she is participating in a multi-year training program for teaching singing, and she seems very excited about it; I think I am just benefitting from her growth as a professional). And, I think I have finally learned enough so that the horizons are really expanding for me. I've heard some stories of people having to do lots of practice and drills to improve their singing, and how laborious it can be...and I feel very lucky that Pollyanna's is so effective, which makes the learning process exciting and very pleasurable. I wish I had done this years ago...AND, I am very happy that I am doing it now.

Pollyanna is a great talent and educator. Her classes are a joy. She offers many formats. Soar…read moreSong is great fun and very e pressure. Her workshops are top notch individual training

I took lessons with Janice Clark for 8 years, right up until I graduated high school. I've…read morecontinued taking lessons in college, and thanks to Janice, I was able to place into second-year-level standing, allowing me to continue with private 1-on-1 lessons. Her guidance was invaluable to my development and ensured my well-roundedness as a classical musician. Janice deeply understands and can effectively give insight on any era, technique, theoretical concept, or history to do with classical piano. I highly recommend her as a teacher if you are interested in an extremely strong preparatory classical piano program or want to improve at your classical piano abilities, regardless of where you are in your journey.

My son took piano lessons with Janice for seven years. She was very patient and flexible. My son…read morelearned a lot and reached Level 8. Janice has a lot of experience, and we really enjoyed working with her. We also really enjoyed the recitals. We highly recommend Janice as a piano teacher!

Cristina is a brilliant piano teacher. She is very experienced and truly cares about the student;…read moreshe provides an enriching and instructional environment for learning piano. We adore her both as a professional and as a human. She is very communicative with parents as well!

Cristina is a magical and wonderful teacher. Her teaching is highly creative and fun -- she uses…read morethe piano to help you explore your own creativity and applies super innovative techniques that help you learn how to read music, feel the rhythm, listen to the colors of sound, and express your voice through the piano. While she is highly creative, she is also highly educated and went to USC for her degree, graduated magna cum laude and is on the faculty for San Domenico Music Conservatory. She is the perfect blend of creative thinking and hard core experienced, driven expert. I have been working with her for just about a year now, and as a 49 year old who stopped playing piano at 15, I never thought I could learn, or that it would be this fun! I know Cristina teaches adults, but she also teaches many kids too! She can come to your home -- but I visit her adorable home in San Anselmo where she has a glorious grand piano!