It's getting the right teacher that makes the program so worthy to go with your child. I see Music…read moreTogether locations closer to this but go to Berkeley Heights for the teachers. Patricia (the owner and director of the program) and Jeng-jiu (who no longer teaches..miss her!) are note-worthy teachers who really knows music , understands children, cues in to your child and folds in your child's behavior into the music program while maintaining enthusiasm and fun in the classroom. This studio is small and located at Laura's Dance Studio. she maxed at 10 children as that means 20 or more people in the studio (with the parents and instructor). There's 9 music programs - Bongos, Triangle, Tambourine....etc I've attended about 5 of them. They give you a booklet about the program and that children can either be verbal or movement to music but eventually they become both as they grow older. The music class is perfect in my opinion for children 15 months to 3.5 years old but I've seen children less than 15 months and children older than 3 years. I see this class as a great way for them to learn vocabulary, speech, listening skills, instrument play and body movement - all intelligent traits that we want our child to be well-rounded in development. Cost is $185 for 10 weeks and a one time only family fee of $15

I've taken my son to Music Together classes with Patricia for nearly three years (since he was 4…read moremonths old) and am looking forward to doing the same with my younger son. The cds are fantastic--I find a lot of kiddie music to be quite grating, but the Music Together songs are really lovely. As for the actual classes, they are fun, active, and age appropriate. They also offer a great opportunity to focus on your child in a loving and relaxed environment. I agree with the other poster that the teacher makes all the difference. I know of several families who have moved out of the area and continue to travel to Berkeley Heights to take classes at this particular center. Having participated in classes with Patricia while my son was every age, from infant-3yo, I've been able to see and appreciate the way she tailors her activities to the needs of the children in each class. If the kids are particularly active, there is a lot of dancing and movement. If there are a lot of small babies, she does activities to keep them engaged. If a mom has three children, she'll help by engaging one of them (carrying the baby, for instance, or enlisting an older one to help carry an instrument box). I've taken several makeup classes with other teachers, and found them all to be excellent as well. This was our first "Mommy & Me" class and is still our favorite. A lot of classes are very cheesy (which I can't stand) and these are not. Just fun and music :)

Both of my kids attend. My oldest does voice lessons and my youngest takes piano. They really like…read moreit there because the teachers are really nice. After every class my youngest comes home and tells me enthusiastically what she learned. From my daughter: one of the good things about the teachers is that they are very understanding, they don't give you too much information in one class.

When you imagine a music lesson (or recall your own), I'd bet it involves some stodgy teacher…read moreforcing you to do scales, and the student avoiding practice and dreading the actual lesson...who could be motivated to learn that way?!? No one!! Mark Murphy's School of Music takes an entirely different approach and is a wonderful experience, where you or your kids will be excited to learn to play piano, drums or guitar (or sing) and actually WANT to go their lessons. It is truly a special place - all the instructors are young musicians who have a great ability to connect with the students. When you're waiting in the lobby, the place has such a cool and friendly vibe. Mark himself is always there greeting parents and kids with high fives and fist bumps, while the din of 5-10 simultaneous lessons can be heard all around the studio. Such an inspiring energy when the students hear their peers learning! And the kids get to choose any music they like to apply to what they're learning. MMM even forms rock bands for kids who want take it in that direction and help them get gigs around town. Can't say enough positive things about this place!

Chris is an absolutely fantastic guitar teacher. The environment is comfortable and very…read morepersonalized. You can mix between styles and even steer the lessons in whatever direction you prefer. Text him a song you want to learn and he'll have it ready for the next lesson and you'll be mastering it within weeks. Also, he doesn't just teach how to play songs...he teaches you about equipment, theory, scales, gigging, etc. He'll even help fix your equipment on the spot. And he teaches Ukulele too which is fun for when you want to mix it up a bit. 5 stars no question about it.

Incredible, friendly, professional staff who make learning music so much fun. Great atmosphere. Two…read moreyears ago I received a guitar as a Christmas gift from my family. I knew nothing of playing the guitar or music at the time. I now know how to read and play music from both tabular and musical notes on a staff, which is awesome! I can play the Electric , Acoustic and Classical guitars. I also gained a vast amount of knowledge on the different types of equipment used to create wonderful sounds with my guitar. Chris Brown is an amazing guitarist and talented instructor. Highly recommended.

Fantastic organization Great teachers, friendly environment,…read morea bright spot in Montclair's great music scene.

Amazing service, friendly atmosphere, quality music education from highly trained professionals…read more This well-established business in Upper Montclair offers the best private music instruction in the area. Lots of talent has walked through this place over the last 4 decades! Annual springtime music recitals showcase the students achievements. Can't say enough good things about Montclair Music Studio! Added bonus: nicely decorated windows for the holidays and throughout the year.

It's a little music store, but the people are so cool. The guitars and ukuleles are available to…read moretry, and so I did. There are several couches to jam on, or wait comfortably for music lessons to start/finish. I ended up playing a couple ukuleles and I was amazed at how lightweight, yet resonant the Mitchell Concert Ukulele was. I ended up giving it a lift home. The didn't have a matching padded case, so the kind gent gave me a zippered sleeve to protect it.

Called around for violin bow rehairs. The place nearest me quoted $99 per bow, which was almost…read moreenough for me to just buy a new one. There had to be better. So I called a couple more places and Schmeeds popped up. Much better pricing in line with other quotes I saw online. Friendly guy on the phone so I walked in and, well, there he was. Great to talk with Pete and he said he'd get my bows over to Alex. While I was there, I listened to some instrument practices in the side rooms. Next day, Alex calls me to talk about the bows. Very detailed, concerned, wanted to make sure I was okay with the risk of rehairing a bow with cracks he saw. I appreciated the concern and we cleared things up, but it was nice to talk directly with the person handling my equipment. Fast forward... less time than I thought (2 weeks was stated), and I get the call that it's all done. I pop on over and there we are, two freshly haired bows and more friendly chat. While I was there both times, kids and adults were practicing in the various lesson rooms. What a wonderful local place to spend time and money on music.

In camp my child got yelled at just because he was older than all the others and they were expected…read moreto see the ABC's every day at the age of nine and to add onto that they were stuck doing things like pouring water into cups back-and-forth the science experiments in camp we were not able to participate it and during cam my son got body shamed but I have a bunch of five--year-olds No one should ever go here it's so inconspicuous and plus my child came home without a finger

Our daughter started Apple Randolph at age 2 and has spent the last 2 academic years plus summer…read morecamp here. Overall she has seen a lot of positive development both socially and academically. Her current teacher Ms. Parekh has done a great job stepping up to take over her class recently. One aspect of the curriculum we really like is the group classrooms ranging from ages 2-5, which gives the young ones an older partner to look up to and teaches the older kids how to care for and guide their younger peers. There are additional academic programs during the day you can add on, as well as after school extracurricular activities like music and various sports. It's also good to see an emphasis on allowing the kids to be physically active as much as possible during regular school hours. The community of parents we've met has also been great and our daughter has made many friends. We plan to start our son this summer. Yes, sometimes she falls or catches an illness at school... but it's mostly normal, unavoidable stuff. If there is a concern we've found the administration to be responsive. It's not cheap by any means, but a safe place where your little ones can progress their education as early as possible is absolutely worth it.

my daughter her her 6th birthday there! original day was snowed in and ACAC was able to accommodate…read moreus an other day! kids had a lot of fun playing with slime and an active dance party! :) everything went well and will be back! they can handle a big group -which is great!

My family had a very poor experience with this organization, specifically the summer…read moreCounselor-in-Training program. We did our due diligence - spoke with a staff member about their programs, had a positive encounter with them during a community event, and perused the website. Everything seemed like it'd be a good fit, so we signed up for two weeks of camp (again, as a Counselor-in-Training) Day 1 -- our daughter comes home and recalls how she was asked to sit with one child, one-on-one, all day. The staff suggested that this child had "behavioral issues", and that our daughter should come get them (the Counselors) if he did not listen and did anything wrong. As a former counselor + advocate, I did not like how this sounded, but wanting to give the organization a solid chance and wanting to foster resilience in our daughter, we sent her back for a second day. Day 2 -- our daughter comes home and recalls she was asked to organize a bookshelf, which took her 40 minutes, and had very little interactions with the counselors -- whom she was supposed to be learning from. Now I'm agitated. For, these were NOT the type of experiences we had expected and wanted for our daughter; we pulled her from the camp after just two days. She was never given proper instructions or opportunities to learn from the counselor nor asked to work with campers working on art projects; but to have our child sit with one camper, one-on-one, all day, was a huge red flag and liability issue that I could no longer overlook. When reaching out to share our concerns, the owner responded and suggested our daughter fabricated everything. That the experiences our daughter had were not consistent with how their staff saw things. This left me flabbergasted that the staff had no empathy for our daughter and her experiences there, did not validate our concerns as a family, and essentially suggested our daughter made it up. There was no accountability; NOT ONE THING her staff could have done differently? Nor was there self-reflection to rumble with -- how could they have helped our daughter have a better experience. Only condescending finger pointing wrapped in ultra polite and polished language. On top of it all, the organization has a no refund policy. So my family paid $400 for our daughter to learn skills of a Counselor-in-Training, she attended just two day, and all she took away was being a 1:1 aide (again, the liability piece was overlooked by the staff in their response!) and organizing a bookshelf. I expected more from a non-profit organization! They have our money - see if you can use our balance towards your enrollment fees!

Great teachers, great kids, great place. So much warmth. Proud supporter!read more

Hard to find, but classes are small and the instructors are good.read more