Figure out how to fiddle at one of Jalopy Theatre and Music School’s adult music classes. Photo: Local Music Worldwide
If the closest you’ve come to holding a musical instrument as of late is picking up the game console for Guitar Hero, here are three places offering instrumental music lessons where you can sign up for classes this fall.
Dixieland Lessons at Jalopy Theatre and School of Music Jalopy has 30 classes on its current roster, and registration is now open for the fall/winter session, which begins the week of Nov. 11. Whether you want to learn to whistle Dixie or strum an old banjo, consider signing up for one of the Red Hook music hall’s six-week sessions. You can learn to play everything from the ukulele to the the fiddle, violin, mandolin, banjo, guitar or harmonica, and they also offer non-instrumental lessons in dance and singing, too. Beginner and advanced classes are both offered on weeknights and cost $185 for a season; instrument rental is $25 a month. Jalopy also offers ensemble classes for kids age 8-14 in guitar, banjo and fiddle through its Jalopy Junior Folk School, as well as music classes for 6-8-year-olds. Fall session for kids started the week of Sept. 17, but registration is still open–the first class is offered as a free trial and rental instruments are available for $50 for the course.
Jalopy Theatre and School of Music, 315 Columbia St. (near Hamilton Ave.); 718-395-3214
Beginner Guitar Lessons With No Strings Attached (Except the Six You’ll Be Strumming) Williamsburg Music Studio recently opened its doors in North Brooklyn and rolled out the first session of adult classes–beginner guitar geared toward adults who have never played a lick. The 10-week sessions cost $350 and and are taught in a group setting of approximately five people at a time on Tuesday nights. They don’t offer rentals, so consider picking up a six-string of your own from a nearby shop like Brooklyn Woodwind and Brass on Bedford Avenue. The studio was opened by Melanie Crispin and Scott Kacenga, two music educators who thought it was high time the epicenter of the borough’s indie music scene had a school where would-be musicians of all ages could hone their skills on everything the piano to guitar, violin, flute, clarinet, saxophone and viola. The studio is offering discounts on children’s lessons, for kids as young as 3, until Nov. 1.
Williamsburg Music Studio, 240 Kent Ave. (at N. 1st Street); 718-599-1272
Two-Drink Minimum Violin Lessons Not wanting to let the kids in their Suzuki Violin Lessons have all the fun, Pete Lanctot and Ginger Dolden decided to start offering adults-only lessons this fall at Bantam Studios near the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The eight-week group course costs $200 and meets on either Tuesday or Wednesday nights. It’s a beginner class that comes with complimentary beer and wine, and you can rent instruments for $25/month. The teaching duo’s first two sessions, which end Nov. 12 and 13 respectively, sold out, but plans are already in the works for a winter session, which Lanctot says will start in late January or early February and run through March–it’s still a ways off but fill out the registration form now to have the first chance to sign up when class enrollment opens in a few weeks. Lanctot says he and Dolden also plan on adding an intermediate lesson to their lineup this winter.
Bantam Studios, 47 Hall St. (near Park Ave.); petejlanctot@gmail.com
This is a great idea for an article! I’m a guitar teacher in San Francisco and I often teach couples together (which in my experience tends to be very motivating for beginners). I’ve been trying to think of different ways to make a guitar lesson experience more geared towards adults, and this has given me some great ideas. Cheers!