Academy of Language & Music Arts-Alma

ALMA is as good as it gets. My kids have been taking lessons here for almost two — three years and it has never failed us. My oldest daughter takes clarinet and used to take the piano and both of her teachers were great. My youngest has always taken the drums. Her teacher is awesome. I don’t understand all of the other Unilocal complaints about this wonderful place. It is a great place to have fun with music. They also have language lessons here, and I think that that is just wonderful. They also have late Open Mic nights, which provides a lot of fun for the young ones. ALMA is just such a good place. I would always rate it five stars. I would even rate it higher if Unilocal gave the option.

Our older son has been taking saxophone since Jul2014 from Dr. Jim. He is a fantastic teacher and mentor and I could not be happier. My son looks forward to his weekly meeting. Sometimes classes begin a little late, but other times they go way over. This, I presume, is due to Dr. Jim’s dedication with his students where he doesn’t want to end in the middle of a strong working moment. We also know personally, Leyland, a guitar teacher and he is a kind, friendly young man. I value our relationship with the studio and we look forward to the Open Mic Nights. There are a number of very bad reviews on Unilocal for the studio and one other 5 star that is hidden for some reason. We have never purchased an instrument or other materials there (buy reeds online). It seems that most of the negative reviews related to purchases, so if you feel the need to follow a Unilocal review, and you’re interested in lessons, please don’t let the bad reviews put you off. Dr. Jim is fantastic and very involved with encouraging future musicians!

We recently purchased a three-​in-​one trumpet mute for our high school aged son. He changed his mind and decided that he wanted a traditional wawa mute. We took the unopened mute back to ALMA within 5 days of purchase and our request to refund/​exchange was denied. All sales final. Not a great way to grow a loyal customer base or your business.

Very irritating to think you have a long term relationship with a business and then to discover it counts for nothing, They would not return an UNused, unopened item two days later despite our coming here for 10 years. They have a «all sales final” policy that was news to us. and would be a surprise to anyone as the sign is hidden on a back panel and labeled in small letters «please note».

Very strange, vaguely creepy little place. Specifically told me to drop by between certain hours and that someone would definitely be there — I made a point of getting assurance that someone would be there — but no one was there! Okay, whatever. So, we came back later. Then we tried to sign up THREE of us for regular biweekly music lessons. That’s a lotta people for them to sign up at one time! They wouldn’t do biweekly, however. They appear to have very rigid policies that are not customer-​oriented. We walked out and won’t return.

This small family owned music school reminds me of the good old days when mom and pop shops were on every corner. There is just something about that friendly, personal service you just can’t find at big chains or corporations.
My son took guitar lessons here and my daughter took piano lessons. The teachers were great. Super friendly & really effective teachers.
And the price for private music lessons is cheap! — It’s only $ 20 per lesson — good luck trying to find any professionals to teach you at that price in this area!
The school also teaches languages and arts i believe. And they sell instruments, sheet music, & language books.

Stay away from A.L.M.A.!! They are the rudest, most unprofessional people I have encountered in a very long time. And they are crooks!!! They charged my credit card for lessons that my son never took. When I tried to talk to them about the mistake, they yelled at me and refused to refund my $ 100. So I had to dispute the charge with my credit card company and won — I got my $ 100 back. But then when I returned the instrument that we were renting they made it impossible to get the $ 100 deposit back even though the instrument was returned in perfect condition. The young woman perhaps the daughter of the owner with a horrible attitude at the front desk (who told her friend that hung out while she «worked» that «she was hated by everyone») would always make excuses for why the deposit was not returned: they hadn’t had a chance to look over the instrument, the manager has unavailable, etc. They still owe me $ 100! Campana Music in Lafayette is a much better option. They won’t steal money from you by charging your credit card for lessons you never asked for and never took like ALMA does — I guess that is how ALMA makes their money because it certainly isn’t by providing good customer service. ALMA is dishonent and treats their customers like dirt!!!