Academy of Music

This is a wonderful music school! The staff is friendly and helpful! Makeup sessions are available and the instructors have been very accommodating if a change of schedule is needed! Students have the opportunity to participate in the Winter and/​or Spring concert. I highly recommend this music school!

We love the staff and instructors here, very professional! Individual lessons are $ 25/​30min. Our son’s taken guitar w/​Kathy for 5yrs now, and he’s also taking drums (Larry and now David) and Vocals as well (forgot teacher’s name). Our daughter has also started piano w Ms. Heather — so awesome! The instructors are very friendly, knowledgeable and approachable. They’ve had a rotating receptionist musical chair, this is like the 4^th gal in our 5yrs+ there. The manager/​owner (?) she’s very cool. Monthly tuition are due on 7^th of the month. They have recitals twice a yr (May/​June-​ish) and again around Christmas time, always at Balch Auditorium at the Claremont Colleges, and has always been on a Sunday; (this winter one tho is on a Sat).

My son took private piano lessons here for two years and He learned to read music and play and would participate in their awesome recital they would put on every spring and winter. I hated the tiny waiting room and how crowded and tiny classrooms where. But he did pick up the piano well and that’s the main focus.
Private weekly ½ hour lessons ran $ 90/​month but we stopped going due to issues regarding instructors not giving my son his full time – answering cell phones, checking messages, etc while I expected them to give him full, undivided attention during his lesson. That led me to switch to Hi-​Line music

My experience with the school and the staff has always been excellent. The staff is very friendly and the instructors are all very experienced. Most of the instructors that I have spoken with have Bachelors and Masters degrees and have been teaching for a long time.

I pick up an advertising say $ 25.00 an hour for piano lesson by the time I was there she say $ 45.00 for one hours. what a fraud and misleading.

I took my 2 year old son to this school last week and I was forced into the ugliest situation with an instructor at this school that appeared to be VERY intoxicated. This is by far the worst situation I have ever experienced in public.
My son needed to use the single stall restroom at the Academy of Music that is shared with other suites in the building. After more than 10 minutes of absolute silence in the restroom, I knocked on the door and was greeted with a «Someone is f**king in here!» Then after another 5 minutes the door swings open and the woman in the restroom gives me the most menacing stare. She then turns to my son to give him the same stare and my son immediately hides behind my legs. I politely asked if I could help her with something and she flips her top. «F**K you!» «You are just a f**king punk» «You little b***h» After the woman belittled me for 5 minutes, we run in the restroom, then quickly go and go back to return the bathroom key. To my surprise, the woman is standing at the school’s reception desk and still furious.
The woman began again with yelling as many curse words as possible with VERY slurred speech, a cherry red face, and a fresh piece of gum (who pops gum in the restroom?). The receptionist is calling to the woman to stop, by name, revealing that she is a teacher at the «school». The drunk instructor yelled and screamed every curse word at my son and I for another 10 minutes until the receptionist was able to gain control of her and make her leave. I asked for a refund and they were unable to refund me at the time.
The manager calls me 15 minutes after the event and we setup a meeting to discuss the incident. The manager and music director met with me and defend the teacher citing, «this is a difficult economy and she is a single mother». I voiced my concerns of her being intoxicated teaching minor students with an explosive temper and they excused it as a bad day, stating «she has had some personal problems». After making every excuse possible I left WITHOUT a refund despite my multiple requests.
The woman is still a teacher at the school, as I saw her teaching a PRIVATE piano lesson with a young girl in a isolated room. Anything said or done in these tiny rooms would not be heard or seen by anyone, raising my concerns even more. If she is willing to berate a paying adult customer, what is she doing to these children in these very private rooms?
I got my refund, but I was surprise the time it took to get it.
Follow up (after reading reply and action taken by the City) 2014:
Now that Unilocal allows business to follow up, I though it was funny the business still defends the actions of there, at the time, employee. Going to the restroom with a 2 year old child in a new bathroom can be difficult as is, and adding an action packed first day in music class can only compound the situation. It is very bizarre someone would become irritate over someone knocking on a door with a two year old saying «dad I have to go pee!» The fact someone overlooked the «occupied» is laughable. The City stopped contracting with this «school» shortly after this lady’s meltdown and the schools cover-​up. This incident is still brought up by my son, despite my wife and I NEVER mentioning it again for obvious reasons.

#401 I dropped by for a walk-​through a while back and the director and head instructor were very friendly. The building the Academy of Music is located in has tiled floors, so it’s creepy being able to hear everybody walk down the hallways. Regardless, the place is very neat and organized. The classrooms are on the small side, but all instructors either have bachelor’s degrees in music or master’s degrees. They offer classes for youngsters to teach rhythm and timing, as well as your typical MTAC classes. Apparently they have a rotation of up to 30 teachers because of the varying schedules they accommodate, which is impressive. The piano school I used to attend only had about 15. This location is their newer one, but it’s still been around for 8 years, I believe. Oh, and their head instructor majored in music performance, so she’s sure to know her stuff.