We’d like to extend a warm welcome to our newest piano teacher, Matt Raisky!

“Matthew seeks to give students a healthy physical and theoretical foundation for their musical growth. He emphasizes the principles of music theory and improvisation, encourages the exploration of electronic music tools, and teaches repertoire from contemporary and classical literature. His hope is to guide students in finding their individual paths.”

Read more about Matt on our Teachers + Staff page – https://guitarshedatl.com/bio/

Matt will have in-person availability on Fridays from 3:00-7:00, as well as virtual lessons on Mondays from 3:00-6:00!

By Nichelle Young

It was so exciting to have our Teen Band Concert live and in person on Saturday, March 27th. Our lobby was filled with adrenaline and some nervousness as each band had their sound checks in preparation of their performances.

We kicked off the event with the Crazy 8’s: Evelyn’s vocals moved us as the band’s lead singer (and a little tambourine), Ava & Alex were rocking the electric guitars. With Sully on drums & Ellie on bass guitar, the two were holding down the rhythm section. Avery was picking and grinning on acoustic guitar, & Ryley was tickling the electric ivories.

Next, we had a first-time solo performance on guitar & vocals by Orion who also rocked the vocals for the teen band, The Humans. On keys and vocals was Finnian with his electric personality, Noelle was jamming on electric guitar, and we had Nyla banging the skins on the drums.

Last up, we had the Tween band (full of no-longer tweens, teen boys) with Heath on the cool, low vocals and playing guitar, Laird thumping the bass guitar, Axel shredding the rhythm guitar, and Luke & Ben showing their skills on dual drum kits.

What a beautiful day for a live concert and each band with their own energy and style did not disappoint! If you are wondering why you didn’t hear about the concert until now, we kept it small for safety purposes as unfortunately we are still in a pandemic. However, there is light at the end of this year-long tunnel! If you haven’t heard, we will be opening up for in-person lessons on May 1st and planning for more live performances in the near future! Congratulations to all the bands on a job well done!

As we prepare to return to the Shed for in-person lessons, we look back at the last year and what we have learned.

First and foremost, we learned that our students and parents are incredibly dedicated and adaptable. We switched to a completely virtual operation in a matter of days and our students responded with understanding, compassion, and appreciation to help make the best out of an unfortunate situation. There are a few things from our virtual stint that we should all take with us for the rest of our musical journey, whether as teachers or as students.

Communication Is Key
Many teachers and students have been much more communicative with eachother this year. Students have sent mid-week updates, videos of practice sessions, and even just “Hey, check out this band I discovered today!” This communication is very effective in not only building a relationship with your teacher, but receiving feedback and tips during the week in between your lessons.

Parent Involvement
With lessons taking place at home, parents have had a chance to get a closer look at how a lesson works and to be more hands-on in their child’s learning. The life of a parent is a busy one, but a little time spent helping with music practice can go a long way. One of the best ways to reinforce learning is to teach someone else what you’ve learned. Having your child teach you what they learned in their lesson can be fun and a great way to develop a more complete understanding of the material.

External Resources
Not being in the same room for lessons led us to adapt our teaching styles and include the use of many external resources like metronome apps, online music theory games, different method books, sheet music PDFs, YouTube videos, and so much more. There are 10,080 minutes in a week and your lesson takes up 30 of them – use some of the remaining ones to explore some other outlets and then discuss with your teacher and ask questions about what you have learned. Remember, if you have internet access then you have access to the collective recorded knowledge of the entirety of human history, inlcuding that of the greatest musical minds to ever live – use it!

While we can’t wait to get back to the Shed and see your faces(or at least your eyes, for now) in person, we will still be offering virtual lessons for the foreseeable future. We have “Hybrid” lesson times that can be in-person or virtual, as well as some “Virtual Only” lesson times. Remember to reach out to the front desk about whether or not you’d like to return to in-person lessons in May.

Keep Shedding!

Parker sat down with Chris Ladd last week to talk about music, teaching, and running a business. Watch the interview below!

One of the proudest moments a music teacher can have is to hear a student come into their own as a musician and compose original music. This past weekend, two long-time Guitar Shedders, Jillian Loux and Jeremiah Andrews, released a collaborative EP titled, this is it. Jillian’s voice meets Jeremiah’s production to create a unique blend of songwriting styles and musical genres. Both young musicians shared a role in the songwriting and instrumentation. You can listen to the EP here on Spotify under the name ‘Jillian Loux’.

Another long-time student, Sean Farrell, also released a solo EP a few months ago under the name, ‘Sean Jane’. Sean’s first release, Departure, incorporates his blues guitar influences along with hints of pop and rock. Check out the EP on Spotify here.

Teachers, Desmond Myers and Brandon Marsolo have recently released singles of their own, and Parker has a full length album on the way. Stay tuned for a Guitar Shed Playlist featuring the music of our students and teachers!