Hollywood Academy of Music and Arts - Melrose

We recommend that students can start voice lessons as young as 5 years old. However, for voice students that are between the ages of 5-8 vocal lessons will typically be a “combination lesson” – which will involve a class that is 15 minutes of piano and music fundamentals and 15 minutes of voice. For students in the 5-8 year old age group, voice lessons will be geared towards simpler repertoire and a goal of instilling love for music; classes for this age group will not involve extremely rigorous vocal technique as children this age are usually not old enough to safely engage in intensive voice technique. Learning the piano in tandem with voice helps young singers improve vocal pitch and gives them a broader understanding of how their singing voice intertwines with music and piano accompaniment. Learning the piano is also an effective tool for improving vocal pitch and ear training. As most parents know – children often begin singing joyfully and naturally before pre-school; lessons for children in the 5-8 year old age group are designed to engage and enhance their musical interests and further develop their passion for singing. In this role, lessons are a great way to help a child socialize, develop love for music, improve self-esteem, and become confident!

Our ultra-popular songwriting program is customized and tailored to each student’s goals and focuses on teaching students the process of creating original melodies, chords and lyrics, while using the piano, guitar, and drums as part of the learning process and accompaniment for the songwriter. The class is aimed at allowing a student to write their own song from scratch and record the song (for no additional fees) at the Academy’s recording studio. The best part? Unlike many other programs and studios, you own the rights to the song that you compose as part of the classes. The songwriting classes are taught by professional songwriters that have a wide array of industry and studio experience. This ensures that your classes are not just teaching you how to write songs and compose music, but are allowing you the opportunity to develop a relationship with your instructors, who often times are seen as mentors by our students.

We recommended violin students at the age of 4 (four). Violin (and also piano) are the best instruments to start children on from a very young age. Violins are sized to a fit even a very small child which makes it easy for a younger child to begin lessons. Most adults will use a full size violin, but it’s best to be sized before renting or buying first. Before a student begins violin lessons it is important to be fitted for the instrument, to ensure that the instrument properly fits the length of their arm. Violin is certainly a more challenging instrument to learn in the beginning stages than piano (and remember, violins do not have frets and require regular tuning). However, we have found that students that stick with violin long term and become proficient on this instrument often develop a musical ear that most other students do not. You also may have heard of the violin also referred to as the “fiddle”. It is virtually the same exact instrument, with the primary difference being that an actual fiddle consists of a long shaped neck with slightly less arch as compared to a violin. Many students interested in “fiddling” use a standard violin and play fiddle style music: which tends to use a lot of string bending and multiple stop bowing, whereas the violin requires a cleaner, single noted tone.