Go to: Group Classes for Strings
Photo: Meredith Heuer
JUNKYARD ORCHESTRA
Ages 8-12
In the Junkyard Orchestra students will build and adorn their very own washboards with the most beautiful found things, and make the best sounding kazoo's in the world—from PVC pipes. We’ll put our creations to work when we start creating polyrhythms as we develop our own physical musical masterful piece. And then the most unique band in Beacon will perform for our family and friends.
JUNKYARD ORCHESTRA (New Orleans' Style!)
In MARCH we'll pay special tribute to the music and style of New Orleans.
Classes are 60 minutes and meet weekly for 4 weeks.
MARCH 5–MARCH 26. $75 3:45-4:45PM Register
K-ROCKERS
Pre-K and Kindergarten Ages 4-5
Some days it’s a dance party, other times we sing, still other days we play musical games, we draw to the music, we create our own musical language, plus we get to meet a variety of musical instruments. For our 4- and 5-yr-old pals we want music to be fun and inspiring. The number one goal with this class is to provide a positive musical experience so when these guys are ready to learn a musical instrument there will be no stopping them.
Bring your air guitars.
Classes are 45 minutes and meet weekly for 8 weeks.
Next Session starts March 20, 3:45PM. $96 Register
GET-UP KIDS
Ages 6-8
Children learn musical skills and appreciation through lots of musical-physical games based around songs, making music, surveying sounds, playing and copying rhythms, and trying their hands at different instruments including piano, guitar, ukelele, bass, and a variety of hand percussion.
Classes are 45 minutes and meet weekly for 8 weeks. Next Session starts March 20, 4:45PM. $96 Register
GROUP HARMONICA (Levels 1, 2, and 3)
Ages 13 and up
There are few more versatile instruments than the Harmonica. It can sound like many instruments, including voice, fiddle, horn and percussion. It can sound like a freight train or a dog howling at the moon. In Harmonica Level 1, learn the basic skills used in blues, gospel, folk, country and more; including playing in different positions such as 12-bar blues and note-bending. In this 4 -week class, you’ll be introduced to all the basics, even those it will take much longer to master.
Level 2 is for those who can play single notes and bend notes.
Level 3 is for the advanced player. Here we will work on chording and tongue blocking. We will use rhythmic and percussive techniques and learn how to comp behind a band.
REGISTER FOR Level 2 (Intermediate)
Classes are 60 minutes and meet weekly for 6 weeks
March 15-April 19. $90 6:00-7:00PM Register
Bring a C and an A Diatonic (10-hole) Harmonica.
BLUES JAM BOOT CAMP
—Adults—
Do you sometimes dream of being in a band, on stage, your amp cranked up, you and your bandmates ready to rock the house? Imagine the anticipation before you count off the first song of your first set with the audience waiting in anticipation?
In the Blues Jam Boot Camp for Adults, you'll bond with your new bandmates, work up a set of songs, then rehearse the tunes, and get all the parts, arrangements, and lyrics down. We'll make sure that you and your band are completely ready for your live club debut.
From Mississippi through Memphis, up to Chicago, and back down to Texas, the BLUES stands at the root of American popular music. Anchored by one of the most basic musical forms, the blues has inspired countless musicians and laid the groundwork for Rock & Roll. This boot camp will explore the 12 bar blues, the mighty pentatonic scale, and the shuffle and swing rhythms that make your heart thump thump. Before you know it, you’ll be making the joint jump.
8 Weekly sessions, from March 1 to April 19, 8-10:00PM. $250 Register
JAZZ ENSEMBLE
Adults
Explore the exciting world of jazz improvisation with a live jazz ensemble, taught by a professional musician. Learn the techniques needed to tell a "story" on your instrument. All levels welcome, but must have a solid base on your instrument.
8 Weekly sessions, from March 22 to May 10. $250 Register
STEAMPUNK BOOT CAMP
—Adult Class—
And you thought that old casio keyboard was junk? That rusty one-stringed banjo has a purpose in this band. We'll do more than build instruments; even better, we'll make use of rejected, dejected and ejected instruments. Bring your yard sale guitars, pawn shop piccolos, dumpster sousaphones, and cigar boxes.
Build a one-stringed lap steel guitar out of a plank of wood, accessorize your bass kazoo megaphone, put a guitar pickup on a washtub bass, strap a microphone onto a busted ukulele and put it through a fuzz box, build a megaphone, hijack spoons, pots, whistles, duck calls, saws and other magnificent junk.
This band is sure to be equal parts outsider art and repurposed musical stuff. We'll make beautiful music with tricked-out versions of found objects and one-of-a-kind instruments.
Then we'll make more than just a communal racket; we will work up a set of the most exuberant and cunning arrangements of songs, howling and banging out sea shantys, punk rock klezmer covers, and raucous serenades, and put on the coolest concert this town has ever seen.
8 Weeks. Mondays, March 12 to April 30. 7:00–9:00PM. Plus a final concert.
Instructors: Michael Farkas and Stephen Clair. $275 Register
ROCKABYE BABY
Infants 8 weeks to 6 months (pre-crawling)
Come join other parents and infants for bonding time through music! We will sing songs (old and new!) play gentle instruments, learn some “tickles” and boogie together to stimulate your wee one’s natural instinct toward music and rhythm. A room full of babies, grown-ups, singing and dancing…what could be more fun?
Classes are 45 minutes and meet weekly for 8 weeks.
GROUP GUITAR FOR THE PEOPLE
(Adults)
It's not rocket science. But you will have to practice. In this beginning group guitar class you'll begin to find your way around the guitar through a step-by-step process that will make sense, build up the strength and dexterity you'll need to get from one chord to the next. You'll learn the handful of chords you'll need to play dozens, if not hundreds of songs. We'll cover the basics. You'll need a guitar, and for starters most any old guitar will do. Apparently, 1 out of 4 households has a guitar in it. At the end of the 8 weeks, you and your cohort will walk away with pages and pages of songs you can play and sing at home or around the campfire, or at the next open mic night.
ADULT Classes Classes are 60 minutes and meet weekly for 8 weeks. $120
*New Section: Thursdays, MARCH 1–APRIL 19. 6:00–7:00PM Register
Y'ALL TOGETHER NOW
Ages 10-110
A multi-generation CHOIR, all are WELCOME. Come sing your heart out with your neighbors.
