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What are we all about at Music Pillars?

Call/Text us at (858) 999-8584 for help understanding our large selection of performing arts programs!

What are we about?

Music Pillars offers performance-based music lessons for kids in San Diego (we are in the 92127 Zip Code), including piano, voice, guitar, drums, and musical theatre. Students build confidence, creativity, and real skills through rigorous curriculum reinforced with software, as well as engaging classes and many live performances.

We absolutely teach the fundamentals of music, including monthly assessment exams to monitor and track progress. So it's not JUST about the fun. But as part of every student's journey - they will always have 1-2 pieces of music that they have chosen to learn. We have named the fundamentals of music - the "pillars." They are: Love, Audiation, Theory, Pattern Recognition, Dexterity, Improvisation, Sight-Reading, and Composition. More about each of these pillars can be found here.

MASTERY OF THE PILLARS GIVES STUDENTS TOOLS FOR LIFE

Through the mastery of these pillars, students will be able to play both music they hear from the radio as well as a Mozart Sonata or a Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody. Learning to play by ear, while also being able to sight-read is unfortunately a fairly rare combination. This is largely a result of current teachers having had a previous classical college conservatory experience that placed tremendous emphasis on the virtuoso performances at the expense of almost everything else.

Unfortunately, far less emphasis is typically placed to whether or not the musician knows what the theoretical foundation is behind the music they are playing. And while learning and memorizing a piece of music is valuable, it is far more valuable that a musician learns theory.  There is nothing wrong with memorizing pieces that can dazzle people. However, the lessons learned in theory and ear-training will serve students far-better in life as a musician than memorizing any Chopin Etude ever will. What we aim to do as teachers is to give beginners and advanced students tools in music that will allow them to participate and contribute as a musician throughout their life, rather than simply committing a few pieces of music to memory that will quickly be forgotten after just a few short months or years.

Too often we see students who have technical proficiency (can play a dazzling technical etude) but have little to no actual musical ability outside of playing 4-6 pieces of music that they have spent countless hours on. We call this being technically proficient but musically illiterate. It is a real shame, but it is very common. We believe that students should become musicians first, and technically proficient on the piano/guitar/voice second.

We glean the best from each school of thought in our teaching. So our emphasis in teaching students to play is to combine the best teaching methods of

1. CLASSICAL/TRADITION WITH ITS FOCUS ON SIGHT-READING AND TECHNICAL PROFICIENCY,

2.  SUZUKI WITH ITS FOCUS ON EAR TRAINING, AND

3. JAZZ – WHICH FOCUSES ON APPLIED THEORY AND EAR TRAINING.

What will a student learn with us? Students will learn a compilation of abilities that we call the Core Pillars. The Core Pillars are below, and they are Love, Theory, Audiation, Pattern Recognition, Dexterity, Improvisation, Sight Reading, and Composition

So in summary, our goal is to put PLAY BACK INTO MUSIC.

We do this through three key principles:

1. Play for Fun

2. Play for Others, and

3. Play Deeply