The Metzger School is an outstanding source for voice and piano training. Jared works well with…read morechildren and adults alike, is capable of teaching to all levels of ability, and is versed in most genres of music. I learned of this professional yet welcoming studio from a discerning friend, and after a year of weekly lessons for three members of my family, we have not been disappointed.

My daughter (9) is taking piano lessons with Jared and we are very happy with the lessons and the…read moreprogress she has made over the last year. She has learned a variety of songs. Some she has never heard of and some are classics like When the Saints Go Marching In. Many times he will have two or three songs to choose from and let her pick which song she will learn next. His teaching style is a combination of both reading notes and listening memorization. Jared will have assignments each week to covering some new skill, 5 - 10 mins of practice a day. During the lesson he has you wait in his livingroom. It is very comfortable with a TV, Netflix cable and wireless internet available. Parking has never been an issue, both pay and free parking is available. Twice a year he has group performances where all of his students have a chance to perform one song in front of all the other students and their families. This is optional and a great experience. My daughter said she likes him because "He makes it very understandable".

My son has been taking cello lessons with Kyra Saltman for 2+ years now. She is the best teacher I…read morecould imagine. She is extremely thoughtful about curriculum, designing my son's cello instruction for his specific needs. Kyra is very patient, and cultivates expectations for improvement that dovetail with my 12 year old's needs. She is a fine cellist to boot. Highest recommendation.

My six year old started taking one-on-one piano lessons with Rachel and she absolutely loves her!…read moreRachel is warm, patient and kind to us and we really like the school environment. There is a small waiting area with coloring books and a few tables for families to wait in. We are so pleased with this music school and would recommend it others!

We have 5 children who have taken piano lessons for years, but not until they started with Scott…read moredid the actually Ask to go to class! My oldest daughter is now in college and regrets that we now have a "cool" piano teacher and wishes we had made this change years ago! My boys especially have soared with Scott and Justin and will now be adding guitar in addition to their piano lessons this fall. They learn a lot and have tons of fun and look forward to going back each week. Plus practice at home is not a struggle, they do it on their own, without any prodding--really! My high school senior has also agreed to join the group this fall, after hearing So much about Scott and the program. Plus seeing his band, Sixteen Candles, is a big draw for the teens too! Finally, we had three of our kids in the UpBeat Music Camp this summer, with some of our neighborhood friends. The combination of music and outside games over lunch made for a great day! The concert mid-week was incredible--especially for kids who had never played or had picked up a new instrument for the fist time. And on the final day of camp, at an evening BBQ, all our kids/neighborhood kids put on their own concert for the adults--complete with bass guitar, guitar and piano--playing very cool music. Keep in mind that these kids range in ages 11-16 and they did this on their own--we heard them from outside and came in to watch. Very cool!! Scott, Justin and team give these kids great confidence to try new things, teach them great skills, while having a blast! We are very grateful for this program!

We are truly loving working with Martin Metzger. Our 12-year old son looks forward to his lessons…read moreand is excited to play the music he and Martin choose together. Martin strongly believes in allowing kids to follow their interests, and has the talent, interest, and patience to help them do so in a wide range of genres. Martin is knowledgeable and dedicated both as a musician and as an educator. We travel a bit of a distance for lessons and are convinced it's well worth our time. We recommend him highly to anyone at any age looking for a great guitar instructor.

Choosing the Metzger Music Studio has truly been one of the best decisions of my and my wife's…read morelives! Our daughter goes to Martin for guitar lessons and I fear I may not be able to convey here just how amazing he is and what his instruction has meant for our daughter as a musician! I would recommend Martin and his crew any day! We wanted to get our girl started on guitar very early, only because she was exhibiting an affinity toward music and guitar that got us thinking it wouldn't hurt to try her at guitar, so we contacted Martin. He readily welcomed the notion of trialing and the rest is history. Besides being a phenomenal guitarist, his being an amazing person and having a Masters in Education have both manifested in the amazing way in which Martin teaches our girl to play the guitar. He works with her at her own pace, taking cues from how she learns in order to tailor his instructions to suit her learning, all the while making the lessons equal parts guitar and fun, entertaining our girl's every whim to be jovial and enjoy learning the guitar. He shows her the utmost respect and teaches her in a way that has inspired her to look up to flamenco legends. For her age, that level of aspiration itself is awe-inspiring and the credit goes to Martin. He doubles down on skills that our girl is good at while helping her elevate those she needs more work on, from strumming to chords to rhythms to percussion to improvising. We love his holistic approach of teaching the pupil to actually feel music and rhythm rather than just to learn to play the guitar. His methods have resulted in wonders! We have been fortunate to witness moments of our girl's performance that have impressed even Martin. That is the level of quality of instruction one can expect from Martin. He stresses on practicing, practicing and practicing some more. He also encourages playing at recitals that he arranges for his students, which is a great way for the student to be inspired and be audience-ready. He has also started our girl on sight reading, which is helping her to learn to play the guitar while reading music. I would characterize Martin's overall approach as informed (no unnecessary attachments to old or new methods just for the sake of it), inspiring, feedback-loop-based, very disciplined and simply amazing! And his guitar skills? Incredible! Let me put it this way, we have considered migrating to a warmer climate and one of the top considerations that have kept us in Chicago is that we don't want to lose Martin as our friend and our daughter's guitar teacher. And he's been a great friend to our daughter too. There are great guitar teachers everywhere, but there's only one Martin. Our girl's weekly guitar lesson is one of the highlights of her week that she looks forward to. It is a joy to see her learn to play the guitar and have the time of her life while at it! As for the rest of his studio, Martin has 16 teachers on every instrument (and even voice) who travel to people's homes for lessons, which is convenient for many families. The teachers are well-educated, passionate about their instruments and art, and they are wonderful with children. As I alluded to earlier, the studio also puts on three recitals free of charge every year! I only give online reviews when I feel the recipient absolutely deserves it and reviewing Martin and his studio was a no-brainer! I wholeheartedly recommend the Metzger Music Studio for any potential student interested in developing a lifetime love for learning music!

While there are almost too many choices of classes and fun activities for toddlers and big kids,…read morethere's not much going on for babies in the North Shore. I think it's because most people move to the burbs when they have their 2nd baby (like I did). Who has time to do classes with baby #2? Not I, but once my toddler was in school for a few hours I figured maybe it was time to start stimulating the baby. When we lived in the city I was a big fan of Bubbles Academy,* which may have been even more fun for the adults than the kids. There is a Bubbles in Lake Forest, but a bit far from where I live in the city....and driving more than 15 minutes for a kids class isn't worth it in my opinion. While I never tried Old Town School of Folk Music in the city, I had heard rave reviews of their Wiggleworms classes. I was psyched when I heard they had a Glencoe branch and signed my baby up as soon as he was old enough (6 months). After a few years attending classes at the oh so cute Bubbles Academy it took some getting used to Wiggleworms. Bubbles had an entire facility of props to choose from, but Wiggleworms just takes place in a classroom like setting. For 45 minutes the instructor sings some songs, gives the kids some instruments to drool on, does a bit of parachute time and the grand finale involves some banging on a drum. Wiggleworms first took place in a room located above Olly Olly. Carrying my extremely heavy baby (+ the car seat) up a long flight of stairs was not the highlight of my week. But when Olly Olly closed their doors they moved the class to a lovely classroom at the Takiff Center, which is much more enjoyable. As time went on I've learned to love Wiggleworms almost as much as I loved Bubbles. My son (now 14 months old) loves it so much that my nanny now takes him twice a week. He absolutely loves the instructor Miss Linda, who has been teaching his class for 8 months. He's also made lots of "friends" in class, as have I & my nanny. We've also taken John Francisco's classes when taking make-ups on the weekends and he's pretty fantastic. He taught a great sibling class during the weekend, which wasn't a convenient time for us, but I'd love to see more of those during the week. Now that my "baby" has pretty much entered the toddler stage there's more activities for him in the North Shore, but Wiggleworms remains his favorite. * http://www.yelp.com/biz/bubbles-academy-chicago

I really wanted to like Wiggleworms as my child loves music but I just cant give this program a…read morehigh rating. We have taken other music classes in the area (Bubbles and Musikgarten) that we loved but were urged by a friend to check out Wiggleworms as she had heard good things so we signed up. Total waste of money. The classes are 45 minutes long and basically the kids just sit in a circle signing the exact same songs every single week for 45 long minutes. I understand some repetition for the kids to learn the songs but seriously- same exact songs in the same order every single week?! My child and I were both losing our minds in there lol. There is very little movement/dancing (unusual compared to other classes we have taken) and my child (and most of the others) couldn't sit still that long. Which just leads to kids being antsy and bored. Maybe if you have really young babies this might hold their attention but any child over probably a year or so is not going to enjoy this. And even so you might go crazy yourself listening to the same songs over and over and over again. Seriously, it was nuts. I've never taken a music class for kids where there was no theme each week or different songs.

This is an excellent music school. I've studied with a lot of voice teachers over the past 30 years…read moreand have performed in a lot of musical theatre productions across the country. I moved to Chicago and got away from performing and singing while I focused on my corporate day job. I missed the arts. My voice was out of shape. I googled voice lessons near me. Cantabile School of Voice and Piano popped up, so, I reached out. The owner, Erica, is very responsive and organized. She paired me with my first choice voice teacher, Matthew Recio. Matthew is an outstanding teacher. He listens. He challenges me. He communicates very clearly. He's honest with me. He plays piano very well, too. It's been just a few months and I can feel and hear very positive differences in my singing. Lessons are fun and rewarding. I'm impressed. Prices are very reasonable, considering the level of training I'm receiving. The location of the school is convenient. I feel very lucky to have stumbled upon this school. If you're thinking of finding a new music teacher, consider this review a firm push to reach out to Erica. See for yourself if Cantabile School of Voice and Piano is the right choice for you. I'm very happy that I did!

Erica is a wonderful and truly gifted teacher! I decided to start voice lessons as an adult (which…read moreis slightly terrifying), and am so glad I did. I've improved my voice, gained confidence, learned some life lessons, and had a lot of fun along the way. Two things that stand out to me about Erica: (1) She is an EDUCATOR. Erica has a degree in Vocal Performance AND Music Education, and it's very clear she is an expert in both content (voice) and process (learning pedagogy). She is incredibly intentional in her selection and pacing of vocal exercises, concepts, and techniques to ensure they meet me where I'm at as a singer and learner. She encourages open dialogue about the learning process and we make adjustments to meet my learning needs and style along the way. I have confidence that she could teach anyone at any level. (2) She creates the perfect environment and conditions for learning. Singing in front of others is scary for me, but I feel totally comfortable trying new things, making mistakes, asking questions, and expressing how I'm feeling about the learning process with Erica. She makes it fun, interesting, and infuses a lot of joy into our lessons. Very highly recommend Erica and the Cantabile School (I hear the other instructors are fabulous too)!

School of Rock has been an incredible program for my son, who started 5 years ago when he was 8! He…read morehas worked with the same instructor, Bob W, for the entire time he's been there and honestly he is an incredible teacher. Bob is encouraging, knowledgeable, and is instrumental (pun intended) to my son's progression! When I was a kid we learned hot cross buns on the piano and it was not fun. This place and its amazing teachers like Bob W make music fun to learn for the kids. A+!

I can't speak for the particular classes here, but I happened upon a random parking lot concert the…read moreother day that made me realize I've been connected to School of Rock for years. School of Rock is truly a community institution. Yes, there are a host of these schools around the country, but in Highwood this school has done an incredible job of promoting itself locally. Present at most of the festivals, local farmers markets, and other public events I've been to, the students that take lessons here get numerous opportunities to perform publicly. Maggie, the current director, has done a great job of sharing this young talent with the local community. I have a background in the performing arts. I started performing on stage as a young kid, and I know there is nothing more important than getting out and practicing your talent at a young age. Either you take to it or you don't, but I know the students at this school get many chances to find out if music will be in their future. Way to go School of Rock and your team for exposing me to so many of your concerts and young performers over the years. Now, if only I could get my kiddos to pick up their guitars, get over their stage fright, and help make an impact on the musical community ;-)

I LOVE LEARN GUITAR CHICAGO!!!…read more I've been a student for 5 years now! I've come so far! Mitch has an extremely comprehensive curriculum and a super casual and fun approach to teaching the guitar! Originally, I started in the studio but due to Covid we were seamlessly able to convert to virtual with zero issues and it's amazing!!! If you're a newbie or more advanced, LGC is the best place in Chicagoland to work on your skills! 5 Stars!!! Highly recommended!!!

I am going into month 5 with Mitch. I was a "guitar player" years ago..Or so I thought…read more I would stress that this type of learning for a younger person would be an ideal situation. This comes from a guy who noodled and noodled for YEARS in my previous playing without a proper teacher or direction. The Youtube dreamer... I can say that this 5 month (once a week) period is the most I have ever learned about an instrument, music and just all around being a musician. I don't think I even set out to become a musician when I picked up my guitar for the first time in years, but if you hang with this program, you will become a musician too(I'm not there yet but I see it!). So yes, even for someone a bit older as myself, this program is the place to be. Not to mention, the pure joy and sense of fulfillment that comes with learning, failures, new horizons - all within the program. You really have no idea just how good you can get in a short period of time, and I'm talking to everyone. Highly recommended.