Brookline Music School

May 2019

I've been going to BMS for over a year now for piano lessons. As an adult student, I felt just as welcomed to the school as the younger students who seem to makeup a large part of the school. I played piano for approximately 10 years as a child and was looking to pick it up again after 12 years of not playing and taking lessons. Registration was easy when I first signed up for classes. I spoke with Greg, and he was really thorough with all available options and has always been thorough in answering my questions. I've never run into issues with the administration and think they are generally well-organized and friendly. They do the best to accommodate your schedule; I recently was able to extend my lesson time with no problem. I can't speak for all the teachers, but seems they hire teachers with exceptional credentials. I've been taking lessons from Jayoung since I started. With my hectic schedule between work and going back to school to get my Master's, I don't always have the time to practice as much as I like; however, she is extremely patient and understanding. She also is a good listener when it comes to my interests in repertoire and has guided me through some songs I always wanted to learn, but never tried due to the complexity. She has confidence in her students, and never have I heard her tell me that I wasn't capable of playing a song. The facility itself is an older house in Brookline. Some of the rooms may be a little cramped, but I think the building is perfect for what it is. There is no shortage of lesson rooms, and I've never had issues with being able to practice in another room right before my lesson (just check with administration first). Highly recommended!

Feb 2019

The teachers are generally very competent and kind and work well with children. A special shout out to Julianne Johnston for flute, Tomoko Iwamoto and Konstantin Arakelov for violin, and Tom the dance teacher, who are all excellent. The school as a whole maintains a nice community feel.

May 2018

Since we've only been part of BMS through the musical adventures class, this is really a review of that class. In one sentence, the Musical Adventures class for preschoolers would get 10 stars if possible! For more details, read on. I signed up my three year old for the winter session in January and halfway through that, he was having so much fun that I signed him up for the current (spring) session. The teacher, Ms. Tahlia Cott, is WONDERFUL. She is warm without being fake (I firmly believe that kids can sense insincerity a mile away); sweet, calm, funny, and patient with the kids. She has a lovely singing voice, and she knows how to engage the kids in the various parts of the class--from the first minutes of the "Hello song" to the last floor-drumrolls of the "hey goodbye it's time to go home" song. As I mentioned above, we are now on our second session. The winter session focused primarily on the piece "Carnival of the Animals"; the kids would hear excerpts while Tahlia read from a colorful kuds' book that went through the different movements. Each class would then go in-depth on one or two animals (movements) --as much as you can go in depth in a class for 3-5 year olds! Tahlia did a lovely job of pacing the class --alternating listening and repeating activities with movements and dancing marching activities to get restless kids up and moving. My little boy, who'd never had even a casual structured class, quickly caught on to the routine and basically fell in love with the class. I will further add that for the first two classes he was only watching/minimally participating. Tahlia assured me that this was totally normal end sure enough, at the start of the third class, it was as though a switch went on on his little head--a "oh yeah, this is a safe and fun place" switch. He was in his element--uninhibited, happy, excited to participate and to learn. By the end of the session, he could basically identify all the movements of the entire Saint-Saens piece and describe the qualities of each piece. It was really impressive to see how he internalized all the information--all while having a great time! As an added bonus, each class ended with a few minutes of coloring and at the session's end, each child got to take home a booklet made up of the coloring pages the kids did. The spring session is an "around the world" theme got and each session we travel to a new country. As with the winter session, there is a nice mix of instrument exploration (including my favorite, the giant rain stick); dancing (in circles, with partners, as a group);, call and response, rhythm play, and of course, singing. And the kids get a "passport page" to color and will get a compilation of the pages at the end of the spring session. In short, if you are looking for a fantastic introduction to music and movement, and want to nurture love of music in your child, look no further than this wonderful class!!