All San Jose, CA area students in grades 4-12 are invited to join us to learn to play a musical instrument. The lessons are free, but students must have their own instrument/book/ stand and must be committed to attending every week and practicing at home.
We are starting our Spring 2022 season in January and accepting new students for our beginning program (clarinet or trumpet only) through January.
We are accepting new intermediate/advanced students on all other instruments (violin, flute, clarinet, saxophone, trumpet, trombone, baritone, tuba, percussion.) If you are a 4th-12th grade student that already reads music and can play the first book of your instrument, we would love to have you join us for our intermediate or advanced level classes. We play standard jr. high and high school sheet music together on Friday afternoons.
Please review our rules/requirements for our regular, in-person program before signing up to attend our classes. Then, contact us for the meeting links.
In addition, virtual Free Music School will have the following expectations:
* Students will be expected to attend our in-person program as soon as we open up -- please do not register if you are outside of the San Jose Bay Area, or, will not be able to attend in-person during the scheduled time.
* As always, all registered students will be required to attend on time, every time with all of their supplies (instrument, stand, music).
* All students will need to have their cameras on, with their faces showing, for the entire class period.
* Students will stay on mute unless asked for a response from the instructor. Students will need to know how to mute/un-mute in a timely manner to fully participate in our program.
* Some assessments will take place during class and students will be asked to un-mute and play certain exercises. Students will also be asked to make short audio recordings to show their progress to the instructor. Information will be given to students on how to use the platform (flipgrid, etc.), but students must practice at home and submit recordings to the instructor.
Please make sure that your student is willing and able to follow these expectations before signing up for our Spring session.
We are a group of volunteer "Music Mentors" who meet once a week, on Friday afternoons, to teach students in grades 4-12 how to play a musical instrument. All beginning students will learn the basics of music playing a recorder. Once they master the basics they will be eligible to play: flute, clarinet, trumpet, trombone, euphonium, tuba or saxophone. (students will be able to choose which one they want to learn to play.)
Please see our Program Details page for more information.
Please note: we do not offer classes on drums, guitar or piano. We are not offering beginning/intermediate virtual strings (violin) at this time.
If you're early, you're on time!
Here is our Fall Class Schedule:
Beginning: 4-4:30 pm
Intermediate 1: 4:30 - 5pm
Intermediate 2: 5-5:30 pm
Advanced (requires pre-approval from instructor): 5:30-6pm.
Yes! Parents provide the instrument, book and music stand (all available at local music stores) and we provide the group lessons, free of charge. We do not collect or charge any participation or performance fees. We like to say: The price of admission is commitment! Please see our "Program Expectations" page to see what our idea of commitment looks like.
We are accepting new students for the Virtual Spring 2022 session. Please read our program details page, then fill out this form (3 min) by Friday, January 28th. Classes begin on January 7th!
https://forms.gle/fe23bKro6GG4wBmT9
Adults: Do you play a musical instrument and want to volunteer 2-hours a week to share the joy of music with students? Please see our "Volunteer" page.
Please see our "Donate" page to donate a musical instrument, sheet music, etc. Please note: we are unable to accept pianos or piano sheet music at this time due to space limitations.
If you would like to make a financial donation to our program, please contact us: freemusicschool@yahoo.com
Beginning clarinet players will need to purchase size "2" reeds. We recommend the 10-pack for starting on the instrument. Here is a link to what we recommend: https://www.musiciansfriend.com/woodwinds/rico-bb-clarinet-reeds-box-of-10/j24847000001000
Our band students use the "Standards of Excellence" book 1 by B. Pearson. Choose book 1 for your instrument. Note, this is the trumpet example, you need to purchase the one for your instrument!!!
All students will need a portable music stand, like this one:
https://www.wwbw.com/Musicians-Gear-Folding-Music-Stand-451034-451034000001000.wwbw
For our more advanced students, I really enjoy the "ear training" games at this website. You do not have to register to use it. Theta Music Trainer:
https://trainer.thetamusic.com/en/content/music-training-games
Another fun website I found to learn about music: classicsforkids.com
http://www.virtualbandpractice.com I've created a website with some of the songs we practice in class listed. You can click on the links and play along. This page is also one of the pages of this site. A work in progress.