At the Charlotte Academy of Music, 6 years old is the youngest age that we start children in acoustic guitar lessons. Younger children may wish to begin with piano, violin, or our Preludes early childhood program.

All students ages 5 and older are encouraged to take our Music Theory Lab. Rhythmic and Pitch Notation, Dynamics, Rhythmic Counting, Key Signatures and many other important theory skills are covered in our lab curriculum. Our lab curriculum correlates with the NFMC Music Theory Examinations, and prepares our students for this important local event.

The Charlotte Academy of Music guitar faculty is trained in and offers a wide variety of musical styles including classical, rock, pop, blues, folk and more. Students are encouraged to explore a variety of styles of music to expand their knowledge and technique.

Charlotte Academy of Music encourages families to arrange appointments to meet with teachers to help find the “best fit.” A teacher’s credentials are important, but personality is the greatest factor when choosing an instructor. Parents and students find it very helpful to talk with the teacher about the student’s learning style, the expectations of the teacher, and more. In this regard, a music school is a far superior choice as there is more than one instructor to choose from. We strongly believe that finding the right teacher is the key to a successful music lesson experience.

We certainly do! Music is meant to be shared, and therefore we encourage our guitar students to participate Academy concerts, the Blue Note Lounge jam nights and the NFMC Music Festival.

Charlotte Academy of Music recommends speaking with the teacher to determine which type of guitar (acoustic, electric or bass) would be best. Your teacher will be able to assist you through the process of finding a suitable instrument that is affordable and meets the needs of the student. A properly sized, quality guitar is needed for lessons and for home practice.

Music majors are the most likely group of college grads to be admitted to medical school. Physician and biologist Lewis Thomas studied the undergraduate majors of medical school applicants. He found that 66% of music majors who applied to med school were admitted, the highest percentage of any group. For comparison, (44%) of biochemistry majors were admitted. Also, a study of 7,500 university students revealed that music majors scored the highest reading scores among all majors including English, biology, chemistry and math.

Sources: “The Comparative Academic Abilities of Students in Education and in Other Areas of a Multi-focus University”, Peter H. Wood, ERIC Document No. ED327480, “The Case for Music in the Schools”, Phi Delta Kappan, February, 1994

High school music students score higher on SATs in both verbal and math than their peers. In 2001, SAT takers with coursework/experience in music performance scored 57 points higher on the verbal portion of the test and 41 points higher on the math portion than students with no coursework/experience in the arts.

Source: Profile of SAT and Achievement Test Takers, The College Board, compiled by Music Educators National Conference, 2001