The Uptown Music Collective will hold its annual fall open house from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at the school, 848 W. Fourth St.
Prospective students can tour the facilities, meet with teachers, and register for lessons, classes and workshops taking place in the upcoming semester. Workshops will be going on during the hours of the open house so those in attendance can see what takes place at the school on a daily basis.
Established in April 2000, the Collective is a nonprofit school of music that has developed a reputation as the premier source of music education in the area, with an enrollment of more than 120 students.
Offering private lessons at all levels on guitar, bass, drums, keyboards and vocals, as well as classes and workshops in music theory, songwriting and styles such as the blues, jazz, classical and rock.
The primary age range of Collective students is 10 to 18 years old, but the school is open to all ages and levels.
Along with private lessons, the Collective offers its flagship Performance Program. This program educates students about the ins and outs of major and minor performances, including direction, production, preparation and technical aspects of the performances. The program brings outstanding student-run performances to the area, including most recently "Killer Queen," a tribute to the music of iconic rock band, Queen, staged in April at the Community Arts Center. This performance was the school's largest to date with more than 1,500 in attendance over the two nights of the performance.
During the fall open house, prospective students can enroll for the school's 16-week fall semester. The fall semester will run Sept. 4 through Jan. 12. There are openings for students of all levels who are looking for private instruction on the guitar, bass, drums, keyboards-piano and voice.
No previous experience is needed to begin enrollment. The Collective also will offer its popular workshop series, which includes jazz, rock, blues, drum technique, choir and the popular tech monkey workshop. Classes will include music theory 1 through 3, harmony and rhythmic theory.
Going hand in hand with the beginning of the Collective's fall semester, the school is seeking to fill three full enrollment scholarships to be offered for the 2012-13 academic year. These are the Joshua Andy Memorial Scholarship, the Alice Heilman Memorial Scholarship and the Lew Gilberti Memorial Scholarship.
"My time at the Collective has been a very wonderful experience," said previous scholarship recipient Shawn Chism. "I feel that the Collective has accepted me as a growing musician and allowed me to be a part of this amazing experience we all share."
For more information, call 329-0888 or visit up townmusic.org.
