From vinyl to attire, books and trinkets, there are many ways to make a music fan happy with the perfect holiday gift. Here are some ideas crossing genres and eras, including a few for local music aficionados.
Otamatone
Making music is fun, especially when it’s easy. One option is the Otamatone, which is shaped like an eighth note and sounds like the spawn of a synthesizer and a slide guitar. The emotively adorned Aggretsuko Rage version is $44.99 at hamee.com.
Or spring for the $159 Orba 3, Artiphon’s latest iteration of its music-in-the-palm-of-your-hand synthesizer, which starts with a massive library of drum sounds and adds sampling for miniature magic. Artiphon also makes the keyboard-shaped Chorda, both a standalone synthesizer and MIDI controller ($249.99 at artiphon.com).
For listening to music, headphones are a great gift that can range in price from the reasonable and well-regarded Status Audio 3ANC, the first in-ears with a dedicated bass speaker ($179, status.co). Audiophile legends Bang & Olufsen just introduced its high-end Beoplay H100 cans ($1,549, bang-olufsen.com) for the truly nice person on your list.
Affordable tabletop surround sound is available with the Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 4 portable Bluetooth speaker, a compact yet powerful unit costing $80 at most stores. For heavier listening, the 6-pound Marshall Acton III is a boomer that will evoke the giant amp it’s named after ($227.99 at amazon.com).
Marshall Acton III
For something completely different in the portable speaker category, Uncommon Goods has a combination water bottle and Bluetooth unit that’s perfect for pop-up parties. It’s quite popular, though, and as of this writing it was sold out on the store’s website. Check for restocking at uncommongoods.com, a great stop for other gifts.
Speaking of one-stop shopping, it’s axiomatic that the best way to support local music is buying direct from your favorite artists. For those who can’t attend every show, the best alternative is the Bandcamp website (bandcamp.com). There, area bands make most of the money, unlike Spotify, where the CEO is richer than any musician on his site.
If your list includes a dedicated collector of vinyl albums, consider gifting them a Spin-Clean cleaning kit. Its $125 price tag may be too lofty; if so, there are some cheaper options available. The Discwasher D4+ Record Care System is the granddaddy of the bunch, dating back to the ’60s. It’s $25.
Of course, your giftee will need records to clean with their new gear. 2024 doesn’t disappoint. For the Swiftie on your list, Target offers a bunch of exclusives, including a double album of songs from The Tortured Poets Department with a bonus track (“The Manuscript”) on clear vinyl for $32.99. Give it with a copy of the massive Official Taylor Swift The Eras Tour book ($39.99) and you’ll be a hero.
For fans of an earlier era, the debut LP from an influential New Wave band recently received a deluxe treatment. Talking Heads: 77 introduced songs like “Psycho Killer” and “Uh-Oh, Love Comes to Town” while hinting at adventurous music to come. The four-CD set has goodies including outtakes, Atmos mixes and a full-length CBGB show from October 1977.
Elvis Costello was another artist who evolved from that period, moving from angry young man to reverent roots-music adherent. The six-CD King Of America & Other Realms Super Deluxe begins with the 1986 album and includes new songs, along with beauties like a Grand Ole Opry performance of “The Scarlet Tide” from the Cold Mountain soundtrack accompanied by Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings, and duets with Ralph Stanley and Larkin Poe.
Playing cards
While physical tickets have mostly been displaced by cell phone barcodes, dedicated concertgoers usually have a big collection of stubs. For those, consider a Ticket Stub Diary for preserving those memories. It will give them something to share with their children and grandkids one day ($29, uncommongoods.com).
Finally, let’s not forget stocking stuffers. Uncommon Goods is a great source for things like music playing cards with drawings of David Bowie, Jimi Hendrix and other rock stars. Mistaken Lyrics Coasters are fun if you’ve ever misheard this U2 song: “It’s alright, it’s alright, it’s alright / Shamu, the mysterious whale.” Or get a mahogany thumb piano for your favorite fan.
• Movement: When he’s not playing an eclectic mix of acoustic rock covers, Joel Begin is a physical therapist. He finds that music is a good way to help many patients, and he’s lectured on its intersectionality with movement and healing from stress and trauma. His set list draws a lot from the 1990s, . Thursday, Dec. 12, 7 p.m., The Local, 15 E. Main St., Warner; more at facebook.com/joel.begin.music.
• Vocalizing: Before Straight No Chaser, Pentatonix and the Pitch Perfect movies, Rockapella were primary purveyors of a cappella music. The New York vocal group had forebears, but as the house “band” on the PBS series Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? its unique human beat box harmonizing entered the mainstream. Their annual holiday show is a Derry favorite. Friday, Dec. 13, 7 p.m., Stockbridge Theatre, 44 N. Main St., Derry, $20 and up at pinkertonacademy.org.
• Traditional: Few New England events approach the venerability of the Boston Pops Holiday Concert, led by maestro Keith Lockhart. What began in 1973 as A Pops Christmas Party evolved over the years into what Lockhart recently called “a balancing act [with] things people want to come back to [while] always adding new musical experiences from across cultures.” Saturday, Dec. 14, 7:30 p.m., SNHU Arena, 555 Elm St., Manchester, $33.50 and up at ticketmaster.com.
• Rockestral: From a Trans-Siberian Orchestra covers show intended as a one-off, Wizards of Winter has grown into a phenomenon all its own. The group melds Christmas music and grandeur while leaving out the smoke bombs, lasers and other gadgetry of arena shows. The effect is equally majestic, as they let musicality move front and center. These days, they’re a top concert draw. Sunday, Dec. 15, 3 p.m., Tupelo Music Hall, 10 A St., Derry, $45 and up at tupelohall.com.
• Evergreen: Celebrate the holiday in an Irish way with Cherish the Ladies performing A Celtic Christmas. The show includes a six-piece band with three vocalists and four step dancers backing the influential female group — flute player Joanie Madden, guitarist Mary Coogan, accordion player Mirella Murray, pianist Kathleen Boyle, fiddle player Nollaig Casey and guitarist Kate Purcell. Wednesday, Dec. 18, 7 p.m., BNH Stage, 16. S. Main St., Concord, $64 at ccanh.com.
What would happen if Ebenezer Scrooge were not miserly but instead always looking at his mobile phone? What if rather than sadness that he needed crutches, Tiny Tim’s family mourned his inability to read an instruction manual? Those are some of the audience suggestions received by the cast of What The Dickens, an improv version of A Christmas Carol at Millspace in Newmarket on Dec. 13 and Dec. 14.
Seacoast-based Stranger Than Fiction, an improv group now in its 20th year, uses the Charles Dickens holiday classic as a template for comedy. The show is always different. One night, the Ghost of Christmas Past might have a Mickey Mouse voice; on another he could be Darth Vader. Some touches are written down by patrons as they enter the theatre; others are shouted out during the play.
The show began in 2022, said STF cast member and Marketing Director Dan Schiffmacher in a recent phone interview, with a run at the New Hampshire Theatre Project in Portsmouth’s West End. Last year, STF partnered with Players’ Ring Theatre and did the show there, along with performances in Newmarket and Sanford, Maine.
“We wanted to do something for the holidays, something a little bit different, and one of our members came up with the idea,” he said. “We started to craft [how] to mix what people know about the story and also have elements of improv…. We didn’t want to pre-plan too much, because we still wanted to have that like spontaneity and fun to it.”
Thus the principles of Dickens’ tale remain — a boss, an employee, his family and some ghosts — but the elements change from night to night. For this year’s opener at Portsmouth’s Players’ Ring Theatre, Scrooge’s bad habit was stealing drinks at the pub he owned, where Cratchit tended bar, and one of the ghosts was Ronald Reagan. Other times, the ghosts spoke like Mickey Mouse or Scooby-Doo.
Audience “asks” are often challenging, Schiffmacher noted. When Scrooge & Marley became a Christmas tree company, the ghost character had to come up with a way to transport Scrooge from realm to realm. The solution was to make him climb into the twining machine to be spun ahead.
Sometimes the mundane is quite funny. “When Darth Vader was the Ghost of Christmas Future, he cleared the scenes by force-choking us all off the stage,” Schiffmacher said. “Our director was on the lights, and he turned everything red. It’s a lot of fun when we’re all on the same page and can do that.”
The process of getting audience input is itself entertaining. When last year’s Scrooge character asked for a 1980s movie actor suggestion, response began flying at him immediately, including Bruce Springsteen, as if his videos counted, along with Sean Connery and John Cusack. He ultimately chose Rodney Dangerfield and groused about getting no respect while talking to Marley’s ghost.
Between an animated crowd and the venerable improv group always looking to top itself, each show presents many new opportunities for hilarity. “We’re always trying to find different ways to switch things up, make them a little more fresh,” Schiffmacher said. “Like we’re all different characters — the person who plays Scrooge in the first show won’t play him in the second show. We all shuffle around … everyone has their own approach.”
Schiffmacher joined Stranger Than Fiction in early 2022, after moving to New Hampshire from Chicago. He has more than a decade of improv experience. He noted that anyone with an itch to try improv can take one of the classes the troupe offers.
“There’s a 101 Intro to Improv that starts in January,” he said. “We’re working on the dates; people can find out more on our website.”
What the Dickens When: Friday, Dec. 13, and Saturday, Dec. 14, 8 p.m. Where: Millspace, 55 Main St., Newmarket Tickets: $12 at portsmouthnhtickets.com
In 2019, Seán Heely staged his first Celtic Christmas show for a few hundred people in his home base of Washington, D.C.
The next time he did it, the audience grew to 1,000, and it doubled the following year. It was clear that an appetite for Heely’s lively blend of fiddle, harp, pipes and other traditional instruments in the service of seasonal songs from the seven Celtic nations resonated, so he decided to take his show on the road.
Just in time for the tour, which stops in Nashua on Friday, Dec. 6, is a new holiday album that Heely and his all-star band will perform. So Merry as We Have Been is named for one of its songs, drawn from the 18th-century Scottish collection TheCaledonian Pocket Companion.
The record, Heely said in a recent phone interview, offers classic Christmas carols, “reimagined in the Celtic way … a little bit more jiggified than they might be in the choral setting.” Along with Olde English carols like “I Saw Three Ships” and “Gloucestershire Wassail” are traditional numbers such as “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” and “Deck the Halls.”
Heely will sing “Silent Night” in three different languages, the original German, English and Gaelic — he was recently named U.S. Champion in the latter. “I’ve been doing a lot of Gaelic songs in the last couple of years, and studying the language pretty hard,” he said. “It’s great to see that recognized.”
On stage with Heely in Nashua are Kevin Elam on guitar and vocals — he’s earned multiple awards for singing, including a competition in Drogheda, Ireland, that only one other American has won in its 65-year history. Lucas Ashby is a Brazilian American percussionist who also plays cello, and Abbie Palmer is a well-regarded multi-genre harp player.
Beth Patterson hails from Louisiana. “She brings in a bit of Cajun French into the show,” Heely said. “We have a French song that she brought into the group; it’s like a Cajun epiphany song. She plays the bouzouki and the bass, electric bass, that’s our one electric instrument.”
The band’s youngest member is fiddler Colin McGlynn. Heely said he’s been playing with the 18-year-old McGlynn for nearly a decade. Jesse Ofgang is a Connecticut-born piper who plays the Highland Pipes, the Scottish Border Pipes, and the Irish Eland Pipes. Rounding out the group are dancers Agi Covacs and Rebecca Law.
Born into a musical family, Heely got into playing early. “My older sister played violin, and I wanted to do everything like her when I was young,” he said. So he picked it up too, “and as soon as I had about five notes that I could play pretty well, my dad had me playing with him. He played the banjo, so I joined the family band…. We played anything from maritime music to bluegrass to Irish and Scottish.”
He once told an interviewer that a fiddle is just a violin that’s had Guinness spilled on it, a glib statement that he somewhat regrets. “The headline ‘violinist with beer spilled on him’ made me sound like a little bit of an alcoholic,” he said, adding, “there are all kinds of funny jokes, like ‘a violin has strings, a fiddle has strangs,’ but there is no actual difference. It is just the way that you play it.”
That said, his interest in fiddle playing began with exploring his paternal grandmother’s record collection.
“We had songs from Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales floating around the house, and she played the piano, so I grew up listening to a lot of that kind of music and folk,” he said. “I’ve branched out a bit, and we even have stuff from Brittany in France and Galicia in Spain, the seven recognized Celtic nations. So that was what spurred me on.”
Also influencing Heely was the time he spent at Alistair Fraser’s fiddle camp on Scotland’s Isle of Skye. “It spurred me on to compete with Scottish fiddling and to keep pursuing that music, because there’s a lot more Irish fiddling in the U.S. than Scottish,” he said. “And of course, it’s so beautiful, all these mountains, the ocean and everything. When you’re playing the music in the place where it was made, it feels pretty special.”
Seán Heely’s Celtic Christmas When: Friday, Dec. 6, 7:30 p.m. Where: Nashua Center for the Arts, 201 Main St., Nashua Tickets: $49 and up at etix.com
• Seasonal standard: Get in the holiday spirit as the Heather Pierson Trio returns to play music from A Charlie Brown Christmas during an intimate show at a Lakes Region winery preceded by a complimentary tasting. Pierson’s performance of the holiday special includes other Vince Guaraldi songs and jazzed-up favorites. Thursday, Dec. 5, and Friday, Dec. 6, at 7 p.m., The Loft at Hermit Woods, 72 Main St., Meredith, $25 and up at eventbrite.com. More dates at heatherpierson.com.
• Helping paws: An annual event with live music from the Bob Pratte Band is a fundraiser for the Manchester Animal Shelter. Dance to classic rock covers and enjoy complimentary appetizers, raffles, giveaways, games and a silent auction, all for a good cause. Friday, Dec. 6, 7 p.m., Stark Brewing Co., 500 N. Commercial St., Manchester, $15 at eventbrite.com.
• Holiday shredding: Make the season a surf guitar safari with Gary Hoey rocking up the Christmas spirit at his annual Ho! Ho! Hoey! show. The Dick Dale acolyte first donned his Santa hat in the ’90s, and the frenetic fret man’s franchise now includes Hallmark greeting cards playing rocked-up holiday favorites. Hoey was also featured in Danny DeVito’s 2006 movie Deck The Halls. Friday, Dec. 6, 8 p.m., Tupelo Music Hall, 10 A St., Derry, $40 and up at tupelohall.com.
• Dark sounds: Fans of heavy music should experience Fog Wizard, a Boston band that bills itself as that city’s bloodiest and features a lead singer with an unprintable name who looks like he came out on the winning end of a tangle with Freddy Krueger. A local show celebrates their 15th anniversary and includes support from Dead Harrison, Arctic Horror and C.O.B. Saturday, Dec. 7, 7 p.m., Terminus Underground, 134 Haines St., Nashua, $15 at the door, 21+, BYOB.
• Blues power: An afternoon performance by Frankie Boy & Blues Express is a fundraiser to help send the three-time Granite State Blues Challenge winners to Memphis for next year’s World Blues Challenge. Once mentored by Chicago blues legend Luther “Guitar Jr.” Johnson — the band uses his amplifier on stage — the four-piece group offers a full-throated version of the genre. Sunday, Dec. 8, 4 p.m., The Wild Rover, 21 Kosciuszko St., Manchester. Visit thebluesexpress.com.
Discover — or rediscover — your love of making music with help from the experts
“So you wanna be a rock ’n’ roll star?” Roger McGuinn asked back in the ’60s. The answer? “Just get an electric guitar, take some time and learn how to play.” If only it were that easy. Back then, The Beatles and Stones fueled the dreams of would-be music heroes. These days, it’s Taylor Swift or Ed Sheeran.
For the kids, anyway. It’s different for the recent empty-nester who’s always wanted to play the opening riff to “Smoke on the Water” and just bought a vintage Stratocaster on eBay. Both young and old need a place to take their rock ’n’ roll fantasies and flesh them out.
Fortunately, there are many places to go for acquiring the skills, for all ages, whether it’s someone picking up an instrument for the first time or looking to brush up on long-neglected talents, or a talented enough player with a desire to take things higher.
Further, options are available for a wide range of lifestyles, from free online lessons to one-stop shops that sell instruments with a book of lesson coupons, to one-on-one sessions that prep the ambitious for an open mic night. Here are a few that exist in the area.
Beginnings
There are a few things that every instructor agrees are essential. The first is to keep the instrument where it can be seen and played. “It’s better to just have it out,” says Danielle Miraglia, who teaches guitar on Zoom. “When you’re bored, instead of picking up your phone you can grab your guitar and noodle around on it.”
This means it’s smart to buy a stand to go with a new guitar, and save the case for a birthday present. Ditto for keyboards; get something to set it on. For the budding drummer, start with an electronic kit and headphones, so it won’t rock the house.
No. 2, though practice is essential, too much may have a negative effect.
“Fifteen to 20 minutes three or four times a week is better than an hour one day a week,” believes Eric Bilodeau of Strings & Things. “Just getting your hands used to it will help build finger strength, the neural pathways to tell a finger to move a certain way, and get your hand memory going.”
The third item is a rule that applies to a good instructor, and it’s typically the first topic of conversation when sitting down for the initial lesson. Begin with an understanding of why a student wants to learn how to play. Is there a specific song they want to master, or a musical style that attracts them?
Try to figure this out before buying an instrument. For example, it’s a bit easier learning to play on an electric guitar, but someone drawn to a coffeehouse vibe is better off with an acoustic.
“The important thing is finding one that’s going to make you want to play,” Bilodeau said. “Play a bunch and see which one speaks to you.”
School days
When that decision is made, the next question is, what’s the best way to learn? For a youngster, structure is important, so a schedule of lessons is a good idea. Bedford Youth Performing Company (BYPC) offers instruction for a wide variety of instruments and even has classes for full bands.
That idea may seem counterintuitive — shouldn’t mastery of the instrument come before playing with others? But Dave Couture, who’s taught guitar and drums at BYPC for over 35 years, spotted an opportunity to turn making music into a family affair, and further solidify a student’s engagement.
When parents came to the studio, Couture would inquire about their music background. “I’d go, ‘do you play an instrument?’ They’d say they do, or they used to, and I’d tell them to hop on the bass or whatever,” he said by phone in mid-November. “Then they’re playing along with their kids. It got me interested in creating these adult bands. It’s a lot of fun, and it keeps them interested.”
Eric Biloudeau of Strings & Things. Photo by Michael Witthaus
Couture leads a couple of all-adult band classes as well. Yes, though “youth” is in their name, BYPC is all-ages. “I have up to retirees,” Couture said. The disparity between groups means a different set of challenges in motivating students, he continued.
A youngster’s mood can change daily, depending on how school went. “I’ll say, ‘did you practice?’ and if they didn’t, we’ll work on what we did last week,” he said. “Sometimes the adults are worse. They’ll say, ‘I really wanted to do this, but I’m not practicing.’ I’ll tell them, ‘don’t worry, you’re learning every week … let’s learn a fun song.’”
On the other hand, working with retired people is often much more satisfying, Couture continued. “I’ve had a few of them that have said they wanted to do this forever. They’ve been thinking about it, and they’re usually pretty focused.”
Couture will remind those stressed about time or stuck in a rut that music is an art form. It’s something one of his Berklee professors told him once, and it calmed him down. “When I thought of it as an art form, I just relaxed and let it flow.”
Time management
Bob Desmarais, who runs NHTunes in Manchester’s Waumbec Mill, offers his own retiree story as proof that no one’s too old to play. “Janet is 94 — she started when she was 89,” he said during a tour of his studio and music academy. “We just had a show at RiverWoods; me, her, and two other residents. She was exhausted, it was an hour show, but she’s 94 freaking years old!”
Desmarais opened NHTunes in 2010, the same week he paid off his son’s college tuition. He continued to work as an IT manager at the outset while he recruited students. He quit his day job a year later, with three teachers on staff and almost 40 students. That’s grown over the years to 14 instructors who teach close to 140 students. In 2013 it moved down the hall into a space twice the size of the original.
A Berklee grad who plays Jimmy Buffett songs and bar tunes in a duo called the Sonic Boomers, he always had a passion for music, but Desmarais continues to parlay his computer skills in his business. A Google search of “music lessons in Manchester” will result in NHTunes near the top, proof of his SEO skills.
He has a slick web-based scheduling system. “It links all the instructors, what they teach, their availability,” Desmarais said. “Just book online, and it’ll put it in a Google Calendar. We have gift certificates for people to buy, and they can schedule lessons when they want.”
It’s perfect for busy professionals. “We have a group of people that just book per diem, they don’t sign up for monthly tuition,” he said. “They don’t want to commit to weekly lessons. I was nervous of that at first, worried that people were going to take one or two and stop. But we have this core group that books every week, every other week. It fills in the gaps in our schedule.”
NHTunes offers lessons on a range of instruments, along with studio production classes using Ableton Live and other software packages. That’s an extension of the studio recording services they provide, which is one of the key reasons Desmarais opened the business.
There are also frequent student recitals.
“I think the performance aspect of musicianship is really important,” Desmarais said. “We get kids out in front of people at nursing homes, senior centers, and stuff like that. The last thing you want to hear is, ‘They never play in front of me.’ Because music should be shared.”
Finally, with the youngsters, Desmarais strives to keep mom and dad looped in. “So they know what’s going on,” he said. “It’s really important, because unfortunately some parents have to ride kids sometimes to play and practice in between lessons, so you gotta know what they’re working on.”
Try before you buy
Andrew Grosvenor leads jam fusion band Andrew North & the Rangers and hosts the monthly open mic at BNH Stage in Concord. He also teaches piano at Concord Community Music School and Strings & Things, a store that’s now in Penacook Village after a couple of decades in downtown Concord.
He offers a unique way to check out his instructional skills — for a certain type of student. Grosvenor teaches all levels, but many of his charges have some experience and are looking to grow. For those, he has videos on his YouTube page, songs like Vince Guaraldi’s “Skating” or “Esther” by Phish that aren’t novice fare.
The videos do provide a sense of how he teaches, though.
“I’m the best fit for more intermediate or advanced folks,” Grosvenor said by phone recently, “who know the basics of the instrument but are looking to take the next steps in understanding theory and improvisation. That’s where my strengths are.”
Strings & Things is a one-stop shop, a place to go to purchase a guitar, keyboard or drum kit, schedule some lessons, and pay for everything at once. It’s also one of the more venerable places in the area. Mike Bilodeau opened it in 1982, and these days his son Eric oversees instruction there.
The shop offers classes on several instruments, Eric explained during an interview in Strings & Things’ piano room. “We do guitar, bass, drums, piano, mandolin, banjo and a lot of the brass instruments, like saxophone, flute, clarinet and trumpet,” he said. “I always say, if you like to annoy your neighbors, we can help you out.”
Students can be anywhere from 5 to 16, and beyond, and lessons begin with defining goals. “Do they want to be Jimi Hendrix or Ed Sheeran? There’s a big difference,” Eric said. “Do you want to get up at an open mic [or] go to a blues jam and be able to sit down and play a solo over a song? Maybe you just want to stay at home and make music in your bedroom … there’s all different ways you can take music now.”
The 14-member staff is mostly working musicians, like guitarist Mike Gallant, who performs around the area as Mikey G., drummer Paul Donahue and fiddler Jordan Tirrell-Wysocki. Fittingly, that was the path taken by Mike Bilodeau when he opened the store 42 years ago.
“I did a hitch in the Air Force, and the skills I had from the Air Force didn’t blend into society,” Mike said in the store’s guitar-filled back room. “I figured I’d go with my hobby; I love to play music. At that time, there was a lot around, and I was working five nights a week. My wife decided that I should be busy during the day too. So with her cheering me on, we opened up a very small store with very limited inventory.”
School of Rock. Courtesy photo.
Two years ago, they relocated for a sixth and final time, buying and renovating an old bank. “We had leased buildings for 40 years, and branch banks, as you would probably expect, are kind of going away,” he said. “So this place was a very good deal for us to purchase, and we’ll be here until the end of time.”
Though the store currently doesn’t hold student recitals, Mike thinks that will change in the future.
“We have a wonderful situation,” he said. “Riverside Park is right behind us on the Contoocook River, and our goal is to get some live music going there next spring. There’s also another brand new park being built across the street … we’re excited; this is going to be a real happening area for us.”
The covid effect
Before 2020, lessons were always taught in person, one on one. Then a pandemic changed the rules. Though there’s mostly been a return to the old days, there are a few instructors like Danielle Miraglia who decided to continue teaching after Covid.
“I never went back to in person,” she said by phone recently. “It was nice not to get a cold every five minutes for one thing, and to be honest, there’s a little bit of a different kind of drain when you do it via Zoom. If I miss the in-person experience, I’ll think, ‘what are you, crazy? You can do this with a cat sitting next to you.’”
A multiple New England Music Awards winner and Boston Music Award nominee, Miraglia started teaching as a way to deal with rising rent costs in Somerville, where she and husband live. Initially, she taught at the Real School of Music in Burlington, Mass. In hindsight, she’s glad she did — even if economics forced her decision.
“I think everybody should teach for some amount of time,” she said. “It forces you to learn things you might not have bothered with for your own stuff, and it reminds you of things you knew before that you might have forgotten. It’s made me a sharper musician in general.”
When working with a student, particularly a younger one, Miraglia encourages them to have patience with themselves. “Some kids will get really frustrated right away. They’ll be like, ‘I can’t do it,’ and I’ll say, it would be insane if you could do it right now. Of course you can’t, that’s why I’m here. I’m here to help you with that.”
Some are slow to pick it up, while others roar out of the gate. Miraglia recalled a 7-year old prodigy. “He immediately could do the Bo Diddley groove with his right hand, it was very easy to teach him,” she said. “He just kept getting better and better … now he’s in jazz band in school.”
Begin at the end
In Nashua, there’s a new spot that could be a major force on the local music scene. Though it won’t officially open until Dec. 14 — hopefully — the School of Rock has a unique approach to learning that begins with focusing on what an aspiring student wants right away.
“We start with the goal of performance and work backward from there,” school owner Andy McKenna said by phone recently. “They do get a full music education, but we start by saying, ‘Hey, you’re going to be playing in three months.’”
To that end, “we focus on helping people learn the stuff that they really like to listen to and want to play and go from there,” he continued. “That’s a big difference from music education that starts with learning all the technique and theory first and eventually getting to songs. Let’s figure out what you’d love to be able to play.”
For example, a budding bass player should leave the first day knowing the opening riff to Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust” so they can go home and play it for the parents. “They go, ‘Wow, I know that song, that’s great,’ and feel like they’re getting their money’s worth too.”
School of Rock is a national chain inspired by the Jack Black movie, with hundreds of locations. Nashua is the first in New Hampshire. Their core age range is 8 through 18. “That said, we have programs starting at age 3,” McKenna said. “I like to say it’s from age 3 to 103.”
It begins with the early childhood Little Wing and ranges to the Rock 101 performance program. “We’ve got adult programs as well. In fact, a full 25 to 30 percent of people interested in signing up are adults. And I get basically two stories. One, they used to play a little bit, but had to give it up because they got busy. The other story is, ‘Hey, I always wanted to play, and never did. Am I too old?’ Our answer is, ‘absolutely not.’”
The full Rock 101 program lasts for three months and includes a 45-minute weekly lesson and 90 minutes of group rehearsal. “That runs about roughly $400 a month,” McKenna said. “If you break down the number of hours that are being spent with instruction, it comes out to $40 an hour.”
For the ambitious, Rock 101 can be followed by a performance program that includes longer rehearsals and more challenging material. “There are 15-, 16- and 17-year-olds playing Steely Dan, Rush and Pink Floyd,” he said. “It’s fairly complex musical stuff, so they get quite good as they move through the program.”
McKenna’s interest in opening School of Rock came from his empathy for kids struggling to fit in, who don’t for example play a sport, but find concert band too staid. They just want to rock, and he can relate.
“The friendships and connections I’ve made have been mostly focused and centered around my enjoyment of playing music with others,” he said. “I think School of Rock has a formula that helps people do that. It’s a place where a lot of kids have really been able to find their people, their place, and really thrive. When I heard those real stories about the many schools that are in operation, I just felt, yeah, that’s what I want to do.”
Take it to the next level
There are performers who’ve moved past rudimentary musical foundations and want to go further. A guy like Chad LaMarsh can help. A veteran singer, guitarist and songwriter with a long resume, LaMarsh offers Get Gig Ready, an effort geared toward taking all those acquired skills and doing something with them.
“The program is all-encompassing of absolutely everything that goes into playing a gig,” LaMarsh said in a recent phone interview. “We do a lot of what I call vocal maintenance to make sure that everybody can get through singing three to four hours a night for five nights straight. That’s a lot of abuse on your throat.”
It covers gear and more — what to buy, where to put it, and ways to measure results.
“How you use your mixing board, that’s a huge one,” he said. “There’s a technique I’ve designed for practicing so that the musician knows exactly what it’s like to have your speaker a few feet away from you…. We often fall short because we don’t know what we sound in front of the stage.”
The short-term goal of Get Gig Ready is an appearance at an open mic, like the Tuesday night gathering at KC’s Rib Shack in Manchester. It’s the beginning of a long road that optimistically ends at SNHU Arena, or at least a ticketed club gig. Clearly, this is geared toward performers with serious intentions.
“If it’s somebody just looking to kick the tires and just poof around, I don’t have any time for that,” LaMarsh said. “These are people that are actually already super talented … they’re already at a level that I know I can do something to help them excel even more. Those are the people I work with.”
Sage Advice
Guitarist Brad Myrick also works with and mentors other musicians. Every summer for the past several years he’s conducted master classes in Italy, along with touring. His advice, however, is applicable for those at any level looking to make music.
“Whatever it is that’s exciting to you about your instrument, that made you want to play it, always access that thing … that’s absolutely the first advice,” Myrick said from his home in Hopkinton. “I’m still doing that, after playing the guitar for 30 years.”
It’s a great time to be a musician, he continued, adding that finding an instructor to connect with is critical. “Having a little bit of structure and accountability, the consistency, of ‘hey, I’m going to show up once a week and I’m going to do this thing’ … that sometimes will keep us from slipping back into our old habits.”
Myrick recalled that when he first picked up guitar at age 14, ultimately taking his first lesson at Strings & Things, there were some affordable resources available to help him jump start his interest. There are even more today, and many of them don’t cost a thing.
“When I started, I knew a little bit about music, but I didn’t know anything about guitar,” he said. “I got a basic guitar book and started reading … it was like, ‘this is the E string, place your finger here.’ I got pretty far in the first couple weeks before I had any formal interaction with somebody. And if you’re self-motivated, there are endless online resources. Not all of them are great, but a lot of them are really good.”
Whatever path is chosen, Myrick believes a little bit of self-guidance can add a lot to the learning experience. “When I’m teaching, I try to incorporate both models,” he said. “A little bit of self-curiosity, a little bit of other free resources, and having someone also to check in with — mentorship. It’s a great combination.”
Learn how to play
Here are some area music teachers.
• Bedford Youth Performing Company (BYPC) 155 State Rte. 101, Bedford bypc.org. One-on-one lessons for ages 9 and up – 30 minutes, $148.32/month, 60 minutes, $222.48/month and 60 minutes, $296.64/month. Costs vary, call for a quote.
• Danielle Miraglia daniellem.com. Online only, $37/half hour Zoom or FaceTime, volume discount available ($105/three half-hour lessons).
• Get Gig Ready With Chad LaMarsh getgigready.com $60/half-hour lesson, 13- and 26-week coaching classes available, contact for quote.
• Let’s Play Music & Make Art 2626 Brown Ave., Unit 2, Manchester, plus locations in Derry and Hudson, letsplaymusic.com. Trial private lesson $36.25, trial group class, $27.50, tuition ranges from $149/month for weekly 30-minute lessons.
• Manchester Music Mill 329 Elm St., Manchester, mmmlessons.com. Teachers set their own rates, which range from $20 to $25 per week for a half-hour private lesson.
• Merrimack Music Academy 1 Bryce Drive, Merrimack, merrimackmusicacademy.com. $155/month tuition covers up to five private lessons, instruction materials and access to academy resources.
• North Main Music 23 Charron Ave., Suite 1, Nashua, northmainmusic.com. 30-minute introductory lesson is $25, flexible drop-in program is $140 for four lessons.
• School of Rock 225 DW Highway, Suite C2, Nashua, schoolofrock.com. Rock 101 program is around $400/month, averages out to $40/hour.
• Strings & Things 339 Village St., Concord, stringsandthingsmusic.com. $30/half-hour lesson, usually paid by the month with four or five lessons per month.
• Ted Hebert Music School 880 Page St., Manchester, tedhebert.com. $30/half-hour lesson.
