Our Mission
At Musical Life Denver, our mission is simple: to help people find their best selves through music.
Playing an instrument and singing is more than a hobby, it shapes our identity. Music is an activity that helps define who we are. It fosters our unique sense of self and purpose that becomes a way we differentiate ourselves from others and find value and self-worth from within. It allows us to feel good about what makes us special, and can be a pivotal part in the narrative of what it means to be who we are.
Just as important, playing music and singing can ignite a passion that allows us to transcend the day-to-day monotony and stresses of everyday life – especially in the modern era where we are too often engaged in activities that dull us and keep us nearly unconscious. Musical activity is a powerful way to connect with one’s true self, and elevate the spirit to a higher level of existence, one of powerful emotions and experiences that define our lives.
Here at Musical Life Dener, we put our mission into action by following our core values in every decision we make. Our core values keep us in alignment with our mission, and keep us focused on the big picture of what a superb musical education can be.
Our Values – The Core Four
- Confidence – One of the most important qualities a human can possess is confidence in themselves and their actions. Without confidence, true progress and impact cannot be made. We believe that learning to sing or play an instrument can become the cornerstone of a confident individual. It gives us the assuredness we need to be successful in taking on and overcoming the challenges and obstacles we inevitably face in life. Confidence gained from learning to play and perform music begins to seep into every aspect of life, and can become the secure foundation from which true self-esteem, self-love and growth comes from.
- Competence – Though we believe people should approach life and music from a place of positive self-expectation, we recognize that this is not possible without education and the mastering of skills. The old adage competence = confidence is something we strongly buy into here. Through training our students to play with proper technique, a strong foundation, and good practice habits, we enable them to see their progress first hand, and this translates into an underlying confidence based on experience that is hard to shake. Once you’ve seen yourself do something musically, overcome a challenge, it is hard not to start believing you can do anything you put your mind to. Competence in music not long allows a student to progress, but to also ENJOY the journey as they do.
- Compassion – Even though knowing what to do, and feeling good doing it is important, it means very little if it isn’t coming from a place of understanding and love. We believe that in becoming a better musician, one must necessarily have to become a better person. Whether it is being compassionate to the self during the journey of mastering a new skill, or being empathetic towards others you are making music with, understanding is a crucial skill in connecting with ourselves and others. Without compassion, we cannot forgive ourselves for our mistakes, or understand and effectively communicate with others, both verbally and through our instrument. Only through communication and understanding can we build strong and healthy relationships to each other and to the world around us.
- Community – Humans are social creatures who thrive off of and indeed need connection and interaction with others. Whether through a family, school, team, work, religious organization, etc.- a strong community is one of the most important and satisfying parts of what it is to be human. At Musical Life, we foster a sense of community through the relationships built between the students, instructors, families and staff. Through our jam sessions, band practices, epic concert events, and even our lobby culture, we foster a sense of community that permeates everything we do. We believe that we can achieve more together and than alone, and playing music together creates bonds that last a lifetime. As one of our students famously said, “Music friends are the best.”
Our Values in Action:
It all starts with music lessons, where students gain the basic skills, knowledge, and guidance needed to enjoy music-making. That’s right, to ENJOY the journey of getting better, and look forward to practicing and coming to lessons. The relationship they foster with our super talented and HIGHLY TRAINED teachers will allow them to take on challenges, and teach students not just “what,” but also “how” to learn, practice, and play.
Having a private teacher means that our students get to direct their musical journey with their end goals in mind, not the goals of a single workbook or method. Through their guided journey, students will gain the proficiency, or competence needed to begin to feel good about themselves – while every little benchmark they accomplish will help build that internal confidence feedback loop.
Our jam sessions – which are included in our lesson packages – are totally unique to Musical Life Denver. This is where budding musicians really learn to express themselves musically, and listen to/respond to others. Jamming with others requires listening, and being sensitive to tendencies of others in the room, who might have slightly different musical inclinations, in order to create harmony and meaning together.
By doing this, we start to see the bigger picture of making music together, and it becomes hard not to make new friends with people who are sharing the experience with you. Oh ya, and it is one of the FUNNEST things you can do (if you haven’t tried it, we highly recommend you do!)
Finally, our performances take all these things to the next level. By learning how to play with a band, you have to not only communicate with others, but you need to learn delegation, trust in others, and to work as a team. Playing in a concert is like going into battle – you need to know you can rely on your comrades and yourself. It pulls us to be the best/highest versions of ourselves we can be, forcing us to confront challenges head on, stick to a plan, but be present in the moment and adaptable to any changes that come our way.
In some ways, playing on stage is one of the best life lessons you can have, and when it is over, will be one of your or your child’s most cherished memories
Our Curriculum
Our curriculum combines elements of classical music training with an innovative approach that immerses students in the music they love right away. We cater to the students to start, and integrate different musical styles or music from different time periods into instruction. As we build basic music fundamentals through the study of a wide variety of musical styles, we add to that technical knowledge with music theory and structure at a pace that allows students to learn while keeping things fun and interactive. Once a student has reached a basic level of proficiency, that’s when they can really start having fun making music!
We learn to speak through talking, and we learn to play an instrument through personal practice and jamming with others. By building a solid foundation of technical music knowledge, we give our students the opportunity to communicate with other musicians. This is when our jam sessions become crucial – for learning musicians to become well-rounded artists, we highly recommend that students attend our jam sessions.
Our Staff – Teachers – Coaches – Mentors (TCM’s)
At Musical Life Denver, we expect our roles to shift as our students grow. When students first enter our doors, we know that they’ll first need basic skills and information to help build competence and a basic set of technical skills. Upon reaching a basic level of proficiency, our staff’s roles become more coach-like as they encourage and push students to the next step of their musical journey. Finally, once students reach an advanced level of proficiency, our staff transitions to become mentors as they guide and motivate our students to keep pushing down their musical path while exemplifying a musical life.
Our Community
We saved the best for last! Here at Musical Life Denver, we believe that music is one of the best ways to build communities, share experiences, provide a space for self-expression, and to build friendships that last a lifetime. In every one of our relationships, we strive to create an amazing and close-knit family: from our staff to our students to the community at large.
We are a locally-owned business, and it shows! We value our people above everything else, and we do not take it for granted. As one of our first clients told us – “I came to Musical Life Denver for the lessons, and I stayed for the family!”
A note from the Founder Robby Schechter.
Hi there – thanks for taking the time to check out Musical Life Denver. As a lifelong musician and lover of music, I can personally attest to the benefits of living a life filled with music. I started playing piano at age 4, guitar at age 7, violin at 8, and somewhere along the way picked up everything from drums, bass, and singing, to recording, writing, producing, and performing. I have been in bands, played concerts of all kinds, put out albums, recorded in the studio, and have been teaching music throughout my journey. I started teaching when I was just 14, so helping others learn to lead a musical life has been in my blood from the beginning. I hope you will let us help you and your family along the journey to living a life filled with joy and music!