If you hear a beautiful tune coming out of the back of 143 Hurontario St., don’t be afraid to sing along.
The Collingwood School of Music celebrated its grand opening out of their new location on Aug. 26, following a soft launch of the school back in January.
“It’s been an overwhelming period of time, the last month and a half,” said co-owner Jason Savery, with a laugh. “One of the main things we want to focus on is building a musical community.”
“The importance of music on the mind and health are massive,” he said.
Savery started the school with his two friends Adam Webster and Kolston Gogan. The trio first came up with the idea while participating in the Collingwood Sound Collective, a free community group comprised of local musicians.
“We talked about it and decided to consider doing this,” Savery said. “We wanted to open up a facility where we could all teach.”
While Savery notes there are other options in the Collingwood area for people looking to pick up an instrument, he and his friends sought to create a one-stop shop for music lovers of all skill sets, ages and instruments.
“There’s definitely a need for it in the community. There wasn’t a whole lot of variety. Between the three of us, we could offer that variety,” he said.
Gogan focuses his teaching on drums and percussion instruments, Webster on guitar and Savery on brass and wind instruments. As of now, the school boasts a teaching staff of eight, with other teachers offering lessons in vocals, audio production/songwriting and piano.
The school offers both private and group lesson options across its five lesson rooms, and is open seven days a week. There are plans to offer ensemble lessons once the school becomes more established.
The school had a soft launch in January, and celebrated their official grand opening this past weekend. From January to now, Savery estimates the school has seen about 25 students, with many taking a break over the summer. With fall on the horizon, he hopes to see a return of some of his former students and an influx of new ones, with spots available for between 35 and 40 regular students.
“The number is growing every day,” he said.
While Savery says he and the other instructors hold down other jobs outside of the school, he hopes that one day he can make a living with music alone.
“We put in a lot of hard work to make this happen. Nine times out of 10, hard work pays off,” he said.
“We had a lot of support from our community. It was nice to see everybody out there. We couldn’t be more thrilled about it.”
Looking to the future, Savery has aspirations to eventually grow out of the Hurontario space.
“In a perfect world, we’d move into a bigger space where we can have our own concert venue so we can host people and bring other groups in,” he said. “It’s probably a few years down the road, but after those years of teaching students, I think those students will want a space where they can do that.”
For more information on the Collingwood School of Music including how to sign up for lessons, click here.
