Space Cadet Academy
(Coming Soon!)
We believe in accessible, fun, and engaging music education for all ages.
We're so excited to launch our music education program in winter of 2024.
With all our years spent in college, performing music, and teaching music, you could say that Sean and I have been around the musical education block. We were really fortunate that most of our experiences were uplifting, meaningful, and kind, but we know all too well that not everybody is fortunate enough to share in that warm recollection of music ed.
We've met too many adults who have strained, difficult, or downright bad relationships with music education stemming from poor pedagogical practices in their childhood, expectations set by adults who should have known better, and the "technical over emotional" form of teaching. We're hoping to reach those adults and give them the opportunity to give this whole music thing a second shake.
In addition to shifting how we teach, we need to address what we're teaching. In the past few years, there have been many difficult conversations on how to make music education more equitable, comprehensive, and frankly, modern. Alexa actively tackles this in every corner of her curriculum at her community college.
For the little ones, we know that online education can be great, but it isn't always the answer. On the one hand, free access to fun education geared towards their age group is great for both parents and kids alike! On the other, it does require more time in front of the screen, which isn't always preferred. And just like regular music lessons, it can turn something that might have been fun and elective into something not-so-fun and compulsory. We will have a separate channel made for kids, and there's no age restriction on the lessons for grown-ups! But just to be safe, we hope our greatest gift to the little ones will be passed through their teachers by way of our Starlings Academy program for piano instructors. Alexa's decade of experience teaching music to children has afforded her so many different experiences that she's turning into lessons for teachers, and we're really excited to share those with the world.
We're taking our feelings about the music education system into our own hands by launching a YouTube channel chock-full of free educational videos that take viewers of all ages through basic tonal harmony. We want to get you suited with the basic lingo and theory to get you out the door and being creative at the pace that's right for you.
Space Cadet Academy
Starlings Academy
Space Cadet Academy
Geared towards older teens to retirees and everyone in between!
Covers basic Western tonal harmony, ear-training, and introductory analysis
Starts at fundamentals and extends into lower-division college materials
Provides a comprehensive foundation for music analysis, basic individual performances, and ensemble etiquette.
Starlings Academy
Geared towards piano instructors and piano-inspired grown-ups with a sprinkling of videos for the kids.
Downloadable worksheets and guides for early piano education / early music reading
Mini piano lessons for grown-ups and kids to watch and practice together
A holistic approach to piano education that prioritizes the child before the prodigy, and fun before "right."