Music Lessons in Cliffside Park

Perfect your strum technique playing "Hurricane" by Bob Dylan on one NYC Guitar School's tuned and pretty-stringed guitars. This Groupon includes a guitar rental for duration of the course (a $50 value), so you don't need to bring your own (the security deposit is $189, and you get it back when you return the guitar). No prior musical experience is necessary to take a course at NYC Guitar School, and no note reading is required; one of the friendly teachers, well-tabbed in Bob Dylan, will teach you the fundamental chords, strums, and the fierce stare of a master guitarist.

Mumbling. Speaking too fast. Nervousness. There are countless issues that can derail a public speaker. That's where Nattacia Satie and The Vocal Gym for Public Speaking come in. A musician, actress, yogi, and all-around renaissance woman, Ms. Satie uses her diverse expertise—which includes training at the University of Cambridge—to build rigorous workouts for the voice. During private sessions, she takes speakers through a four-step process that teaches proper breathing technique, incorporates core fitness exercises, and fine-tunes articulation. Ms. Satie's custom programs help her clients gain confidence and correct their specific issues by training their vocal cords to keep a steady pitch, slow down, or roll over.

Creative Music Center’s skilled teachers have been nurturing musical talent in students of all ages and skill levels for nearly three decades, earning recognition for their efforts with a Best Music Lessons and Instruments award from Moffly Media readers in 2009. They achieve this high level of instruction by adapting their teaching styles to the needs of each pupil rather than insisting that everyone play Mozart or eat sheet music for breakfast. While private lessons prep students to play everything from the viola to the trombone, teachers also foster camaraderie through group lessons for piano and guitar. Students who haven’t hollowed out a baguette to make their own French horn can rent or buy an instrument from the center, which stocks brands such as Yamaha and Fender.

A graduate of the Manhattan School of Music and Berklee College of Music, David Sklar has composed for independent films, played at Lincoln Center, and won several piano competitions of his own. But his true legacy lives on in the deft fingers of the countless protégés to attend his studio, where he helps them hone their musical expression and creativity with a mixture of technique, music theory, and ear training during fun and engaging one-on-one lessons. Specializing in a variety of styles—from classical sonatas to show tunes and pop music—David also gives students his undivided attention during voice and songwriting classes.

Enrico Aquino III began tinkling the ivories at the age of three, eventually playing his way to the hallowed performance spaces at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center. The talented pianist was born into a musical family: his father opened a music school and piano store in New Jersey, and Aquino has kept the family tradition alive by embracing his father’s belief in friendly, encouraging instruction. The retailer pairs players with new and pre-owned pianos made by brands such as Seiler, J. Strauss & Son, and Baldwin Pianos or digital pianos from makers such as Viscount and Korg. The music academy, meanwhile, has guided fingers of all ages in waltzing across keys for more than 60 years. The academy’s skilled instructors delve into classical, jazz, and popular music during private lessons for pupils who have never read music to those who swallowed a metronome as a child and have been reaping the benefits ever since.

Ken Benshish and Yi Qian both grew up loving music, but the process of learning to play it ranged from uninspiring to mind numbing. The two musicians started iSchool of Music & Art to provide a much different experience—a positive, supportive atmosphere that takes into account each student’s personality and goals. Students aged 3 and older who can’t tell a drumstick from a plectrum and don’t even know the street value of a quarter note can learn piano, drums, guitar, or voice skills from scratch, then test their newfound skills with multiple performance opportunities throughout the year. Instructors host private classes or group students into their own rock-band performance troupes, while intensive camps culminate in field trips to Lincoln Center and tour of a real recording studio.