The Sweet Music Studio

I started teaching mandolin and fiddle at the Fretted Instrument Workshop in Amherst, in 1985, just a few months after graduating with a BA in Musicology from Hampshire College.  Tony Creamer, the owner, gave me a tiny room about big enough for two chairs with just enough room between them so our knees didn't touch.  My first student was "Johnny Riley" a DJ from WRSI.  He later joined Dicey Riley on mandolin and played it with them for many years.  About ten years later, I was asked to teach fiddle and mandolin out of Downtown Sounds in Northampton.  I'd been playing with Maple Ridge a bluegrass band in Greenfield with owner Joe Blumenthal.  He's the one who asked me to teach there.  And a few years later, when NCMC opened up, I moved my studio there.  I continued to teach a few students at Downtown Sounds, continuing there until fairly recently.

In 2009, my wife Emily and I bought a house in S. Hadley.  It was a fixer-upper, but it had a nice sunny main room where I could offer lessons and group classes.  In 2009, I opened the Sweet Music Studio in South Hadley.

I taught fiddle styles: bluegrass, celtic, klezmer, folk and jazz.  I taught mandolin styles: bluegrass and celtic primarily.  I directed several group classes including a mandolin group, a celtic group and a klezmer group.  The mandolin group was by far the largest, and when Will Melton joined the group on mandola, he encouraged me to form the South Hadley Mandolin Orchestra which later merged with L'Easperance Mandolin Ensemble from Providence and a few players from New York to form Mandolin New England.  

In 2014, the selectboard of South Hadley kicked me out, telling me I couldn't teach out of my house any more, even though I'd been doing it for 5 years (and paying taxes from it btw).  I was forced to look for another place to teach.  The first place was at Chapdelaine's on Rte. 202 in Granby.  That place was fraught with problems.  From intruders setting off the alarms any time of day or night to flooding in the basement causing mold problems.  I eventually moved on from there.  I rented space at the Central Church in S. Hadley for a brief period.  That was very nice, but they wanted more money from me and I had to move.  I found a place on Open Square Way in Holyoke that I liked, but my students hated it because it wasn't safe (they said).  

In 2018, Emily and I bought a large (7 acre) property in Granby.  I put in an orchard, berry bushes and a large 35'x65' organic garden.  The place has a 3 season sun porch, which was the perfect amount of space for lessons.  Soon, I had built up my studio to 19 full time students, 3 weekly group classes and a mandolin orchestra.  All was well.

Then COVID hit, March of 2020.  I tried my best to offer online classes, but because of the lag, students weren't able to play together.  Most of my older students (over 60) resigned from the studio and never came back.  The group classes disbanded and so did the orchestra.

In 2022, I attempted to pull it all together, but like I said, the older students weren't willing to come back and younger students had other excuses.

That was the end of Sweet Music.  I let the domain expire.  I taught a few lessons at Downtown Sounds over the years, but when Joe sold the business and retired, I left there as well.

I still teach mandolin and fiddle, and if 3 people or more want to commit, I'm able to get the mandolin, or celtic or klezmer groups going again.