Crowden Music Center
- See also: The Crowden School
Crowden welcomes music students of all ages and levels of ability to participate in our after-school, weekend, and summer music lessons and classes.
From group classes in music fundamentals, to private lessons, to advanced ensembles and composition workshops, Crowden teachers help their students to become the best musicians they can be.
Because chamber music is at the heart of a Crowden education, we believe in giving students the tools to develop and express their musical independence, along with the sensitivity to play as part of a team. Through chamber music, students become part of a musical tradition and experience that is larger than any individual. Come be a part of it!
Parent Q&A
Parent Reviews
Parents, please Sign in to post a review on this page.The Crowden school has community days where there's often an "Instrument Zoo" where kids can play with different instruments. Your 4-year-old can also take lessons there as well.
This is an exciting and a perfect time to get a kid started in musical instruments, especially if he’s showing interest. Although this might not directly answer your question, Crowden Music Center in Berkeley holds a yearly “petting zoo” (around October I think), where kids and adults alike can try a wide variety of musical instruments. It’s a fun activity that is worth putting on your calendar. I’d also recommended signing up for their newsletter so you can keep posted on all their events (school concerts, weekend concerts, open-house, etc). My daughter (now 14 yo and still started playing piano at 4, and also picked up violin at age 6. Crowden’s unique environment allows musically inclined children to grow exponentially on this area. Please check it out.
If your kids play string instruments or piano you might try Crowden Music Center. My son is in the Crowden school, and everyone plays in quartets or larger groupings in the mornings. The music center is the community arm, and they do match and support chamber groups. You should call for details if your kids are interested in classical music.
Hi, if you are in the north Berkeley area or don’t mind the drive, (we live in Oakland), I’d highly recommend Crowden Music School for violin lessons. They also have piano teachers there and hopefully can schedule both kids’ lessons simultaneously. My daughter also attended school there from 5-8th grade. She plays both piano and violin. Amazing place if your child is musically inclined! For piano, she was taught by Jessica Klass, who has her studio in El Cerrito (klasspiano [at] gmail.com).
My son has been in the Crowden School's Suzuki program for more than four years, and they incorporate a lot of fiddle tunes into their lessons and recitals. I highly recommend the program, but you might be too late to register for this fall session. You can contact the teachers directly about the possibility of private lessons, though. The two teachers my son has studied with at Crowden teach both violin and viola. They are excellent musicians, fantastic teachers, and nice people -- KC Still and Rebecca Reed-Lunn. You can reach them through these sites: http://kcstill.com/
Archived Q&A and Reviews
March 2010
Our son takes a music class at Crowden School and I'm wondering whether to enroll him in the one-week music camp Scrape, Squawk and Bang. He loves the music class (it's general music not instrumental) but I'm worried he won't be ready for a week of instruments or that the other kids will be way more experienced with instruments. Would love to hear from anyone whose kid has taken this camp. The school is very friendly but I couldn't wrangle a very assertive or detailed explanation about the summer camp and the activities in it from the woman in charge at the school's office. It's a lot of money for a maybe good program. Thanks! anon
Go for it -- the camp is definitely appropriate for entering 1st graders and tends to draw plenty of kids with little or no experience playing an instrument. My son has gone twice, choosing a different instrument each time, and enjoyed it very much. The kids spend part of the day on choral singing and part on outdoor play and other activities, so it's not overly intense, and for the instrument lessons they are divided into small groups with other kids at a similar experience level. (My son was intrigued by the fact that his group included kids older than he with less experience and kids younger than he with more experience -- a valuable thing to know, that age does not necessarily equal expertise!) We found that the musical expectations were right on target for what beginners could learn in a week. Musical Mom
My daughter (now in 4th grade), did the ''Squawk'' camp with piano emphasis for a week when she was your child's age. She had a great time and was ready to begin regular piano lessons at Crowden that fall. During camp she was in a small group of 6 kids, and she joined up with larger groups of kids during the day for dance, drumming, and singing. There was even a little recital on the last day. We also signed up for the extended aftercare, which she remembers with much joy, especially the part where she ran through the sprinklers. I think it's a great way for kids to get introduced to music; there were also many kids who already played one instrument and were there to try something else. Jenne
Jan 2009
Re: Music camp for 7-year-old
My son has attended Crowden's Scrape, Bang, Squawk camp twice now and enjoyed it immensely. The camp is well-organized and we were impressed by how much the kids learn in a short time, as evidenced by the recital on the last day. Holly
Re: Crowden Scrape, Squawk summer camp
Our daughter attended this camp for a week when she was 5 or 6, and she had a great time trying out different instruments. Since she could speak, she had told us that she wanted to play the violin, so this was a good opportunity for her to try it out -- and she now takes violin lessons. We thought it was great, and would definitely recommend the camp. lori
My daughter took this class starting at the age of 6. It was a great introduction for her (the group dynamic is a lot less stressful then private lessons) and a good way for us to gauge her interest before paying significantly more for private lessons. She stuck with the group class for a couple years and then progressed to individual private lessons. She is still taking private lessons at Crowden with the same teacher. The piano lessons have also helped her to more easily learn other instruments since the fundamentals are there.