By Steffan Decker
April 14, 2018
Long-time KZUM-supporter and underwriter, Blue Raven Music Studios is expanding their studio space and is celebrating this Sunday with an Open House Celebration.
Blue Raven opened in 2009 and is located on 3835 S 48th st. Founded by husband and wife Matt and Jenny Richardson, Blue Raven aims to make music accessible to anyone. Blue Raven currently offers classes in piano, guitar, banjo, ukulele, violin and more, to students from ages 5 through adulthood.
“We find that people do music for different reasons so we adapt our teaching style to match that,” Matt Richardson said before going on to explain some of the unique classes available; The Youth Guitar- and Youth Ukulele Programs are specifically designed to teach younger children from ages 5 to 9. Instead of the typical 30-minute sessions, these programs meet in 20-minute sessions. Richardson says that the purpose is to tailor to the attention spans of younger children, “we find that even with the shorter time, by year’s end, the cumulative knowledge the children gain is significant.”
Two months ago, an opportunity arose for Blue Raven to purchase more space. “We didn’t plan for it,” says Richardson, “an opportunity came pretty quickly and we took advantage.” Blue Raven has added more teaching rooms as well as one large studio in the back. The large studio is intended to teach group lessons – a new service for Blue Raven.
The studio expansion will open the door for other types of growth. With more teaching rooms, Blue Raven will be hiring new teachers. Teaching staff comes from all over the map with UNL Masters students and well-established local musicians making up several instructor positions.
Richardson said that they are working with new teaching ideas including a free month-to-month group class where people interested in music can come in to the new back studio and give an instrument a try before deciding to commit to one-on-one lessons.
Blue Raven does everything to live up to their motto: “Music is for everyone.”
The Expansion Celebration Open House is Sunday, April 15 from Noon until 2. The Open House will have performances from current students, snacks and opportunities to win free lessons and other prizes. This event is free and open to the public. Additional information is available on the event page here.
Steffan Decker is the Multimedia Specialist and co-host of The ISM Machine at KZUM.
