A new neighborhood music lessons studio company specializing in 30-minute private lessons has just opened in Cleveland Heights. It’s the first studio outside of Columbus for Musicologie, which has four studios in the state capital.
Here in Northeast Ohio, the studio has rebranded the former Fairmount Music School, the space that locals Kevin and Pat Richards who have owned and operated their studio since 1988.
The founders/owners of Musicologie, Joseph and Kay Barker, are longtime touring musicians and music educators from Grandview Heights, a small suburb outside of downtown Columbus. Their mission is “to create an inclusive community of music explorers and empower teachers to build sustainable careers.”
They’ve successfully pivoted during the time of COVID to offer high quality online lessons via zoom but can also do in-person lessons if the student and teacher are both comfortable with observing strict safety protocols.
The Fairmount Music School’s teaching staff will remain in place and lessons will continue uninterrupted.
In 2014, the Barkers launched Musicologie out of the conviction that music is for everyone, and the “betterment of teachers’ livelihoods” would be at the center of everything they do. They’ve embraced a unique co-ownership structure that provides partners — called Community Managers — with the tools to build successful teaching studios. Pat Richards will become the Community Manager of Musicologie Cleveland Heights.
Pat Richards says she’s excited to partner with Musicologie.
“Their systems will not only improve the student experience for our in-studio lessons but will support those studying music at home — digital content, videos, and curriculum development focused on online lessons — it helps to have a larger company behind you to be able to adapt in this environment,” she says in a press statement. “More than anything, our values are aligned. We feel good about the fact that any change that is implemented will only be what is best for our teachers and students in the long run.”
Musicologie will continue to expand, too.
“We are currently working on a project in the Cincinnati area we hope to be able to complete before the end of the year,” says Joseph Barker. “We definitely feel there is tremendous growth opportunity for what we do and how we do it.”
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