When Angela Jaskowiak got in a car accident in high school, she thought her music career was over. Nerve damage in her hands left her unable to keep up with the rigor of playing an instrument. Instead of giving up on her passion, she channeled it into teaching others and opened the Virtuoso Music Academy in Plymouth.
Jaskowiak had been playing instruments since she was 4 or 5 years old. Primarily piano and flute, she was so skilled and dedicated that she was already teaching others by the time she was in middle school. She went into high school wanting to pursue music for as long as she could. It was just a few years later, as a senior in high school, that she was in the accident.
With her body unable to keep up with her dreams, Jaskowiak decided to pursue music in another way. She enrolled at the University of St. Thomas in the entrepreneurship program.
“I lost the music dream, and then through the entrepreneurship program, I realized the dream didn’t have to die,” Jaskowiak says. “I thought, ‘What would I do with my own music school?’”
Jaskowiak saw a gap between classically trained musicians and the realities of the professional music industry. Along with her husband, Eric Mueller, she opened Virtuoso in 2005. Having Mueller as a partner helped shape the Virtuoso teaching style.
Unlike Jaskowiak, Mueller is a mostly self-taught musician. He played in band in school, but has no formal training for rock instruments such as guitar and drums, which he learned on his own. By blending his style with Jaskowiak’s classic music style, the two are better able to understand students’ needs, which is exactly what their curriculum is built around.
“Part of the goal is to provide all the different avenues so that students can decide what works for them,” Mueller says.
For some students, that means learning by ear, and for others that means a more classical approach. Teachers will play to these strengths through 30-, 45-, or 60-minute lessons once a week, while also helping students learn about their musical weaknesses. Students come to the school from as young as age 4 to adult.
Some students walk through the door knowing exactly what they want, whether it’s to learn a certain song or play in a band. Others are enrolled by their parents. And some are just there because they want to learn music, but have no specific game plan.
No matter the type of student, Jaskowiak and Mueller make sure they are placed with the best teacher for them (all instructors have music degrees) and the teaching style is tailored to their needs. Part of that means using technology. Virtuoso offers computer lab time after every music lesson.
Computer time could be anything from a note card program that helps students learn concepts to ear training to rhythm programs. There’s even a program designed for kids as young as 4, where they arrange shapes, each one corresponding to a different sound, to create their own music. For the more advanced students, they spend time on Garage Band or other recording and composing programs.
Having this technology piece allows students to get instant feedback rather than going home to work on a lesson.
But a passion for music has to come from within.
“For me, a lot of the life skills I learned came from music,” Jaskowiak says. “Not giving up and overcoming hardship is a big piece of music education.”