“Every child who reaches graduation – every child – is able to play a simple melody in any key,” said Aldrich, who purchased the Children’s Music Academy three years ago after having served as director of the Minot Area Council of the Arts for a number of years. “They play a solo for their graduation. They are able to recognize a 1, 4, 5 chord progression … they’re able to recognize things by ear … they’re able to … recognize all of the notes on the grand staff. So there is a tremendous growth in those three and a half years and it gives them a tremendous musical foundation.”

Children’s Music Academy is part of a national franchise. Children enrolled in the music classes follow a copyrighted curriculum.

Lessons are offered to early beginners at 3 and 4, who start by learning how to turn on a keyboard and strike a high note. Over the next 3 1/2 years the children – and parents or grandparents, who take the classes right along side them – learn through fun activities and eventually learn how to play guitar, the recorder and rhythm and percussion instruments.

Aldrich said the classes roughly follow the academic year and are held once a week in downtown Minot. Tuition is $850 per year, per child, with some discounts available for younger children in the family. Aldrich said lessons are quite affordable.

Submitted Photo Young students learn music alongside their parents at the Children’s Music Academy of Minot.

She employs five highly skilled music teachers. Class sizes are limited, with most classes limited to 10 students. The master class, for students who have already graduated from the Children’s Music Academy classes for beginners, is limited to eight students, as are the classes for preschoolers in the pre-junior class.

Aldrich said the Children’s Music Academy just started offering a class for older students, ages 8 to 11, who are older music beginners. It is the only Children’s Music Academy in the country that offers the senior curriculum.

“The families are loving it,” said Aldrich. “The students are loving it. It’s really exciting to be the only one in the nation to offer that.”

Parent Amber Klein said five of her nine children have taken classes at the Children’s Music Academy.

Her two oldest children, ages 14 and 12, can hear a song on the radio and play it by ear without reading the music first. Her 5-year-old is also able to play a simple tune on the piano.

Submitted Photo The Children’s Music Academy of Minot offers a 3 1/2 year long music program using a copyrighted curriculum.

Klein said that the music lessons at the Children’s Music Academy enhances what the children have learned in music classes in school.

All that ear training has been beneficial for her daughter who takes classical ballet.

Klein, who didn’t have a music background as a child, said she has enjoyed learning about music alongside her children.

Aldrich said studies show that music training helps children develop skills in other areas too. Children who have had three years of music or art lessons score 100 points higher on their SATs, according to one study.

After Aldrich bought the business, one woman told her about how the early music lessons at the Children’s Music Academy helped her daughter to master advance mathematics.

Aldrich said it is also a bonding experience between parents or grandparents and their children.

The Children’s Music Academy of Minot is currently registering children for fall classes.

More information is available on their Facebook page or on their website or by calling 509-4920.