WELCOME TO OUR SCHOOL!
We stick to the name Bellingham Music ourselves, but since the 1980's the names Harris Avenue Music and Bellingham Academy of Music have been used too!
For over 35 years we have provided instruction in guitar, over the years adding a suite of instruments to meet the needs of the community. Today we have instruction on guitar, bass, ukulele, piano, orchestral instruments, woodwinds, folk instruments, drums, percussion, voice and even electronic production.
Every student is unique in their personality, learning styles, physical features, musical goals and more. Our goal is to provide traditional, fundamental music instruction with a friendly, modern approach. This helps provide a good foundation for any style of music so we can get the student to playing what they want to play. Many of our students even participate in one of our ensembles!
Our convenient downtown location allows for easy access by bus, as well as a quick trip for other things before, after or even during lessons (parents love this!). We are a short walk to downtown retail, coffee, a climbing gym, groceries, breweries and more.
During COVID we closed our cornerstone store location on the corner of State & Champion Streets. Since then we've been operating in what we used to call "The Annex" on the corner of Forst & Champion Streets. "The Annex" was a low-key building, home of The Red Wall Garage performance space and where we gave lessons and classes, stored rental instruments and did repairs. Unfortunately as COVID persisted, we had to let The Red Wall Garage space go and now we just operate in the front part of the building giving lessons, doing classes, providing rehearsal space and renting instruments. Our public retail space officially closed September 1, 2022.
Do we offer a FREE 1st lesson? We prefer to call it a "Meet & Greet" rather than a "lesson" since most of the time is spent getting to know each other, assessing the student's abilities and learning styles, and starting to formulate a lesson plan. There will likely be some actual "free lesson" time in there too. Most of our instructors are available to schedule a consultation to make sure they are a good fit for you or your young student. We believe music - and music instruction - is a two-way relationship and make every effort to get started toward your goals right away. After this consultation we'll jump right into instruction at your first paid lesson.