We believe that students learn best from teachers who can provide exemplary demonstrations of musical concepts. Musical innovation isn't necessarily about composition and improvisation — it can also be a fresh, sensitive interpretation of a classical composition.

We also believe that musical skills grow best within those who learn to cultivate free-flowing energy, who minimize tension and force in their playing. These are principles of Musical Ergonomics which help guide our program. We believe that proper training can greatly reduce the danger inherent in the repetitive motion required to become a skilled musician. Our teachers model good practice habits as well.

We know from our experience that the greater skill we develop in our playing and singing, the better our ability to express our musical ideas. And the better we can express ourselves musically, the more we enjoy making music. Further, there exists a direct correlation between how much we practice and how much skill we develop. Therefore, we expect that all students in our program will practice regularly.

We offer private lessons on most instruments to students of all skill levels from age seven on. Our teachers draw on many different traditions and styles of music and practice and perform regularly.

Guitar · Piano · Keyboards · Bamboo Flute · Wind Synthesizer · Cello · Violin · Viola · Clarinet · Saxophone · Flute · Percussion · Voice

In addition to the private lessons we currently offer, we plan to offer classes in music theory, composition, arranging, and orchestration. We also plan on offering classes in music technology, such as recording and using MIDI-based tools such as the Cakewalk sequencer.

Each summer we offer a two-week Summer Performing Arts Camp at the YMCA of the Rockies in Winter Park, Colorado. This camp is planned and conducted in conjunction with the Boulder School of Theater and Dance.

Our director, Reed McHeyser, describes his experience at the Georgia Governor's Honors Program as "The best educational experience of my life," and has tried to incorporate some key aspects of that program into our Summer Performing Arts Camp.

The camp integrates music, theater, and dance into an immersive mountain environment — one of the most naturally inspiring settings in Colorado.

Our teachers draw on many different traditions and styles of music. They practice and perform regularly, because the better their ability to convey their musical ideas, the more they enjoy playing. Our philosophy is that students learn better from teachers who can provide exemplary demonstrations of musical concepts.

Note: Some teacher listings are illustrative placeholders representing the kinds of associates we intend to bring on.

Our facility provides a warm, focused environment for individual and group musical development. Qualified students have access to our recording studio and electronic learning lab.

We believe that the physical environment of learning matters deeply — our spaces are designed to be comfortable, inspiring, and technically well-equipped without being overwhelming or intimidating.

We make selective use of technology at this school to help our teachers teach and to help our students learn. Most of the technology is simple to use for its basic purposes. We also employ technology that requires special training yet provides important capabilities for our teachers and program.

Research Note: These examples are based on hands-on use of the technology for the purposes described.

These principles were derived by our director, Reed McHeyser, to help guide our use of technology at this school — and more broadly, as a philosophy for how technology should serve human beings rather than the reverse.

Musical ergonomics is a term we use at our school to describe our physical and psychological relationship to our instruments and the tools we use. We emphasize the foundation of training in proper use of our bodies while we play primarily because it reduces our risk of injury — but this training also has added benefits: as we play, we have less tension, use less force, and experience greater comfort. Best of all, this training helps free our technique so we can better express our musical ideas.

Smooth, effortless action is the ideal when playing or singing. Of course, we musicians do sometimes struggle with our instruments when trying to overcome technical problems. At these times, we are probably so intent on achieving a goal that we ignore subtle tensions within our bodies. This unnecessary tension accumulates as we play. It is not only counter-productive to our playing; it can be quite dangerous over time.

The key insight is that tension and force in playing are not signs of commitment or effort — they are inefficiencies. The most advanced musicians are often the most relaxed. Their technique is not about overpowering the instrument; it is about communicating with it.

Our curriculum incorporates principles drawn from Alexander Technique, Feldenkrais Method, and sport science research into repetitive-motion injury prevention. Students learn body awareness as a musical skill, not an afterthought.

One particularly successful implementation of ergonomic performance support technology is the Yamaha WX11 MIDI Wind Controller and its companion VL70-m Tone Generator. The wind controller is about the size, shape and fingering of a clarinet, and it sends MIDI signals to the tone generator, which generates the sounds.

Together, this "wind synth" allows a wind player a degree of expressiveness that I, as someone well-versed with MIDI keyboards, find astonishing. On a keyboard, successfully simulating a wind instrument is extremely awkward at best. The keyboard is a percussion instrument in the sense that the sound is determined entirely by the initiation of the note at the moment of "attack." Normally, the only control the player has after initiating a note is how long the note is sustained.

On an electronic keyboard, sounds can be programmed with certain characteristics such as vibrato — but this vibrato is "canned." The player cannot naturally control it in real time. The WX11 changes all of this. Breath pressure, tongue articulation, lip pressure, and fingering combine to give the player the same nuanced, real-time expressive control they would have on an acoustic wind instrument — while having access to the full tonal palette of a sophisticated tone generator. It is, genuinely, a kind of miracle.

For a video demonstration, see the Reed McHeyser Bio page — the Wind Synth Demo video is there.

For further information, see windsynth.org.

Reed McHeyser plays keyboards, acoustic guitar (with full rasgueado technique), recorder at professional classical level, folk flutes, slide dobro, bass guitar, wind synthesizer, and piano. He teaches all of these instruments at the school and also conducts our school ensembles. In addition, he teaches our Recording and Music Technology classes.

Reed started his music career as a trombonist. In high school he won several honors including serving as principal trombonist in the Georgia All-State Band and attending the Governor's Honors Program — which he describes as "The best educational experience of my life." He played with the Columbus (GA) Symphony Orchestra for four years, serving as principal trombonist for two of those years. He also majored in music for three years at Columbus College.

He holds an MA in Educational Technology (Information and Learning Technologies) from the University of Colorado Denver, with an emphasis on technology-assisted learning environments — which now forms the intellectual backbone of the UniversalHuman.org project. He brings over 22 years of professional experience in software systems design, development, implementation, testing, and configuration.

A curated collection of resources related to music education, musical ergonomics, learning technology, and related fields.

Alexander Technique resources · Performing Arts Medicine Association (PAMA) · Body Mapping for Musicians · Feldenkrais Method

windsynth.org — The primary community resource for wind synthesizer players and enthusiasts.

University of Colorado Denver, School of Education and Human Development · Information and Learning Technologies program · MIDI Manufacturers Association

For current tuition rates and enrollment information, please contact us directly. We work with families to find lesson structures and fee arrangements that make high-quality music education accessible.

We are always interested in connecting with excellent music educators who share our philosophy of student-centered, ergonomically-informed music education. If you practice and perform regularly, teach with enthusiasm, and value both technical rigor and human-centered pedagogy, we'd like to hear from you.

Contact: Reed McHeyser at reedplay@gmail.com.