Let The Music Play

Recently, my wife and I headed out to Red Bank to catch my great-nephew Anthony perform as part of the Shore Music Academy’s rock band concert performances. 

This is the third time within the past year that I’ve caught Anthony playing the drums with other music students who attend the academy, and it’s always a pleasure when the youngsters take to the stage. Anthony is 13-years-old and has been playing drums for about six years now.

The first time I saw him perform was at my nephew Kenny’s wedding reception last year, when the DJ invited him up on-stage and had him play the drums to the records he was spinning. I couldn’t believe how well he followed along with the music that evening. The kid’s got talent! 

The performances that my wife and I saw were held upstairs at the Downtown Restaurant that afternoon, and all the kids sounded great. Five bands performed 3-4 songs each, a mix of rock classics and new material. Anthony’s band went on for the second set, and the band’s opening number was Bruce Springsteen’s “Hungry Heart”.

It made me feel good to know that while most kids who perform want to learn how to play the hot music of the day, there’s an appreciation for the classics by them as well.

Shore Music Academy has been a staple in the Jersey Shore for many years and offers music lessons for all ages and levels. The academy provides students with individual lessons, as well as band classes and song writing classes for them, too. They moved into their new location at 68 Monmouth Road in Oakhurst just a few years ago.

School director George Papa is the driving force behind Shore Music Academy, getting kids together to play both as individuals and as a unit with other music students. The teachers that work at the academy all have years of experience in bands that have played at the Jersey Shore throughout the years. The academy offers lessons in drums, piano, guitar, voice, and song writing. 

Whether these kids have aspirations to pursue music as a career or just take lessons to have fun, the Shore Music Academy provides the Jersey Shore with its share of musical talent that never seems to dry up and fade away. For as far back as I can remember from all of the club hopping I did back in the day (the late 1970’s) up to the here and now, the Jersey Shore music scene has never been lacking of any talent. The groups that you see performing today in the area clubs all had to get their start somewhere. 

If you have a child who’s interested in music, you can contact the Shore Music Academy at (732)531-7676 or via e-mail at smusicacademy@optimum.net. The school’s website is http://shoremusicacademy.com . The school’s hours are M-F from 2PM-8PM, and Saturday from 9AM-5PM. 

(The entire Jersey Shore Retro Blogography can be found at http://longbranch.patch.com/blogs/kevin-cieris-blog .You can also follow Kevin Cieri's blog on his Facebook page, "Jersey Shore Retro" as well as on Twitter @jsretro).