ANDERSON INSTITUTE OF MUSIC AND PERFORMING ARTS
JULY 31, 2015
Jen's Editing Note: This summer, my daughter wanted to learn how to play the ukulele. I figured it was an instrument I wouldn't mind hearing around the house and signed her up for classes at AIM here in Estrella. AIM is the Anderson Institute of Music and Performing Arts. WOW! What a great experience this has been. Mr. Anderson is from Hawaii and has his very own ukulele. I get that he loves teaching the instrument and my daughter, Emma, has picked it up quickly.
In my former nonprofit years, I briefly met Mr. Anderson when he provided the music for a Move-A-Thon® event we had. Very kind. And he made the day special for the kids. I asked Edward Anderson for a feature and he agreed. I hope you enjoy learning more about AIM as much as I did! |
Q. Tell me about your business. How did you decide to open in Estrella?
A. There are many schools and teachers available but AIM specializes in professional level education and professional level performance opportunities in voice, all instruments including piano and guitar, acting, music theater & songwriting. We have received the award for the Official Best Performing Arts Education for the State of Arizona in 2013, 2014 and 2015 and have even been featured on the Discovery Channel and CBS Entertainment. Many of our students have gone on to professional careers and universities across the United States including Boston School of Music, ASU, Berkelee School of Music, USC and American Music and Dramatic Academy. We chose to open in the Estrella Mountain Ranch community because we have had many students and performers driving to other studios from the area and we explored the area back in 2012 and couldn’t believe how fast the community grew. We took a leap of faith and decided to open a studio to help our students in their commutes and to make our high-end education and performance opportunities available to the community.
A. There are many schools and teachers available but AIM specializes in professional level education and professional level performance opportunities in voice, all instruments including piano and guitar, acting, music theater & songwriting. We have received the award for the Official Best Performing Arts Education for the State of Arizona in 2013, 2014 and 2015 and have even been featured on the Discovery Channel and CBS Entertainment. Many of our students have gone on to professional careers and universities across the United States including Boston School of Music, ASU, Berkelee School of Music, USC and American Music and Dramatic Academy. We chose to open in the Estrella Mountain Ranch community because we have had many students and performers driving to other studios from the area and we explored the area back in 2012 and couldn’t believe how fast the community grew. We took a leap of faith and decided to open a studio to help our students in their commutes and to make our high-end education and performance opportunities available to the community.
Q. How long have you been in business and what is your focus?
A. AIM began in Pasadena, California and Hollywood, CA back in 2005. We moved to Phoenix in 2008. Our professional staff teach all instruments including piano, voice, guitar, strings, woodwinds, brass, percussion, orchestral, and specialty instruments including ukulele and banjo. In addition, teachers in the AIM dance division have collective professional experience that spans decades including ballet, jazz, lyrical, tap, and hip hop. AIM offers professional level education and training in musical theater and theater dramatic arts. Through the Anderson Theater located in Avondale, all AIM students will have access to gaining experience and building a professional résumé through professional shows and concerts scheduled throughout the year.
AIM is proud of its private one-on-one In-Studio lessons for beginning, intermediate and advanced levels. Each person is unique and each student is given one-on-one private attention for maximum learning. Group workshops in music, acting, dance, performance refinement and songwriting are also offered for those who wish to take their skills to another level of professionalism.
AIM offers monthly casual community performances in various venues plus two annual formal performance recitals. In addition, AIM offers Summer Camps, musical productions, weeknight and weekend singer-songwriter-vocalist and performance workshops each year. And for those who need to build a résumé for auditions and/or professional work in Phoenix, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago or Nashville, AIM offer theater and Music Theater readings and recording/vocal coaching services through its subsidiary SkyWalk Records.
A. AIM began in Pasadena, California and Hollywood, CA back in 2005. We moved to Phoenix in 2008. Our professional staff teach all instruments including piano, voice, guitar, strings, woodwinds, brass, percussion, orchestral, and specialty instruments including ukulele and banjo. In addition, teachers in the AIM dance division have collective professional experience that spans decades including ballet, jazz, lyrical, tap, and hip hop. AIM offers professional level education and training in musical theater and theater dramatic arts. Through the Anderson Theater located in Avondale, all AIM students will have access to gaining experience and building a professional résumé through professional shows and concerts scheduled throughout the year.
AIM is proud of its private one-on-one In-Studio lessons for beginning, intermediate and advanced levels. Each person is unique and each student is given one-on-one private attention for maximum learning. Group workshops in music, acting, dance, performance refinement and songwriting are also offered for those who wish to take their skills to another level of professionalism.
AIM offers monthly casual community performances in various venues plus two annual formal performance recitals. In addition, AIM offers Summer Camps, musical productions, weeknight and weekend singer-songwriter-vocalist and performance workshops each year. And for those who need to build a résumé for auditions and/or professional work in Phoenix, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago or Nashville, AIM offer theater and Music Theater readings and recording/vocal coaching services through its subsidiary SkyWalk Records.
Q. You've won quite a few awards. Please tell us about your successes.
A. Achievements and Awards
- AIM awarded the Official Best Performing Arts Education for the entire state of Arizona in 2013, 2014, and 2015! AIM is the 1st business receive this award in Arizona and unprecedented to receive 3 years in a row.
- AIM Dance awarded multiple 1st place Entertainment, Overall, Costume and Individual Award in Dance in National Dance Competitions
- AIM Singers and Dancers open for Disney’s National KizBop Tour in Tucson in May 2015
- AIM's Production Show Fashion Fantastico – Phantom of the Opera is ranked as the 8th Best Show in Phoenix in 2011.
- AIM awarded the prestigious designator as the professional Music and Dance provider to all Lockheed Martin staff and families in 2013 and 2014
- AIM awarded the contract to provide elementary and middle school students live Theater instruction in 2012, 2013 and 2014.
- AIM vocal student Kaitlyn Hacker selected as opening act for 2013 Jazz Festivals in Phoenix, Arizona and San Diego, California
- AIM songwriting student Katryna Eastwood's song "Copper Wind" selected for Title Track Song to movie "Copper Wind" in 2013
- First School to have 3 locations in Arizona
Notable Performances - AIM Music and Dance students opened for:
- Sugar Ray, 2015
- Rick Springfield, 2014
- Barenaked Ladies, 2013
- Andy Grammer, 2012
- The Romantiks, 2011
- Big Bad Voodoo Daddy's, 2010
- Beach Boys, 2009
A. Achievements and Awards
- AIM awarded the Official Best Performing Arts Education for the entire state of Arizona in 2013, 2014, and 2015! AIM is the 1st business receive this award in Arizona and unprecedented to receive 3 years in a row.
- AIM Dance awarded multiple 1st place Entertainment, Overall, Costume and Individual Award in Dance in National Dance Competitions
- AIM Singers and Dancers open for Disney’s National KizBop Tour in Tucson in May 2015
- AIM's Production Show Fashion Fantastico – Phantom of the Opera is ranked as the 8th Best Show in Phoenix in 2011.
- AIM awarded the prestigious designator as the professional Music and Dance provider to all Lockheed Martin staff and families in 2013 and 2014
- AIM awarded the contract to provide elementary and middle school students live Theater instruction in 2012, 2013 and 2014.
- AIM vocal student Kaitlyn Hacker selected as opening act for 2013 Jazz Festivals in Phoenix, Arizona and San Diego, California
- AIM songwriting student Katryna Eastwood's song "Copper Wind" selected for Title Track Song to movie "Copper Wind" in 2013
- First School to have 3 locations in Arizona
Notable Performances - AIM Music and Dance students opened for:
- Sugar Ray, 2015
- Rick Springfield, 2014
- Barenaked Ladies, 2013
- Andy Grammer, 2012
- The Romantiks, 2011
- Big Bad Voodoo Daddy's, 2010
- Beach Boys, 2009
Q. Do you have a new facility opening this fall? Where? Tell us about it.
A. Does the West Valley need a new Performing Arts Center and Theater? YES! We're building an incredibly beautiful, state of the art theater. The Anderson Performing Arts Center and Theater will focus on providing one-of-a-kind opportunities to produce show stopping, community building, and entertaining events for the community.
After more than 2 years of planning, AIM is now set to open a state-of-the art community theater in Avondale, Arizona, that will showcase Arizona's youth performers, professional artists from around the world, and cultural performing groups from all over the country. AIM has been granted the privilege to perform Disney Musicals, Rogers and Hammerstein Musicals, as well as Broadways newest musicals as they are being released to the community theaters. This is an honor given to only highly-qualified producing organizations through Music Theater International and the Rogers & Hammerstein library.
The community theater will seat nearly 300 audience members and will be located at Avondale's City Center south of Interstate 10 off Avondale Blvd. City planners, architects, and builders have been diligently working to meet their targeted opening dates in September 2015.
The 2015-2016 season includes the following productions along with many more in the works: Peter Pan, Sound of Music, White Christmas, Nunsense, Beauty and the Beast, South Pacific, and Godspell. Some performances will entail bringing in professional theater actors from other parts of the country. Other roles will allow local artists to audition for roles. For more information on AIM, theater productions or how to take part as an artist or volunteer, please visit us or call us 623-256-6197; [email protected]
A. Does the West Valley need a new Performing Arts Center and Theater? YES! We're building an incredibly beautiful, state of the art theater. The Anderson Performing Arts Center and Theater will focus on providing one-of-a-kind opportunities to produce show stopping, community building, and entertaining events for the community.
After more than 2 years of planning, AIM is now set to open a state-of-the art community theater in Avondale, Arizona, that will showcase Arizona's youth performers, professional artists from around the world, and cultural performing groups from all over the country. AIM has been granted the privilege to perform Disney Musicals, Rogers and Hammerstein Musicals, as well as Broadways newest musicals as they are being released to the community theaters. This is an honor given to only highly-qualified producing organizations through Music Theater International and the Rogers & Hammerstein library.
The community theater will seat nearly 300 audience members and will be located at Avondale's City Center south of Interstate 10 off Avondale Blvd. City planners, architects, and builders have been diligently working to meet their targeted opening dates in September 2015.
The 2015-2016 season includes the following productions along with many more in the works: Peter Pan, Sound of Music, White Christmas, Nunsense, Beauty and the Beast, South Pacific, and Godspell. Some performances will entail bringing in professional theater actors from other parts of the country. Other roles will allow local artists to audition for roles. For more information on AIM, theater productions or how to take part as an artist or volunteer, please visit us or call us 623-256-6197; [email protected]
Q. If a child is showing an interest in an instrument, singing, or dancing, what do you suggest?
A. Call us to set an evaluation and the first music and dance lesson is free. This give the students and families a chance to see if AIM is a right fit and gives our teachers an opportunity to determine and assess a baseline of interest, skill and goals.
A. Call us to set an evaluation and the first music and dance lesson is free. This give the students and families a chance to see if AIM is a right fit and gives our teachers an opportunity to determine and assess a baseline of interest, skill and goals.
Q. Learning music is like learning a new language. What benefits does learning an instrument provide?
A. Dr. James Hudziak from the Unviersity of Vermont and his colleagues just released a study this month where they analyzed the brain scans of 232 children ages 6 to 18, looking for relationships between cortical thickness and musical training. Previous studies the team had performed revealed that anxiety, depression, attention problems and aggression correspond with changes to cortical thickness. Hudziak and his team sought to discover whether a "positive activity" like musical training could affect the opposite changes in young minds.
"What we found was the more a child trained on an instrument," Hudziak told the Washington Post, "it accelerated cortical organization in attention skill, anxiety management and emotional control."
The study found increased thickness in parts of the brain responsible for executive functioning, which includes working memory, attentional control and organizational skills. In short, music actually helped kids become more well-rounded. Not only that, they believe that musical training could serve as a powerful treatment of cognitive disorders like ADHD.
In presenting their findings, the authors reveal a terrifying truth about the American education system: Three-quarters of high school students "rarely or never" receive extracurricular lessons in the music or the arts. And that's depriving kids of way more than just knowing an instrument.
School systems that don't dedicate adequate time and resources to musical training are robbing their kids of so much. Prior research proves that learning music can help children develop spatiotemporal faculties, which then aid their ability to solve complex math. It can also help children improve their reading comprehension and verbal abilities, especially for those who speak English as a second language.
In these ways music can be a powerful tool in helping to close the achievement gaps that have plagued American schools for so long. It's even been shown that children who receive musical training in school also tend to be more civically engaged and maintain higher grade-point averages than children who don't. In short, musical education can address many of the systemic problems in American education.
Hudziak's research is an important addition to the field because it shows that music helps us become better people, too. One thing is clear: Learning music is one of the best things a person can do. Running music scales and learning could change the lives of a future generation.
A. Dr. James Hudziak from the Unviersity of Vermont and his colleagues just released a study this month where they analyzed the brain scans of 232 children ages 6 to 18, looking for relationships between cortical thickness and musical training. Previous studies the team had performed revealed that anxiety, depression, attention problems and aggression correspond with changes to cortical thickness. Hudziak and his team sought to discover whether a "positive activity" like musical training could affect the opposite changes in young minds.
"What we found was the more a child trained on an instrument," Hudziak told the Washington Post, "it accelerated cortical organization in attention skill, anxiety management and emotional control."
The study found increased thickness in parts of the brain responsible for executive functioning, which includes working memory, attentional control and organizational skills. In short, music actually helped kids become more well-rounded. Not only that, they believe that musical training could serve as a powerful treatment of cognitive disorders like ADHD.
In presenting their findings, the authors reveal a terrifying truth about the American education system: Three-quarters of high school students "rarely or never" receive extracurricular lessons in the music or the arts. And that's depriving kids of way more than just knowing an instrument.
School systems that don't dedicate adequate time and resources to musical training are robbing their kids of so much. Prior research proves that learning music can help children develop spatiotemporal faculties, which then aid their ability to solve complex math. It can also help children improve their reading comprehension and verbal abilities, especially for those who speak English as a second language.
In these ways music can be a powerful tool in helping to close the achievement gaps that have plagued American schools for so long. It's even been shown that children who receive musical training in school also tend to be more civically engaged and maintain higher grade-point averages than children who don't. In short, musical education can address many of the systemic problems in American education.
Hudziak's research is an important addition to the field because it shows that music helps us become better people, too. One thing is clear: Learning music is one of the best things a person can do. Running music scales and learning could change the lives of a future generation.
Q. What are your goals for your Estrella business?
A. Estrella is home to our award-winning dance company and award-winning music programs. We are expanding our studios to include dancewear retail and music accessories.
A. Estrella is home to our award-winning dance company and award-winning music programs. We are expanding our studios to include dancewear retail and music accessories.
Q. Anything else you'd like to add?
A. Our Mission is to build self-esteem and confidence in the Individual, unify the family, and nurture the community through the performing arts.
AIM's Core Values are:
- At AIM, we take the goals of our students seriously.
- We are passionate about sharing the benefits of the Performing Arts
- We are constantly improving. We are not satisfied with the status quo.
- Results drive our decisions. We encourage parents and friends to support each student's goal and be involved with their planning. We've found this improves the success of our student's reaching their goals.
- We have minimal hierarchy. We try to keep our organization relatively flat, with managers who work, not just manage.
- We are transparent. We hold ourselves accountable to our students.
- We are creative. We encourage our faculty and staff to explore new and creative ways to improve the learning environment of our students
- We believe that a strong foundation on fundamentals and technique are the tools on which are students are able to improve their skills efficiently
A. Our Mission is to build self-esteem and confidence in the Individual, unify the family, and nurture the community through the performing arts.
AIM's Core Values are:
- At AIM, we take the goals of our students seriously.
- We are passionate about sharing the benefits of the Performing Arts
- We are constantly improving. We are not satisfied with the status quo.
- Results drive our decisions. We encourage parents and friends to support each student's goal and be involved with their planning. We've found this improves the success of our student's reaching their goals.
- We have minimal hierarchy. We try to keep our organization relatively flat, with managers who work, not just manage.
- We are transparent. We hold ourselves accountable to our students.
- We are creative. We encourage our faculty and staff to explore new and creative ways to improve the learning environment of our students
- We believe that a strong foundation on fundamentals and technique are the tools on which are students are able to improve their skills efficiently