IN Peters Township October/November 2019 | Page 37

SPONSORED CONTENT
BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT
SPONSORED CONTENT
ANDERSON MUSIC ACADEMY
F
Changing Lives Through Music
ew music schools in the country, let alone in Peters
Township, can offer students the chance to learn from
someone with as much experience as Scott Anderson.
With two Emmys to his name, this composer, music
director, producer, and one of the Pittsburgh region’s most
sought-after keyboard players has opened a new private music
academy in Peters Township.
“I’ve been a piano player and performer in Pittsburgh for a
long time, doing jazz, oldies, television, you name it, but I wasn’t
teaching. Then, I got married and moved to Upper St. Clair about
10 years ago and a good friend of mine recommended that I
teach what I know to others,” Anderson said. “I decided to give
it a try and my first student was a third grader with perfect pitch
and great natural abilities. That student is now a sophomore in
college, majoring in music.”
But his student achievement didn’t end there. Anderson has
students who have completed, and some who currently are
enrolled in, some of the most prestigious music schools around,
such as Berklee College
of Music, University
of North Texas State,
University of Southern
California Thornton
School of Music
Popular Music Program,
University of Miami,
Belmont University,
Baldwin Wallace
University, Duquesne
University School of
Music and Penn State
Schreyer Honors
College. His high school
students are constantly
on PMEA rosters
Legendary Pittsburgh performer Pete Hewlett
of achievement and
recording in the studio at the Academy.
winners of numerous
musical competitions.
Anderson’s success in private teaching made the decision to
open up a school an easy one. Two years ago, he began searching
for a suitable location. It was a long search but it finally paid off.
In August he opened Anderson Music Academy, where he and a
staff of five other highly qualified instructors teach all aspects of
music from instrumentation to musical production.
“We teach what you’d expect—piano, voice, guitar—but we
also have a strong emphasis on music technology. We have an
exceptional, well-credentialed team of instructors. Each one of
them is an accomplished, experienced professional. My wife,
Sarah, does a stellar job with management and the administrative
side. She’s been a force of nature. You can come here for classical
training, but we also have a full-blown music recording studio,”
Anderson said. “I have students who are writing video game
music, recording original works, composing. We’re a really well-
rounded school
and that kind of
teaching is hard
to find anywhere
else.”
Anderson
Music Academy
can accept
students as young
as three years of
age, and parents
are encouraged to
enroll children in
music programs
as early as
possible. There
is no upper age
limit.
Owner and founder Scott Anderson winning his
first Emmy
Monica Stephenson is giving a music lesson to Olivia Anderson.
“My philosophy is to meet my students where they are,
musically,” Anderson said. “I have high school students who
want to play what’s on the radio and that’s a fair trade-off if I can
get them to practice! Oddly enough, a lot of what they want
to play is classic rock. I had four students doing ‘Bohemian
Rhapsody’ because of the Queen movie that came out, and now
I have students wanting to learn the Beatles—which is great for
me because I’m a huge Beatles fan! But classical is how you learn
piano, and it’s a basic. What you do with that foundation is up to
you.”
Anderson Music Academy
is located at 80 Center
Church Road in McMurray,
15317. For more information
on everything it has to
offer, policies and parent
testimonials, go to the website
at andersonmusicacademy.com.
PETERS TOWNSHIP
❘
OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2019
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