Sunburst School of Music goes beyond old school lessons

Sunburst School of Music founder Alex Stanton believes a music studio can do more than teach lessons. It can shape the future of a city’s music.

The guitarist and songwriter opened the school with a handful of students in 2011 in a one-room Squirrel Hill basement. He moved to the second floor of 5843 Forbes Ave. in 2013, the same year he hired two guitar teachers to supplement his solo practice.

Today, Sunburst occupies 4,500 square feet comprising 15 teaching rooms and a spacious, 60-seat performing area. An experienced faculty of 35 instructors offers lessons in guitar, bass, drums, piano, ukulele, voice and music production to 700 students of all ages and musical interests.

“When we moved into this space,” Stanton says, “we realized we could do more than individual lessons. We could have group programs, band programs, camps, full-scale public performances. It could be a little incubator for the next generation of music in Pittsburgh.”

Indeed, several one-time Sunburst students have gone on to perform and record professionally, such as Ryan Hoffman, Cameron Suzensky, Sulwe Okoko, hunnycomb, Madeline Jo and Friends, Nolan Jack, Wild Blue Yonder and Sloane Simon, who appeared on a 2021 “American Idol” episode.

Stanton’s own musical development was slow to evolve. 

“Our family was not musical,” he recalls, “but my parents provided several musical opportunities. I tried piano lessons. I tried saxophone lessons. And quit both of them. I even quit the school play.”

At 15, however, the early efforts finally jelled.

“My mother brought a guitar home from a colleague at work,” he says. “I picked it up, and it was instantly, ‘Oh, this feels fun now!’”

By his early 20s, Stanton was performing with 28 North, a nationally touring rock quartet voted the city’s Best Band in 2010 by Pittsburgh Magazine. His recent solo project (that often expands into larger ensembles) is titled townsppl and has yielded two well-received albums of original songs.

In support of its student scholarship fund, Sunburst kicks off a new open-to-the-public showcase series on March 22 titled “Sunburst Cabaret”. The night is hosted by Stephen Weinstein and Daniel Hayashi, with a theme of “Sunburst Goes To Broadway” and features performances by instructors and students.

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NEXTpittsburgh: Does Sunburst have a teaching philosophy?

Alex Stanton: Our philosophy generally is getting people to have fun with music and discover what they like about it. Learning music is a very personal experience. Some people get a pretty strict classical music education, and it’s very specific … but it’s not for everybody.

NEXTpittsburgh: You start students as young as age 4 with lessons?

Stanton: Yes, and there are kids that age who do well with personalized instruction, one-on-one lessons. But there are a lot of kids who benefit from more general exposure to music, more like singing and dancing and learning rhythms and melodies until they’re ready for one-on-one lessons.

NEXTpittsburgh: That’s how you began the Music Together® classes?

Stanton: We were looking for something for the youngest kids that would be more general and encouraging. Having them be around music and showing them by example is the best thing you can do for them at that age. It’s a family-like setting.

NEXTpittsburgh: And parents are included?

Stanton: Yes, we want that shared experience between parent and child. Parents or caregivers are required to stay in the classroom and participate alongside the child, and that makes for a shared experience.

We know that children learn differently than adults. They learn instinctively and constantly and through imitation and play. It’s an immersive, interactive environment confirmed by research in early childhood and music development.

NEXTpittsburgh: In the one-on-one lessons, once a student gets to a basic level of musical proficiency, how do you move them beyond the fundamentals?

Stanton: You try to figure out what it is about each kid that’s going to get them excited about the music learning process. Sometimes that’s really easy. Other times, it’s “how do I challenge this person and send them in new interesting directions.” It’s totally different for everybody. 

NEXTpittsburgh: It would also depend on the instructor, probably.

Stanton: We have a mix of instructors, so you get a bunch of different perspectives. Some of them have an academic background and have degrees in jazz or classical music. Some of them have a background more like me — playing in bands and being self-taught.

We try to get students with instructors who align with their interests. It’s kind of a matchmaking process. We encourage teachers to work with as many different kinds of students as possible and pivot with them when their interests change. Sometimes a student starts on one instrument, and they see some other kid playing bass and say, “I want to try that!” That kind of thing happens all the time, and we encourage it.

NEXTpittsburgh: Making music in a genuine band setting is a great teaching tool. That seems to be emphasized at Sunburst.

Stanton: The most advanced level of the band program is called House Band. It’s a program for kids under 18, and they audition once a year. The kids who do it are very dedicated. They come to weekly rehearsals, and sometimes they’re even in another band besides this. 

These students are really into music, and we try to get them to perform as much as possible here and around the city. We try to get them to write and record. We’ve had some kids who went on to college and enrolled as music majors. It’s been a big part of their journey.

NEXTpittsburgh: Does House Band delve into the business aspects of being in a band?

Stanton: In all the band programs we talk about how to make careers in today’s music industry. You’re trying to teach students everything you can, whether it’s how to arrange your songs, how to sound as good as you can, but also how to phrase an email to book a gig. We guide them through stuff like naming their band and making logos and T-shirts and making social media accounts and how to approach that kind of thing. It’s been cool to see a bunch of them spin off into bands outside of Sunburst. 

NEXTpittsburgh: You also have some very enthusiastic adult students.

Stanton: Adults are about 20% of our total. The classic adult student is somebody who has already watched 10 YouTube videos and tried to learn that way but comes to realize they need personal feedback to move forward.

NEXTpittsburgh: The instructor’s guidance is important.

Stanton: Right. YouTube doesn’t listen back yet. 

NEXTpittsburgh: It seems like you also support the social aspect of playing music with open mics and jams.

Stanton: Because the lessons are mostly one-on-one, we try to give everybody opportunities to do the bands and recitals. We have a monthly student open-jam night and one for kids and one for adults. People have a great time. They come and jam and meet each other and hang out.

NEXTpittsburgh: Are your lessons in music production popular?

Stanton: Very. We have 40-50 students taking the lessons. One of the things that’s been really interesting in the last few years is the growth of interest in music production lessons. It’s an alternative to learning an instrument. You’re learning the meta instrument. They’re mostly making beats and using Logic or Ableton to make hip-hop and EDM and other music with sampling and synths.

NEXTpittsburgh: The instructor and the student collaborate on composing music?

Stanton: Right. There are kids who maybe struggle with playing a quote-unquote real instrument but excel at working with computers.

NEXTpittsburgh: And it’s the way so much contemporary music is being created. The student learns the technology and how to make it expressive.

Stanton: It’s a perfectly valid musical path, if that’s what you want to do and it’s exciting for you. It’s like an artist making a collage but not being an actual painter. It’s still art. 

Who’s to say that doesn’t count?