Kaleidoscope School of Music

This review is for Kaleidoscope Rock Academy, which operates out of Kaleidoscope.

tl;dr - scheduling nightmare, contract breach, and borderline fraudulent charges. There are better programs out there

My son has been a member of a group here for over a year. He came from another group oriented program with firm schedules and weekly rehearsals, so it was an adjustment to have to decrease to one rehearsal a month. Things were okay for that year, despite numerous reschedules. We decided to continue the program this year because something is better than nothing though.

This year has unfortunately very disappointing. The new season started in November, and after one month the schedule fell apart. I am a single parent that works full time, and it is extremely important that I can know my son’s schedule in advance. Multiple times during this season the director of the band cancelled practice, on one extreme case just an hour before. This translated into my son not being able to attend a practice for over two months. The director stated that it all worked out because he added a practice at time that worked for others in the band, but surprise, didn’t work for my son because what I thought was going to be the schedule turned out not to be the schedule. The director seems to think that individual parents are paying for the band, not for their children. I don’t think I’m out of line in thinking nobody thinks that way.

To add to all this, I told the director two weeks ago that about all my grievances, to which he replied it all balanced out with the additional practice (again, that my child couldn’t go to because of all the schedule shuffling). He went so far as to try and tell me only one cancellation had happened despite it having happened multiple times. At this point I was pretty certain scheduling at this organization is a complete and utter mess, and that there was no way my son would have a good experience there. I told the director my son would no longer be participating in the program.

What really infuriates me though is that he referred me to a section of the registration agreement that says I am committing to pay tuition for a full year. He very conveniently glosses over this part of the same agreement:

Rehearsals, song choices and public performances for the academic year are all highly customized to meet the needs of students who join our rock bands each Fall.

The needs of the students 100% covers not rewriting the schedule frequently so that students can’t make it to practice. He will claim it’s completely out of his hands, but then what the hell are you paying for if not at bare minimum someone to organize and enforce a practice schedule that actually works?

And then he charged me tuition for a term I said my son would not take part in two weeks after I pointed out his contract breach. I confronted him again about why he was continuing to charge me, and he pointed out the same agreement that he himself originally violated. It boils my blood to think that someone would try to take advantage of parents like this. To be honest, I hadn’t planned to even write this review until he charged me again and continued to act like it was no fault of his for my child’s departure.

Now I’m having to process a chargeback through my bank, which sucks.

There are better group programs out there. Go to one of them and get a better value for your money, and avoid the headaches of not knowing whether or not your child will actually get to use the service. More...

We went to this school for pre-k music class. The teacher Leah Mainard is absolutely amazing. She has this gift of communicating with kids in a kind and loving manner to get them interested and just enjoy themselves. Kids truly enjoy these classes.

Reviewed on Facebook

Launa Rohar is my daughter's flute teacher. Ms. Rohar began teaching my 7 year old in February '17 to try out a new-ish method of teaching younger kids how to play the flute. The patience, kindness and dedication Ms. Rohar has shown my daughter is incredible! The confidence my daughter plays with is a direct result of Ms. Rohar's hard work. I am very impressed and highly recommend Ms. Rohar. In addition, Reid Wolch is an exceptional piano player who assists Ms. Rohar at recitals. Mr. Wolch's ability to play along with the flutists and at times improvise is very impressive! More...

Reviewed on Facebook

My flute teacher at Kaleidoscope, Launa Rohar, is great to work with. Just picking up the instrument after a long absence. She is patient and gives me great feedback. So much better than the first teachers I had long ago. More...

Reviewed on Facebook

There’s no place like Kaleidoscope!!! I’m a Bassist and aspiring guitarist who decided to take guitar lessons from Adam Cordova. While he’s one of the newer teachers, Mr. Cordova was quickly able to determine my skill level, musical tastes, and he really tries to give you the tools to break down music that appears difficult. Don’t be fooled into taking lessons on the internet or a musical instrument shop—go to Kaleidoscope for the best instructors in town! More...

Reviewed on Facebook