The Shedd Institute's Community Music School offers classes and private lessons for all ages in a wide range of musical instruments and styles. The school also offers summer music camps, a school music enrichment assembly program, and special workshops associated with select Shedd concerts.

The Shedd Community Music School offers need-based financial aid for youth and adult students alike, thanks to the generosity of donors and corporate sponsors, so that cost is not a barrier to learning music. Confidential financial aid applicaiton forms can be downloaded online from our eDocument archive or picked up at the Registrar's office. Submit the appropriate form for either a class or private lessons to the Registar. Get financial aid forms from our eDocument archive here.

Is The Shedd Institute really trying to revive “vaudeville”? Well, not exactly –- but we do draw from the rich well of this American theatrical tradition to engage youngsters both in the audience (at the Magical Moombah for example) and on the stage with our Summer Songfest camps for elementary schoolers and the Harburg Academy's new spring and fall program for middle schoolers, The Vaudeville Hour. “Vaudeville” is a very light-hearted, comedic revue formant rife with song, dance, jokes, slapstick, tricks, acrobatics, magic – pretty much anything we want to stuff in there to entertain? [continue reading...]

The Shedd Institute's mission is "to serve as a cultural center where people find and nurture community through discovery, creation, and celebration.” Our Community Music School reflects this mission in practice by encouraging experimentation (with instruments, instructors, musical styles) and the joy of making personal connections; responding to inquiry and supporting collaborations; and eliminating the stultifying “pressure of excellence” when celebrating student learning.