The ACMS teaches approximately 400 students each semester, most of whom are children. However, Blackwood said she sees a decent number of adults, like Leo, who are looking for an outlet or personal challenge.
“Adult students are choosing to participate, that’s what makes it really special,” Blackwood said. “They all come with different reasons. There’s one student I know who enjoys the quiet of coming in and practicing here in the building and just having a time to really focus on something that is not related to her work. We have another student who has been a part of community choral programs for their whole lifetime, and this is just another way to get involved in that. We have other adults that are just seeking a challenge.”
As a life-long guitar player, Leo engages with the ACMS as both a way to hone his musical abilities and as a creative outlet.
“It takes your mind off other things,” he said. “In an interesting way, it’s very relaxing.”
At the end of every semester, the ACMS hosts recitals for students who wish to showcase what they have learned over the course of the semester. Leo performed on Dec. 7, along with 119 other students throughout the course of the day.
“I play a lot at home,” Leo said. “I have a piano at home and have some electric pianos, but doing the recital makes you focus and sort of gives you a goal to set, and that’s been fun for me to try to set those, try to make sure that I come as prepared to those events as I can.”
Leo has been able to practice other goal-setting techniques through his piano lessons and is able to combine his many disciplines with his keyboard and a sheet of music.
“I haven’t done much of it, but I want to keep trying to compose things because I’m an engineer and I have dabbled in that a little bit,” he said. “It’s interesting because you recognize, first of all, how hard it is, and the similarities between some of the problem solving you do as an engineer.”