New Bradenton music school offers life lessons and confidence building for kids to ‘rock the stage’
Jenny Townsend watched last week as workers rolled two Roland digital pianos into her music school in Bradenton.
The pianos joined guitars, drums and more that students can play in summer music camp, which opens Monday, July 18, at Music Compound’s new campus in the Braden River Business Park at 4740 State Road 64 E.
The 4,500-square-foot space with 13 studios and a music lounge is the second location for the company. The Bradenton school’s full name is Music Compound MAN (as in Manatee).
The first location in Sarasota at 1751 Cattlemen Road is Music Compound SRQ.
Music Compound MAN will serve families and adults in Parrish, Palmetto, Lakewood Ranch and Bradenton.
Townsend, a graduate of Cardinal Mooney High School, had wanted to add a Bradenton location for years. She’s a fifth-generation resident of Sarasota and also has family in Bradenton.
Her goal goes back to her time at the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee, when she developed a business plan for her future company while earning a bachelor’s degree in hospitality and minoring in business
Music Compound’s SRQ location is fully booked and programming is at full capacity.
“We have clients who have been asking for us to consider a location in Manatee County for quite some time. We have students who have been commuting for years from Parrish and Lakewood Ranch,” Townsend said.
Programming will launch with an introduction to music summer camp for elementary school-age students the last two weeks of July and then feature lessons for kids, including Kidz Rock and modern band programs for area youth wanting to grow musically and socially.
While the focus is on music, the programs also encourage team building, boost confidence and build performance skills.
“We teach them to rock the stage,” Townsend says of the life skills taught to students.
Available adult programs will include private and group lessons as well as jam sessions for those wanting to play music while meeting new people.
Townsend had hoped to open a Lakewood Ranch location in 2018 but that effort didn’t pan out, and the pandemic made other expansion plans too risky in recent years.
Lisa Moore, an attorney with four children, is a client and a believer in the Music Compound approach.
“We have been with them about 10 years. All three of my oldest kids were taking piano lessons and hated it,” Moore said. “Once we found Music Compound, all the kids were encouraged to pick out their own instruments. They began to have a good time with the music. It salvaged any hopes the kids would learn an instrument.”
Her youngest child started at Music Compound learning to play piano and has switched to violin.
Music Compound allows students to socialize, decompress and make the transition from time in school to the music enrichment programming.
A number of current SRQ students as well as some instructors will transition to the Bradenton campus.
Townsend expects to fill the openings in Sarasota with new students and instructors fairly quickly.
With one instructor and two staff members already in place, Townsend expects to have hired a total of between five and 10 staff members for Music Compound MAN by December.
Music Compound currently employs 30.
For more information, to register for the summer camp in Manatee County or to learn more about programs during the school year, visit musiccompound.com or call 941-379-9100.
