Harris Academy Of The Arts

From Newborns to a 91-Year-Old: How One Lincoln Studio Built a 90% Return Rate on Word of Mouth Alone

Harris Academy of the Arts opened on Pine Lake Road in Lincoln, Nebraska in 2004 under founder Vicki Train Harris, operating then as Harris Music Studio. Two decades in, it has grown into a faculty of 15 college-trained instructors whose combined teaching experience totals somewhere between 125 and 150 years — a figure the studio updates in its own internal records. That kind of institutional depth is unusual for an independent academy, and it shows up in the numbers: roughly 350 students enrolled at any given time, nearly 90 percent of private-lesson students returning term after term, and new enrollment driven overwhelmingly by word of mouth.

The instrument list alone signals the scope of what Harris offers. Private lessons are available in piano, keyboard, voice, guitar, violin, viola, cello, flute, clarinet, saxophone, oboe, bassoon, trumpet, trombone, horn, tuba, and percussion — alongside less common offerings like disc jockey instruction, musical theatre, talent coaching, and Spanish-language lessons. The studio runs approximately 15 group classes per week during the academic term, which runs September through May, with private lessons available year-round including a July appointment schedule. The building stays open Monday through Thursday until 9 p.m., accommodating students who need evening slots around school and work.

The age range at Harris is genuinely unusual. Kindermusik classes begin at birth — the studio notes its oldest enrolled student was 91 — and the curriculum is deliberately sequential. The Children's Music Academy program, which Harris holds as the exclusive Lincoln provider, traces its curriculum to Southern California in 1974 and targets children ages four to seven with 50-minute classes that incorporate games, ensemble playing, recorder, and ear training. The Kindermusik side of the faculty carries a combined 44 years of Suzuki experience and 15 years of Kindermusik experience, and in 2009-2010 the studio earned recognition as a Maestro in Outreach from Kindermusik International — an honor repeated the following license year.

What surfaces repeatedly in parent feedback is not just musical progress but something harder to quantify. One mother of three piano students described her son coming to her unprompted at bedtime to say thank you for paying for lessons — a moment she credited to instructors teaching 'not only music, but valuable life skills.' Another parent wrote that her previously shy son had 'a whole new world opened' through Kindermusik, and that the same instructor was helping her daughter learn how to handle feedback and motivate herself to practice. A father of a guitar student, identifying himself as a professional, described the teaching as 'top notch' after attending recital performances and watching his son's weekly sessions become 'one of the high points of his routine.'

The studio structures lessons in three formats — traditional one-on-one, a team method that pairs a parent and child or two friends with a single instructor, and a non-traditional appointment-based option for students preparing for a specific audition or performance. Instructors are matched to students by personality and interests, and for most instruments multiple instructors are on staff specifically so learning styles can be accommodated. Instructor Jentry Barrett, who has taught in studios across the country, stated that Harris 'has the most to offer me as a teacher' of any position she has held. That sentiment is echoed by colleagues on staff who point to the concentration of experienced faculty under one roof as a genuine professional resource.

With roughly 35 student performances and 45 instructor performances organized through the academy each year, Harris keeps students connected to live music on both sides of the stage. The studio's hours, its breadth of offerings, and its retention rate suggest a program that has found a sustainable model — one built on specific instructor relationships rather than broad marketing. As one parent put it after her daughter's instructor showed up to her Europe send-off concert: 'I know we pay you all and it is your job — but thank you all for giving your all and putting your heart into your job.'

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