Membership to Great Scot Studio is currently $100 per month. We try to keep our costs down as much as possible yet still provide you with a superior music education experience. We operate under a membership system rather than a per-lesson system because this allows us to budget appropriately to give you the attention a full time studio offers. While the student is in the studio with us 30 minutes at a time, our staff is working behind the scenes all week long outside of lesson times writing lesson plans, mixing student recordings, researching for your lessons, working on continuing education, and working on the day to day business of running a full time studio.

All lessons are held in person in our studio space located in Gray, TN. Gray is a community in the very heart of the Tri Cities nestled between Kingsport and Johnson City. We are conveniently less than two minutes from the Gray exit off of Interstate 26. If weather prohibits travel to the studio we can temporarily move lessons online that day.

The studio is open for consultations and general office work Monday-Thursday from 1:00pm-2:00pm.

We teach Lessons Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays from 2:00pm-6:30pm and on Wednesdays from 2:00pm-5:00pm. Because Brian is a working musician in addition to teaching lessons he is not available for lessons on Wednesday nights or weekends when most rehearsals and gigs take place.

Every membership includes one 30- minute private lesson in the studio per week per student. We have found 30 minutes to be the sweet spot for our students to best optimize efficient learning without a lot of fluff and filler. Your time won't be wasted at Great Scot Studio.

Students that would like to study multiple instruments will need a second membership slot for each instrument so we can give you the full value of each lesson.

The studio is open year- round and does not close for extended periods of time. The studio will be open 46 weeks per year and will be closed 6 weeks per year, with the closures often correlating to major holidays. If a student comes to every lesson it will average out to 4 lessons per month over the course of a year. Of course, it is up to the student to regularly come to their lessons to get their best value.

If a student needs to miss a lesson, their lesson will be eligible for a make up lesson if they contact us no later than 24 hours after the start time of their missed lesson. If they contact us by then, they will be given a list of all the open lesson slots in the next week and if one of those slots will work for them they are welcome to use that for their make up lesson. Missed lessons must be made up within one week of the originally scheduled lesson. Rescheduled lessons are subject to availability and are not guaranteed so it is recommended that students come to all of their regularly scheduled lesson times. NOTE: Lessons are only eligible to be rescheduled once per event. Due to our very full calendar, rescheduled lessons are not themselves eligible for a reschedule.

At Great Scot Studio we believe in the power of community and relationships and our experience is that the safe, warm, family atmosphere we can provide in person in our studio space is more conducive to efficient learning than the distance of online learning. While online learning has its place, it is not our preferred method of teaching. That being said, we do offer online lessons if we get snowed out or a student is well enough to learn something that day, but may have a contagious illness that we don’t want to spread to others.

We LOVE adult learners, and beginners are our specialty! We have taught adults well into their 80’s with great success and some of our favorite students have been adult beginners. If you’ve always wanted to learn an instrument or how to sing, we can get you there! Don’t let lack of experience or fear stop you! It does take dedication, but we promise IT’S FUN!!!

We will teach a student ukulele, beginning guitar, beginning piano, bass, bagpipes, or music theory as young as 12 years old, and we will begin teaching singers if they have begun their 8th grade year of school, after a consultation. For students younger than that we have other studios and community groups to recommend to you. If you want music lessons, we can find your perfect fit!

Your first month’s membership is due at the time of your first lesson. We do not offer free trials but if you are not satisfied after your first lesson you are not obligated to continue and will not be charged for that lesson.

All membership payments are due no later than 6:30pm on the 7th of each month. Late payments are assessed a $10 late fee, to be applied immediately. Students who have not paid in full, including any late fees by the 21st of the month will have their membership cancelled. Students who are late with payments more than twice in a 6 month period will also have their memberships cancelled. Memberships may be paid in cash or electronically via Venmo. We do not accept personal checks, PayPal, Square, or any other methods of payment at this time.

Not every studio is a perfect fit for every student and not every student is a perfect fit for every studio, so it is important that when you are searching for your studio home that you take the time to get to know your instructor.

Our instructor, Brian Sharp, has been teaching private music lessons for over 28 years and his qualifications include a Bachelor of Music Degree, Master of Music Education Degree, Membership in the National Association of Teachers of Singing, and he is a certified instructor of The Neuro-Vocal Method of Singing Popular Styles. Brian is a sought after tenor soloist, bagpiper, multi instrumentalist, and vocal arranger and has years of experience in the music field.

Brian’s students have won full scholarships to college, have been featured soloists in All State Choruses, college choirs, church choirs, have had leading roles in school and community theaters, have gone on to graduate school for music, and some have even graduated and are working as music teachers in the public school system as we speak! Your lessons are planned out carefully each week and your lesson plans are written out every day. Our instructor isn’t just “winging it”. Our system of music education WORKS and it’s because of the preparation put into each and every lesson!

In short, we feel that we are in the unique position of having the most qualified, friendly, hard working professional music educator on staff and have the resources and experiences to give you the superior music education experience you are looking for!