Amherst Red Barn Music School

Thanks to Jim Snedeker for such joy of music making.

Fall recital at the Red Barn, 25 years young

Thanks to everyone who stopped to say hi at the Amherst Block Party

The Red Barn has spawned many other music schools but we are still on top of a Google search, thank you for a great 25 years, let's go!

Stop by the Red Barn Music School table on Thursday and say hi! https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1A8NSQVfp4

The Red Barn welcomes Philip Solomonik to our musical family

A high school teacher in New York City once told her class to write a letter to a famous author they admired and invite them to visit. Kurt Vonnegut was the only one to reply.

November 5, 2006:

Dear Xavier High School, and Ms. Lockwood, and Messrs Perin, McFeely, Batten, Maurer and Congiusta:

I thank you for your friendly letters. You sure know how to cheer up a really old geezer (84) in his sunset years. I don't make public appearances any more because I now resemble nothing so much as an iguana.

What I had to say to you, moreover, would not take long, to wit: Practice any art, music, singing, dancing, acting, drawing, painting, sculpting, poetry, fiction, essays, reportage, no matter how well or badly, not to get money and fame, but to experience becoming, to find out what's inside you, to make your soul grow.

Seriously! I mean starting right now, do art and do it for the rest of your lives. Draw a funny or nice picture of Ms. Lockwood, and give it to her. Dance home after school, and sing in the shower and on and on. Make a face in your mashed potatoes. Pretend you're Count Dracula.

Here's an assignment for tonight, and I hope Ms. Lockwood will flunk you if you don't do it: Write a six-line poem, about anything, but rhymed. No fair tennis without a net. Make it as good as you possibly can. But don't tell anybody what you're doing. Don't show it or recite it to anybody, not even your best friend or parents or whatever, or Ms. Lockwood. OK?

Tear it up into teeny-weeny pieces, and discard them into widely separated trash receptacles. You will find that you have already been gloriously rewarded for your poem. You have experienced becoming, learned a lot more about what's inside you, and you have made your soul grow.

God bless you all!

Kurt Vonnegut

Red Barn Music School Open House on Sunday, Feb 9 canceled due to snow, please stay tuned for new date TBA @ RedBarnMusic.org

Fall Recital at the Red Barn 2025, enjoy!