Wasatch Music Coaching Academy

11/19/2025

GREAT NEWS!! This is a message of some hope to those of you who are frustrated by much of the current situation we face every day...especially if you have a small business and have been somehow affected recently by what is going on!

Wasatch Music Coaching Academy has once again relocated!!...AND TO A MUCH BETTER space...still in Millcreek...and just 11 blocks west down 3300 South from where we moved to 2 years ago, in Ivy Place Mall. We have a bigger space, in a better location...where the owner himself repainted, re-carpeted, (of our choosing), put up new LED overhead lights, and redid the bathroom...ALL ON HIS bill!!

He wanted us to be happy...AND...the kicker is we are now paying $200 less than what we have been paying over the past two years!!! We signed a 3 year lease, and it's open to us with whatever we wish to do after that!

You see, there really are people among us who want to do the right thing, especially when they see a way to help people and small businesses! The reason we had to move, was that the new owners of the mall where we relocated two years ago up by REI on 3300 South, (and who DO NOT reside or work in Utah), gave us an offer to either DOUBLE our rent, or move! We even have more new walk-in students, and more room to accommodate them!!

At our working class level, we need to just settle down, look out for each other, try to do the right thing and be true to ourselves and loved ones...and ALL will eventually work out for the best. NEVER GIVE UP...and NEVER LET THE ACTIONS OF OTHERS GET YOU DOWN...and BELIEVE YOUR HEART!!!

06/19/2025

DON'T MISS the 2025 performances of our WMCA Band's at the Utah Arts Festival this coming Saturday, June 21...1:45pm at the Park Stage. Two of our bands, WMCA Masters Band and Goose Juice will be performing tunes by Cake, Blue Oyster Cult, Charlie Daniels Band, Toto, Billy Joel and more!!!

Many thanks to our parents, students, and the incredible Utah Arts Festival planners and festival staff for bringing us back for our 17th performance at the UAF!!! We are very grateful and excited!!!

06/26/2024

All are invited to our 16th year of performing at the Utah Arts Festival this coming Saturday, June 29th, at 1:45pm on the Park Stage.

Many thanks and much gratitude from Wasatch Music Coaching Academy to our incredible parents, talented students, loyal staff, the UAF committee for making this happen for every single festival year since 2008!

The WMCA Masters Band will be performing selections from Porcupine Tree, Emerson Lake & Palmer, Phish, Rush, Black Crowes, Yes and Frank Zappa!

Join us for an incredibly powerful set!

01/04/2024

We did it!!! After 20 months of planning and work, Wasatch Music Coaching Academy has totally relocated from downtown Salt Lake City and moved operations to Millcreek!

This dream came true for us as of January 1, 2024, in two remarkable ways: First, our official WMCA business brick and mortar location—-a five-room studio space set up for our staff to teach. It’s located in the Canyon Rim Shopping Center, between REI and Petsmart, on 3300 South just a couple blocks west of belt-route 215. And second—-THE SHEDIO!—-a shed we brought into our backyard for my personal teaching. I’ll instruct and run band rehearsals there. And the two locations are just a mere seven blocks from each other!

I hope this news dispels rumors that I have decided to retire and shut down. NOTHING could be further from the truth. We just hit our 20th year of operation and I have no immediate plans to retire! My health is great and my desire to continue to share my passion and love of music and performing with people young and old will continue for many years to come!

I am so blessed to have reached the era in life that many call the “golden years”. Mine will continue to be graced with teaching and performing music, investing time with David and Amanda and their families, engaging in activities of my faith in researching my family heritage and helping others do the same, as well as traveling with Holly across America in our camper.

Of course, none of this great change with WMCA just happened. It involved many moving parts. Finding the new space to coincide with the end of our downtown building lease, selling and donating the tremendous amount of music gear and all the instruments we have accumulated over the years to simplify down to exactly what we need and to help cover the costs of setting up our new space — it all took a lot of patience, faith and hard work.

One other event occurred recently that I’d like to share. My dear mother, whom many of you know and have seen at most of our events over our 20-year tenure, passed away on Friday, December 22. She LOVED our students and families, our recitals, concerts and celebrations. She was and continues to be an angel. She was our greatest fan!!!

We look forward to 2024 being another fantastic year!!!

06/20/2023

Hey music fans!!!

You are all invited to our 15th consecutive WMCA Bands performance at the Utah Arts Festival this coming Saturday, June 24th on the Park Stage... Downbeat at 1:15 pm!

Listen and enjoy WMCA Master's Band, and Phosphorous playing favorites from Yes, Radiohead, Cake, The Doors, and much more!

Hope to see you all there! Rock on!

06/22/2022

Hey everyone!
Join us this Saturday afternoon… June 25… at 3:45… Park Stage… as our WMCA Masters Band performs at our 14th appearance at the Utah Arts Festival! As always, we are honored to have been asked again, and would be equally honored with your presence!!
-Dave

06/19/2021

"THE POWER OF MUSIC ENDURES, as we kick COVID to the curb!!!

We are happy to announce our new WMCA T-Shirts, which will be available at our upcoming WMCA Annual Music Festival, on Saturday June 26, mid-afternoon to evening at our home in our backyard venue!

ALL proceeds from our T-shirts will be donated to our non-profit arm, the "Wasatch Music Coaching Foundation Scholarship Fund". Cost is $30 for one, or $25 for two or more. (of course donations beyond those amounts will gratefully be accepted). If you cannot attend our festival, (which I assume most of you will not be able to), you can still order the t-shirts!!! Just email me at [email protected] and let me know what you want!!! They come in S,M,L XL, XXL

As far as payment goes, you can get on our website at wasatchmusic.com, and look for the WMC Foundation tab, and you can then donate directly with either VENMO or Paypall! They come in both the turquoise tie-dye OR solid turquoise. If we run out, I can get them ordered for you!!!!

BEST TO ALL OF YOU, AND BLESS YOUR LIVES AS THE POWER OF MUSIC GET'S US THROUGH SO MUCH!!!! Dave"

03/01/2021

Inviting you all to an uplifting concert for an upcoming Excellence in the Community! This will be a VIRTUAL concert. You can watch it LIVE on Saturday March 6th at 8:00pm. Go to www.excellenceconcerts.org to watch us LIVE! If you miss us on the 6th, you can always check out the show at a later date.

I have been honored to join local jazz superstar vocalist Melissa Pace, along with Dean Kaelin on piano-guitar-vocals and Matt Clayton on bass. The show will last about 1 hour. We'll be playing a diverse set of music focusing on connecting, overcoming, gratefulness, joy and LOVE. We'll be sharing some jazz standards of course but there will be some more modern surprises. I hope you will join us!!! Feel free to leave some comments as you're watching so we know what you like! :-)

The Excellence in the Community Concert Series has been keeping LIVE music alive during the Covid 19 Pandemic with live concerts every Wednesday and Saturday. You can check out any past or upcoming concerts at www.excellenceconcerts.org anytime and support our amazing local talent! Thank you!

I so much look forward to this great ray of sunshine among recent clouds!!!

-Dave

In 2020, we presented in total of 106 concerts, with 88 of those being live-stream only concerts starting in March. Excellence provided over 450 performance opportunities for Utah musicians in 2020.

12/04/2020

Dear friends and family...
Below are Facebook and YouTube links for the 2020 “A Little Jazz With Your Mistletoe” concert, which once again features the creative and fun arrangements by Dan Waldis. I have been graced for the past several years to perform with Dan for this unique annual event.

We will be joined by other local greats... April Lund on vocals, Linke Hebrew on bass, and Mike Tobian on sax. This year, it will be a live virtual performance presented by the “Excellence in the Community” series in conjunction with “Music in the Box”. It is tomorrow evening, Saturday, Dec 5 at 8:00pm.

I hope you can enjoy our performance this year!!
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Here are the concert links:

To view on YouTube, go to this link and click on the live event at 8:00 pm on 12/5 -
https://clicktime.symantec.com/33ZPN7kvEGAJErEvgqZPk6f7Vc?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D6COl2GO9UTQ

To view on Facebook, must have a Facebook account. If not logged in, users click on this link and will be prompted to log in -
https://clicktime.symantec.com/3L7nWEstPdkn2ZU6SpZJMAK7Vc?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fexcellenceinthecommunity

Utah based concert series supporting local talent.www.ExcellenceConcerts.com Dates, times, and venues posted online.

08/17/2020

Thank you everyone for your warm reactions and support over the weekend!!!

Just a reminder, there is a little less than 12 hours left to get the Kindle version download of "Believe Your Heart" for FREE!!!

Of course, you can always email, text, or Facebook message me for hard copies directly from me, or visit Frost Books!!

Bless you all!!
Dave