The Greensburg-based Practice Makes Perfect Music Studio offers an array of classes, from piano and strings, to reeds and brass, to voice and percussion — including the boomwhacker, a hollow plastic tube tuned to a specific musical pitch by its length.

“The only thing we don’t have — and we’re currently looking for a teacher to fill this gap — is the banjo,” said co-owner Aaron Gray, 31, of Greensburg. “We really, really want a banjo teacher, and we haven’t been able to find one.”

It’s been a bit of a problem.

“We’ve had about seven people reach out this summer for banjo lessons,” explained co-owner Sam Specht-Burns, 26, also of Greensburg.

Musical instruction aside, the owners say the studio offers another component that is much-needed in the community.

“The studio is LGBTQIA+-owned, woman-owned and Black-owned,” Specht-Burns said. “We want to provide a safe and welcoming space for all to come and learn music and to be themselves.”

Both lifelong musicians, Gray and Specht-Burns each dreamed of opening a music studio long before they met. Their personal experiences led them to envision a space attractive and nurturing to people of all ages, backgrounds and orientations.

“I identify as a lesbian woman, and where I grew up and moving into this community, I have seen a lot of backlash over who I am,” said Specht-Burns, who grew up in the South Hills of Pittsburgh and said her sexual orientation has caused her to be estranged from her father. “I was not made fun of to my face or bullied, but I saw other people who were, and I definitely was talked about behind my back.

“I didn’t really become comfortable with myself until my freshman and sophomore year in college. In high school, I hid a lot. I was in the closet,” she said. “Music was the only safe space I had.”

“I am multiracial, and I couldn’t hide that,” said Gray, who grew up in Latrobe. “I got spit on at the bus stop so many times. I remember one time in art class, this kid who sat across from me kept saying the N-word. He said it 32 times. I was like, ‘Really? Are you for real?’ You’re in art class, for god’s sake, trying to listen to the teacher, and you have stuff like that.

“I was always drawn to music. I always felt safe and welcome there, so I wanted to make music that safe, welcome space for other people.”

Safe space to learn

At Thomas Jefferson High School, Specht-Burns played violin in the orchestra and clarinet in the marching band. She has a music education degree from Seton Hill University, has taught private lessons in Seton Hill’s community music program and currently teaches music to special-needs students in the Clelian Heights adult program.

Gray is a graduate of Greater Latrobe Senior High School and has a degree in piano performance from Saint Vincent College. He also teaches at The Piano Sensei in Irwin and has served as a music director for area churches and theater groups.

Having felt like an outsider “is really motivating me, for people who are experiencing that or are afraid of experiencing that, to be able to come to a safe space to learn and just be who they are,” Specht-Burns said. “Even if we don’t get through a whole music lesson and some of the time is just talking about their struggles or what they’re experiencing, that’s OK, too.

“I want to make sure people are proud of who they are and can express themselves in any kind of arts,” she said.

Since November 2021, PMP has had studio space in the Green Beacon Gallery at 235 W. Pittsburgh St., Greensburg, where most of their classes are held. Some classes also are offered at the Connellsville Community Center and at Danniella DiClaudio Productions in Charleroi, and PMP also has instructors who teach in Pittsburgh, Lancaster, Georgia and Minnesota.

Fahim Abed | Tribune-Review Brothers Steve (from left) and Phil Harrold, two of the three owners of the Green Beacon Gallery, catch up with Practice Makes Perfect Music Studio co-owners Sam Specht-Burns and Aaron Gray.  

They have 27 instructors working with close to 300 students. Gray teaches piano, organ and voice, while Specht-Burns teaches violin, viola, cello and clarinet.

Both individual and group classes are offered in half-hour and hourlong increments. Different fees are charged for instruction from a professional or student teacher. Student teachers are college music majors.

“We tell people ahead of time that they’re in college and their lessons might not be perfect,” Gray said. “If they run into things they don’t understand, they’ll come to us, and Sam or I or one of our professional teachers will help them with that.

“So it’s not just education for our children and adult students, but also for student teachers who are trying to make it as professional musicians in the world,” Gray said.

Sharing a mission

Prospective students are familiarized with PMP’s philosophy of acceptance and inclusion.

“They see our handbook, and they have to agree to our nondiscrimination policy, all the stuff that makes this a safe space,” Gray said. “We’ve had students come from other studios — and it may not have been about their orientation or the color of their skin, it may have been something else — but they didn’t feel like they were in a safe space, so they switched to us.

“I have a student who says every week, ‘Thank you for being welcoming.’ That’s been really fulfilling,” he added.

Instructors receive the same information.

“When we hire a new instructor, the interview process covers their beliefs about acceptance and their views of the LGBTQ community, people of color and minority groups,” Specht-Burns said. “We do our best to hire diverse instructors, too — people of color, women, the LGBTQ community. We want to make sure we can work together for the same mission that we have envisioned.”

Both children of single mothers, Gray and Specht-Burns want to make sure that money is not a barrier for their students. PMP accepts donations to its Frances and Marian Fund to help students from low-income families pay for lessons and instrument rentals.

“Frances was Aaron’s grandmother, and she paid for his piano lessons as he was growing up,” Specht-Burns said. “Marian, my grandmother, paid for my violin rentals throughout school. We believe that cost should not be a barrier, that those who can afford it should not be the only ones to learn music.”

Gray met Specht-Burns in December 2019 when he was searching for a violinist to play in the pit orchestra for a show he was music directing at the Theatre Factory in Trafford. Specht-Burns had played in the Seton Hill orchestra with Gray’s wife, Julia, who reached out to her through a mutual friend.

Around that time, Burns was tiring of his full-time job as a church music director.

“It was interfering with my teaching, doing musicals and my musical expression, so one day I said, ‘I can’t do this anymore,’ ” he said. “I texted Sam the next day and said, ‘Hey, you want to start a studio together?’ She was like, ‘Heck yes!’ And that’s kind of how it went.”

With very little capital, they started asking friends who taught privately to teach lessons for PMP and, through them, began acquiring a student base. They advertised their services through social media, printed flyers, word of mouth and local podcasts.

Symbiotic relationship

Gray and Specht-Burns connected with the Green Beacon, which houses an art gallery and performance and studio spaces, through instructor Eli Wetzel. Wetzel performs in two bands that play at Green Beacon.

“When we were putting our business plan together, one of the things we wanted to do was get in touch with some musical instructors to be able to give lessons here,” said Phil Harrold, who owns the gallery with his brother, Steve, and their friend, Kevin Carpenter. “In the 1970s, this building was Butz Music. They sold instruments and they gave lessons in the basement.”

Bringing in a music studio “was like a magical LEGO piece snapping together to keep the tradition of the building going,” Harrold said. “It’s been super-beneficial. We get a lot of cross-pollination with the people they bring in who are into what we’re doing. So it’s very symbiotic.”

Shirley McMarlin | Tribune-Review (From left) Abby Slater of Greensburg with son Eli, instructor Emma Jakiela, instructor Julia Gray with daughter Cadence, and Lindsey Shirey of Latrobe with sons Levi and Mason at a Munchkins Music class offered by Practice Makes Perfect Music Studio on July 18 at Green Beacon Gallery in Greensburg.  

PMP also offers acting, dance and musical theater coaching, along with early childhood music appreciation sessions and sound healing sessions.

Curriculum for Munchkins Music, for ages 6 months to 2 years, and Toddler Tunes, for ages 2 to 4, was developed by Julia Gray and Specht-Burns’ wife, Breanna Specht-Burns.

“As a family, we use music a lot in our sons’ upbringing,” said Lindsey Shirey of Latrobe, whose sons Levi, 22 months, and Mason, 5, participate in Munchkins Music. “I work for a company that specializes in working with people with autism, so I think (Gray and Specht-Burns) are doing a great thing.

“Everybody deserves to be treated the same, regardless of background, orientation, religion or mental health diagnosis,” she said.

Gabby Miller of Greensburg facilitates individual and group sound healing sessions, using her voice, crystal singing bowls, Tibetan steel bowls, drum, ankle bells and Native American flute.

“I tell people it’s like a spiritual superfood. It’s good for anxiety, depression, neurodegenerative diseases, ADHD, bipolar, people on the spectrum, insomnia and physical aches and pains,” Miller said. “The sound gets into the body and mind and balances out energy blockages before they form into physical problems.

“It’s not a replacement for traditional therapy or medication, but at the very least, you’ll feel extremely calm and relaxed afterward,” she said. “I’ve had people walk away feeling cleared, pain-free or feeling like the issue they came in for was almost completely gone or not so much of a problem anymore.”

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