Lessons & Bands

Youth

and Adults

We play festivals, events, and local spots

Everyone is like family.

Call us

443.988.3970

What’s your Jam?

We Foster Creativity

For Guitar, Bass, Keyboards, Drums, and Voice

We are not another cookie cutter music school chain/franchise
We are not a school that anyone can own. You are not a number to us, and you will feel a sense of welcome and belonging unlike any other school where teachers, family, and friends can come and encourage each other at our school and events.

We are known for nurturing talent and presenting great performances through an inclusive and friendly environment that creates memorable experiences and long-lasting friendships.

We are conveniently located at 1514 Jabez Run Suite 101 Millersville, MD 21108 accessible from Severna Park, Gambrills, Pasadena, Annapolis, Crofton and other surrounding areas with plenty of parking

Make the crowd go wild!

Full Bands: Adults & Youth

Building confidence and skills

At Priddy Music Academy we provide an avenue for aspiring musicians to learn from each other. We have classic rock, blues, R&B, country, funk, modern rock, and jazz ensembles. Each band is featured in our monthly showcase at a local music venue, and many perform for festivals and events in the area impressing musicians, sound technicians, and crowds alike. They have graced the stages of Rams Head On Stage, Rams Head Live, Maryland Hall, Union Jack’s Annapolis, Cult Classic Brewery, and many more venues.
Bands spend one hour weekly, under the guidance of an instructor. They are put together based on skill, age, style, and commitment. We have bands from Elementary School through, Middle School, High School, and adult ages. Band names and songs are picked by the band at the instructor’s discretion. Members learn their parts prior to rehearsal then learn to play them together and when ready, they can perform at a local venue with full sound and lights. We take care of everything, including the booking and arrangements.

If you have never experienced playing in a band or if you don’t want to go through the trouble of finding like-minded musicians to play with, this is a great opportunity. To sign up, fill out the questionnaire below and wait for someone to contact you about placement.
Our advanced bands have performed at many events and charities like Eastport A Rockin’, Nextival, Anne Arundel County Fair, Maryland Food Truck Festival, Back 2 School Jam, Springfest, Burgers and Bands for Suicide Prevention, and many more. They have also been hired at times for private events and festivals. They have also opened for Jimmies Chicken Shack, Sweet Leda, The Grilled Lincolns, Honey Sol and many more.

Check out our upcoming events. Bring your kids and watch our students rock. It’s a blast!

Battle of the Bands

Battle of the Bands is an annual event featuring Priddy Music Academy bands playing at their best at notable venues like Rams Head On Stage, Union Jack’s Annapolis, and Twain’s Tavern. There is always fun, great food, guitar raffles, and cash prizes.
We divide bands into 4 age divisions 7-10, 11-13, 14-17, and 18 plus. During the event, each band will get to perform a set of two songs in front of a live audience and judges.
Our judges award points to each band based on musicianship, ensemble precision, and stage presence! Previous judges have been Jimi Haha from Jimmie’s Chicken Shack, Kelly Bell, and many other local legends.
At the end of the event, our judges tally the points and award one winner and two runners-up for each division. Winners receive not only cash prizes, but they also get first dibs to play at upcoming notable events.
Individuals are also acknowledged for their performances with Judge’s Picks

Beginner Group Guitar 

Beginner group classes meet for an hour once per week. At Priddy Music Academy students are given introductory lessons in a group setting, allowing interaction and knowledge-sharing with other students of the same level. This is a good option for beginning students who want to benefit from “private” instruction while learning together. Classes run for eight weeks and include instruction materials. Students will learn proper technique, how to tune their guitar, chords, melodies, and riffs. This is a perfect option for after school or homeschooling families. Students will need to bring their own guitars.

See Our Schedule Below
7-11 yrs Mondays 4-5pm
12-16 yrs Wednesdays 4-5pm
8 weeks for $240

Homeschooler guitar classes for ages
7-11 yrs Fridays 1-2pm
12-16 Fridays 2-4pm
8 weeks for $200

A capella Classes 

Learn to sing and harmonize together under the direction of Charnice Frazier. Students are assigned parts based on vocal register for rehearsals once a week Wednesdays 6:30-7:30pm to perform at showcases and festivals. This group performs contemporary and seasonal pieces for events. Students must audition for enrollment.

Private Group Lessons

For Drums, Guitar, bass, Ukelele, Keyboards, and Voice

Priddy Music Academy began as a guitar academy. But as our students learned and more people learned about our efficient and fun method of teaching students demand built for other instruments. We currently offer guitar, drums, bass guitar, keyboard, ukelele, and voice lessons. Our teachers are all accomplished musicians with a passion for teaching.
One of the many benefits parents receive from lessons at Priddy Music Academy is that we make music fun for our students. Our students want to practice because they have picked the music that interests them.
Because we know that our students and their parents are busy, we have flexible scheduling and make signing up easy.
Enjoy personalized one to one instruction in several styles including jazz, fusion, rock, blues, R&B, funk, country and classical. Our curriculum is built around the personal interest and pace of each student. Whatever your personal music goals, our instructors will help you achieve them whether you are preparing for an audition, beginning your journey, refining your skills, or playing for leisure.

Rock Ready

For Drums, Guitar, bass, Ukelele, Keyboards, and Voice

Rock ready is designed for voice, guitar, keyboard, bass, and drum students as a steppingstone learning to play together to get ready for a band. They will be applying fundamentals learned from their private lessons practicing riffs, chord progressions and basic songs. Students who become ready can join bands forming or positions as they become available.

Classes run ongoing on Thursdays 5-6 pm

 

Camps

Winter and Summer Sessions

Winter and Summer camps are studio band camps in which campers can record their favorite music.  At the beginning of the week the students pick songs they would like to learn and perform.  Based on student feedback we create “instant bands” and practice throughout the week for a culminating performance after camp is complete. We use state-of-the-art equipment in our 18-input 70-track studio with Qubase7 viewed on a 40″ LCD screen with JBL Monitors.

Our team

Priddy Music Teachers

PRIVATE AND GROUP LESSONS
Enjoy personalized one to one instruction in a number of styles including jazz, fusion, rock, blues, R&B, funk, country and classical. Our curriculum is built around the personal interest and pace of each student. Whatever your personal music goals, our instructors will help your achieve them.

Charnice Frazier

Voice

L. Rodgers

Voice

Luke

Instructor

George Cowan

Guitarist & Instructor

Jennifer Marie

Vocal Performance

Benzel Cowan

Drummer & Instructor

Lee Priddy

Instructor

Mac Priddy

Instructor

Andrew Priddy

Drummer & Instructor

Jennifer Marie

Jennifer Marie is a classically trained artist with a passion for teaching and vocal pedagogy that has led to her becoming a highly regarded commercial voice teacher and coach. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Vocal Performance from Towson University, where she studied opera and classical vocal technique, and has performed as a member of the Baltimore Symphony, Baltimore Concert Artists, Lyric Opera Company, and the Young Victorian Theatre Company in addition to working as a classical soloist. Jennifer has continued her education by studying vocal jazz, piano, and guitar and recently completed both levels at The Voice Foundation with the goal of becoming a Certified Master Teacher.

When she’s not in the studio teaching private lessons, you can find Jennifer teaching early childhood music classes at local studios and with the non-profit Cherry Children’s Music Outreach.

Charnice Frazier

Charnice Frazier is a classical and commercial music educator that is passionate about creating a “well-rounded” singing musician. She is currently Broadneck High School’s choral director and musical director. She served in the same role for six years at Thomas Stone High School in Waldorf, MD. Charnice is an active guest clinician and adjudicator in Maryland and Virginia. She is an active member of MCEA, currently serving as the MCEA President-Elect.

Charnice has served as the Music Director for the semi-professional a cappella group, The District, for over 5 years. She is a sought-after a cappella arranger and clinician and is a frequent adjudicator for The Varsity Vocals ICCAs and ICHSAs. Charnice holds a Bachelor of Music in Music Education from James Madison University and a Master of Music Education from the Shenandoah Conservatory of Music at Shenandoah University. In her vocal training, she studied with an emphasis in musical theatre, jazz, classical, and commercial styles.

L. Rodgers

L. Rodgers is a classically and musical theatre trained artist from Baltimore, MD. You may recognize her from season 13 of American Idol or as Reality Show Reject on Tik Tok.
She completed Peabody’s prep program in 2006 and graduated from AMDA’s conservatory program with a professional certification in Musical Theatre and Vocal Performance in 2009. L. provides an individualized experience based on the students needs; from getting ready for a big audition to building your karaoke confidence.

George Cowan

George Cowan started playing guitar when he was 10 years old. He began taking lessons at local music stores and studied with teachers such as John Smith and our very own, Lee Priddy!

As a teenager,George and a few friends formed their first band playing 90’s rock as well as some original music under a few different names.

In 2004, George graduated from AACC with a few music credits, where he studied guitar with Rob Levit. He went on to study composition under Stewart S. Smith and Linda Dusman at UMBC and furthered his education with Rick Hannah and Tom Lagana. He played with the jazz ensemble under the direction of Lafayette Gilchrist and Matt Beltzer. George graduated from UMBC in 2007 with a BA in music.

In 2005, George took a job at Music and Arts Center and Bill’s Music House as a private music instructor.

George has played with several Baltimore/Annapolis area bands, including, True Urban Rhythm Notion or the TURN (not currently performing), GoGo Mouth (a pop/top 40 cover band), and Cooper Watts and Cowan or CWC (blues and classic rock). George has been teaching at Priddy Music Academy since 2012.

Luke

Luke is a guitar, bass and music theory tutor who has been with the academy since he was 14 years old. He began playing live in bands since he started here at Priddy Music Academy, and still plays locally around the Baltimore/Annapolis area. Luke has been a musician all his life, and wants to help others learn and create the music that they are passionate about. He began teaching at the academy in 2019, and since then has coached countless bands and students through the development of their skills. He is also currently enrolled at Towson University, pursuing a bachelor’s degree in jazz guitar performance, but is skilled in a ranged of genres from rock to classical.

Benzel Cowan

Priddy Music Academy is thrilled to work with a musician of Ben’s caliber. An outstanding musician in his own right, he loves teaching young drummers the fundamentals of drumming. Students and parents alike love Benzel’s energy. While he makes lessons fun for his students, it’s clear is he always pushing to get the best out of them.

What George Clinton and The Parliament Funkadelic have to say about Benzel:
“If there was ever a question if a young musician could effectively and effortlessly play true, authentic funk as well as embody the finesse of a seasoned jazz swing, drummer Benzel Baltimore puts the question to rest by doing just that. Held by Bootsy Collins as a baby, the Baltimore native got his first taste of drumming at the age of 2 and has been gigging as a professional musician since the age of 15. As the son of the legendary trumpet player Bennie “The General” Cowan, Benzel was bred into funk music so there was no doubt that he was destined for greatness.

Benzel Baltimore studied early with the likes of Dave Weckl, Steve Smith, Pat Patrillo, and Horacio Hernandez, which has made him the versatile drummer he is today. He caught the attention of world-famous drummer Dennis Chambers so much that he took Benzel under his wing and became his mentor.

Many people describe Benzel as the “young guy with an old soul” and “the positive, energetic personality wearing the big smile behind the kit” on and off stage. His energy on stage and his electrifying performances and improvisational drum solos landed him a coveted spot as the drummer for George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic. Other credits include the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Woodstock 99, Jazz in Vienne, and the Essence Festival. As well as playing on the same bill as many legends such as Meshell N’Degeocello, Sheila E, Melanie Fiona, Robert Glasper, Robbie Coltrane, and Pat Metheney.”