>The Modern Music Academy: Making Grammy Dreams Real on Grove Street
BY Kristin Wald | Friday, Dec 30, 2011 9:00am
The co-owners of Montclair’s new The Modern Music Academy (MMA), Jarrett and Jenny Zellea, have a long list of music and entertainment accomplishments including drumming with Grammy-award-winner Santana, hob-nobbing with Al Gore for Live Earth, teaching middle-schoolers and high-schoolers jazz and drumline skills in both New Jersey and California, and producing a myriad of television shows – like American Idol – and live-streaming concerts of artists like Jay-Z and Linkin Park. Oh, and one more thing: Jarrett also has a couple of Grammy awards in there somewhere. Not too shabby.
These two New Jersey natives, currently living in Ridgewood, have returned home after years in Los Angeles to open a music school for adults and children. The school’s focus is on helping its students become whole musicians. Not satisfied with teaching chord and finger progressions, the Zelleas also offer hands-on lessons in song-writing, recording, video and audio production, and even music marketing. The school’s goal is to help students “identify as musicians,” not just play an instrument. All instructors at the MMA are credentialed teachers with degrees in music and education, and they are also working musicians.
