New space for music center

A new rhythm can be found along East Sprague Avenue.

It’s inside a brick house just past the easternmost entrance of the Fred Meyer Shopping Center parking lot near Sprague and Sullivan Road. The Creative Music Learning Center recently moved after a few years at its previous location on Barker Road near Interstate 90.

“It’s been very good,” owner and longtime piano teacher Darlene Theisen said of the new locale. “We’re excited about the potential.”

Theisen said the move was cost-effective, and the property owner is open to the possibility of expansion that could include construction of a fine arts center.

Theisen has been teaching music in the Spokane Valley for 18 years. She also has traveled the country to help others learn teaching methods and open their own studios. It was just about three years ago when she moved from teaching piano at her home to opening the Creative Music Learning Center.

Together with Theisen, nine others instruct some 225 students, starting at age 4, in small groups and private lessons. Classes include piano, guitar, strings, drums, vocals, brass and woodwinds.

The various rooms throughout the house have been catered to the different instruments, with drums and guitar in the basement.

Included in Theisen’s piano classes are those for children ages 4 and 5 called Music for Little Mozarts, which extends beyond the keyboards to help build a foundation for listening and music appreciation.

“These kids end up playing piano by the time their 7,” she noted.

Theisen, a certified teacher with a bachelor’s degree in education from Walla Walla College, combines her music teaching abilities with her studies of brain processing to help students learn exercises that develop neural pathways for learning. The exercises have been instrumental in helping children overcome learning difficulties, she said.

Cost of instruction for the various instruments and vocals ranges from $65 to $95 a month for once a week instruction. Most classes are available in one-hour sessions for groups and 30 minutes for private lessons. Classes are available Monday through Friday, including before work and school hours.