MUSICIANS INSTITUTE:
Where Music Careers Are Born
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Located In The Heart of Hollywood, ‘The World's Most Innovative Contemporary Music School' Offers A Genre-Busting Range Of Instrument, Recording and Specialized Programs Geared to Launch Real World Careers In The Music Industry 

Despite its success in priming over 20,000 musicians, producers, engineers, vocalists and music industry professionals for careers in every contemporary genre of music— rock, funk, R&B, hip-hop, jazz, blues, and fusion, among others— Musicians Institute (MI) is still one of the best kept secrets in the music education field. Located in the heart of Hollywood , just blocks from the Capitol Records tower, MI has an incredible history of innovation dating back to its origins in 1977 as the Guitar Institute of Technology (GIT), which broke new ground as a performance-based contemporary music school taught by working professionals. Within a few years, GIT was joined by bass and drum programs to form Musicians Institute and the evolution has continued to this day with degree and certificate programs for career-minded guitarists, bassists, drummers, vocalists, keyboardists, recording engineers, independent producers, guitar makers, music business professionals and filmmakers.

The best measure of MI's success is the graduates themselves. The list of former students who have achieved success in the “real world” is long and colorful.  MI alumni don't just appear on the covers of music magazines, they fill the pages in between. Those who have passed through MI's halls before going on to achieve notable careers include Keb ‘Mo; Weezer guitarists Rivers Cuomo and Brian Bell; longtime Chick Corea guitarist and fusion giant Frank Gambale; Chad Smith and John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, drummer Curt Bisquera (Elton John, Mick Jagger, Bonnie Raitt); guitarist Fred Clark (Chaka Khan, Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder); guitarist/producer John Shanks (Melissa Etheridge); the late Jeff Buckley; singer Angela Ammons, and recently former American Idol finalist LaToya London, who has just released her debut on Peak Records.

MI's international reputation as a leader in contemporary education is based on four key factors, implemented by the school's more than 120 pro instructors: 1) performance-based education, with practical, interactive instruction by working professionals in the classroom, onstage and in the studio; 2) intensive learning, including a fast-paced application-oriented curriculum that cuts quickly to the core of each subject; 3) an environment that encourages the expression of creative diversity and personal style; and 4) career development via programs that prepare students for the realities of highly competitive professions.

MI has expanded far beyond its roots as an instrument performance school and now offers specialized programs including the Guitar Craft Academy , which trains a new wave of guitar makers and technicians for the thriving instrument industry; the Music Business Program, focused on educating aspiring industry professionals; and the new Film Institute of Technology, which brings MI-style hands-on training to music video and commercial production.

MI has also expanded academically. Instrument students now have a choice of earning Bachelor of Music and Associate of Arts degrees as well as certificates. The latest offering is an AA program combining guitar, bass, drum, keyboard or vocal studies with a Music Business emphasis to turn out graduates who can truly fend for themselves in a challenging industry.

“What sets MI apart from most of America 's standard college music programs is that we take contemporary music seriously, and we combine all of the elements of a contemporary music education in one place,” says Keith Wyatt, MI's VP of Programs. “We were training students in contemporary music back when it wasn't considered a serious course of study. Electric guitar was the first instrument we offered and it remains our largest program, but to this day, most colleges still treat it as a second-class instrument because it doesn't fit into the classical or traditional jazz repertoire.

“MI's programs concentrate on training students to pursue their goals as efficiently and competitively as possible,” he adds. “The original basic idea was to bring a vocational-style practical focus to a creative art form. We teach students to organize their knowledge and skills and offer plenty of hands-on experience to make it all stick. Aside from all of the classes and lessons, by the time a player or singer graduates from MI, they have had dozens, if not hundreds, of live performing experiences and have rubbed shoulders with industry professionals, world-class teachers and visiting artists. Recording and film students know the gear inside-out and have produced their own projects. Guitar-making students have made their own guitars. Music business students have had day-to-day work experience. It's still a tough business, but they leave here armed with something more than a dream.”

MI's location in the center of Hollywood is a key part of the equation, training students for contemporary music careers in the very heart of the contemporary music industry. One-of-a-kind facilities tucked just off Hollywood Boulevard surround students with professional tools and atmosphere including top-of-the-line recording studios, an array of project studios, dozens of workstations, HD editing systems, a 500-seat concert facility and a wide variety of performance stages, class-rehearsal rooms and practice labs.

Summing up the ongoing mission and overall vibe of the MI experience, legendary bassist and film composer Stanley Clarke once observed, “What I really like about Musicians Institute is that not only do they provide an exceptional, hands-on music education, they also prepare their students for the many other things needed to go out into the real world and be a working musician.”

For more information on Musicians Institute, please visit www.mi.edu or call 800-255-7529 .