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<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\u201cI was so grateful and honored to be a part of that process and help her find her voice,\u201d said Johnson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Johnson (one of fourJohnson family members who work at the studio) was amazed at how her student has grown since that day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cShe\u2019s writing all the time,\u201d said Johnson. \u201cIt has given her the confidence she needs and she has blossomed since that day into even more of an artist.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is just one example of the way that Modern Day Music School is able to be there for its students. In music, you\u2019re vulnerable. You\u2019re open. You\u2019re bearing your soul. For some, it\u2019s incredibly intimidating at first. For others, it\u2019s a relief right away. For all, the studio is a sanctuary; a place where they can be free, vulnerable and most importantly, themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/newyorksmusic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/04\/MDMS5.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\u201cThe students develop these incredible bonds with their coaches and teachers that makes them want to work even harder,\u201d owner Paul Benedetti said. \u201cThey come in for this 30-minute session. Sometimes, they only sing for about five minutes of that. They\u2019re working through something tough in their personal life and they feel safe enough to come in here and talk to us. We want them to feel safe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These bonds were evident as our staff visited the studio on a rainy Friday afternoon. As pictures were being taken, Formica and VanDenburg were belting into a mic. Their vocal coach, Lesley O\u2019Donnell, was standing outside the sound-proof booth. The doors were open, the vibe was good. As the girls tried to find their pitch, O\u2019Donnell was offering encouraging words even though the girls were just goofing around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere it is!,\u201d O\u2019Donnell exclaimed as the teen stars belted out an impressive harmony. \u201cThere we go! Awesome!\u201d A smile spread across her face. \u201cIt\u2019s amazing,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Benedetti started Modern Day Music School in 2011 with a partner, who he bought out in 2013. The need for the school was a response to his own son\u2019s musical talent. When his oldest son was a teenager, he was playing drums and decided he wanted to start a band. The problem was, there was nowhere in the area that made it easy to coordinate young musicians who wanted to get together with peers. Benedetti said it was a \u201cnightmare\u201d because there was always curve balls thrown; some kids really wanted to play, while others weren\u2019t ready for the commitment it held. On top of that, where the bands would eventually play weren\u2019t kid-friendly. The teens would play at house parties, where Benedetti didn\u2019t feel was a good place for these young musicians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI come from the studio business and I\u2019ve been playing, teaching and singing forever,\u201d he said. \u201cMy partner and I had a thought during this time period; wouldn\u2019t it be awesome to create a space where these kids could find like-minded students, and even better, have a safe space to play?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/newyorksmusic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/04\/MDMS6.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nThe school opened with its well-known band program. Essentially, students signed up and are paired into a band with three to four other students with the same essential goal. Benedetti said these kids usually don\u2019t know one another at first, and even more, they don\u2019t always want to play the same thing or even like the same music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not only a music session, it\u2019s team-building,\u201d he said. \u201cThese kids learn that you sometimes have to work with people you wouldn\u2019t pick at first for whatever reason. That\u2019s something you\u2019ll run into regardless of where you end up in life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It sometimes takes a bit for the band to adapt. The band program is offered in three-month sessions. Despite the initial uncertainty, the kids not only learn to work well together, but they become friends and will often ask to play together again at the beginning of the new session.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey\u2019ll want to do more, work harder and see where they could potentially go as a cohesive unit,\u201d said Benedetti. \u201cIf we feel it works as a whole, we will happily try to accommodate those requests.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The band program eventually was joined by music lessons when Benedetti realized how needed it was. Now, the studio employs at least a dozen coaches with all different abilities and talents. While those like Formica and VanDenburg are jumping into the mainstream, 7-year-old Ella Dane Morgan is a student with a different passion \u2014 performing on stage. At 5 years old, she was starring with pop sensation Sara Bareilles in the singer\u2019s smash hit \u201cWaitress.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/newyorksmusic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/04\/MDMS3.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\u201cI have reverse stage fright,\u201d Morgan explained. \u201cI don\u2019t really like performing in front of friends and family, but I love performing on stage.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Morgan\u2019s mother Laura agreed, explaining she\u2019s had to physically carry a crying Morgan as she pleaded to get back on stage, long after the curtains closed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe were bitten by the Broadway bug at a young age,\u201dsaid Laura Morgan. \u201cOnce she got the taste for it, she wanted in. We sometimes commute between here and the city three to four days a week for whatever she has going on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The young Broadway star has learned so much from her three years of\u00a0instruction. Laura Morgan said they picked Modern Day Music School because of the school\u2019s command of music \u2014 they know what they\u2019re doing. \u00a0There are not a lot of roles for children on Broadway, but the Morgans have made it work and the young star has been consistently in her element, doing what she loves most.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019ve learned to belt by opening up my mouth like a cave,\u201d Ella said. \u201cI pretend I\u2019m stuffing all of these marshmallows in my mouth. It\u2019s helped.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another belter, 11-year-old Ashlynn Boyce, has been working on the same techniques. The two-time winner of Clifton Park American Idol has always known she could sing, surprising even her parents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI was shocked when I first heard her,\u201d Boyce\u2019s father, Jesse, said. \u201cNone of our family has this skill and she can command it so well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boyce has been attending Modern Day Music School for two years. Having just relocated from Pittstown, Boyce and her dad were passing through one day and she saw the sign for the school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI just knew I wanted to go here,\u201d she said. As shy as she is, she knows what she wants. \u201cI had a feeling about it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jesse Boyce put all his trust in Benedetti. Soon Boyce, who was sent home early from Clifton Park American Idol the first year she tried out, was in command of her talent like never before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cShe can be so successful at this,\u201d he said. \u201cYou just want the best for your kid. No place is perfect, but this is pretty close.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boyce said her warmups have completely changed her. They help her get ready for the big notes\u00a0she loves to hit, ones she hopes to sing with Demi Lovato someday. Two years later, she still wants to go here. It\u2019s become as much of a sanctuary for her as anyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Students like Boyce are how the teachers summarized what they feel the school does for students. The initial intimidation of coming in and bearing a part of your soul that many are self-conscious about \u2014 even those who know they have talent \u2014 is overridden when they step into that studio and feel validation about something they\u2019ve worked on for so long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s music. That\u2019s what we know,\u201d said O\u2019Donnell. \u201cIt makes sense for us to teach it. We are simply the vehicles for these kids to hone in on the thing they love so much.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tony Garza, the jack of all trades of the school, agrees. Garza teaches guitar, bass and ukelele. He is the head of the school\u2019s Little Rockers program and is the rock school director. For him, it comes down to helping the students learn important life lessons, like they have to be ok with not being perfect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI always tell my students they are good, they are special and they are worthy,\u201d Garza explained. \u201cI want to help them find their voice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Katie Johnson, another vocal coach and the song writing teacher, agreed. \u201cMusic has changed the lives of these kids, and they\u2019ve changed all of us,\u201d she said. \u201cThey come in not believing in themselves and they find who they are through the music.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The teachers are assisted by the helpful Benedetti and Cailin Burke, the studio manager. Burke explained students are not just randomly assigned \u2014 rather, the studio takes the talents of each individual into consideration and pairs them with the coach that can address those specific needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNo curriculum here,\u201d was echoed by every single employee of the studio. Benedetti added, \u201cWe use music that the students want to learn about to construct our lessons. If they love Taylor Swift, we will visit her music and learn notes, harmonies and how the song is constructed. We want to make learning fun for these students. Curriculum is great, but we want to take an individualized approach to each student. This is not one size fits all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Eighteen-year-old Formica, 17-year-old VanDenburg and 15-year-old Cassie Cenzano are on their way to superstardom. All three said they owe so much to their coaches; while it\u2019s taught them how to sing, it\u2019s also taught them how not to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI hate it when people come up to me and tell me how they\u2019ve never taken lessons,\u201d said Formica. \u201cWe take pride in our lessons because they\u2019ve taught us how to maintain our voices. Not taking lessons is great, but when you accidentally blow out your voice because you didn\u2019t maintain it, that\u2019s definitely not fun.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Formica and Cenzano landed at Modern Day Music School around the same time, right after the school opened. Formica is a rock powerhouse, effortlessly having both the voice and stage presence to make audiences question why rock went away. Cenzano is influenced by the sultry vocals of Adele and Stevie Nicks, a stark contrast to Formica. VanDenburg finds her influence in singers like Celine Dion and once said she prides herself in the ability to sing ballads \u201cdecently well.\u201d As her recent appearance on \u201cAmerican Idol\u201d has shown, she was maintaining the level-headed kindness and humility all three girls embody.<\/p>\n\n\n\n