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Instruments & Styles

Instruments and Styles of Music

Instruments, Music Styles & Genres

Pakachoag offers private lessons in a wide variety of instruments and music styles.  Sometimes, our offerings may change depending upon teacher availability.  If you are interested in lessons for an instrument not listed below, please give us a call.  We can review all currently available options.

More About Style

At Pakachoag, the basis for instruction for most instruments is traditional classical instruction.  Using this classical approach, we can teach skills, techniques and knowledge to provide a firm musical foundation.   You can then readily apply this foundation to other styles of music. In addition to traditional classical instruction, we also understand that some students are interested in particular music genres or styles. Guitar, ukulele and voice are three instruments in particular where teachers will often teach using different genres.

If you have questions, please call us to discuss your individual interests and needs.

Category/InstrumentStyle of Instruction     
KEYBOARDTraditional /
Classical		JazzFolkPop / MainstreamMusical
Theater		Multiple /
Mixed Genre
Piano and electric keyboard√√√√
Pipe Organ√
Accordion √√
WOODWINDS
Clarinet√
Oboe√
Saxophone√
Flute, Fife, Piccolo and Recorder√
STRINGS
Harp (Pedal or Lever)√√
Violin (Fiddle)√√
Viola√√
Cello√
String bass and bass guitar√√√√
Guitar – acoustic/electric√√√√√
Ukelele√√√√
Sitar (Indian Classical)√√
BRASSSee also the Merit Brass Programat Groups > Ensembles
Trumpet√√
French Horn√
VOICE√√√√√√ including Gospel, Blues, Country, and more

Please visit our Faculty page for a list of teachers for each instrument. Jazz and Folk instructors are noted within the general faculty listing.

Want to learn more about genres in music?  This Music Genre page has an extensive list.

A Bit More about Instrument Families

A family of musical instruments is a grouping of several different but related types of instruments. Some schemes of musical instrument classification, such as the Hornbostel-Sachs system, are based on a hierarchy.  That hierarchy splits instruments into families and families of families.
The most commonly recognized families are:

  • Brass family
  • Strings family
  • Woodwind family
  • Percussion family
  • Keyboard family

Family relationships are not always clear-cut. For example, some musicians define family taking into consideration pitch range, instrument construction and tone quality. Some, for example, do not regard the english horn (cor anglais) as a member of the oboe family.  This is because the english horn’s narrow bore and piriform bell give it a different tone quality from the oboe.