- May 1, 2024
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The director is seeking a welcoming and positive environment for learning.
A new music and arts academy is offering a unique blend of opportunities for self-improvement.
Damian Bonazzoli, longtime professional guitarist and teacher, has opened The Elite Academy of Music and Motion at 142 E. Granada Blvd. in the Fountain Square Shopping Village.
The Academy offers lessons in guitar, piano, voice and woodwinds (flute, piccolo, clarinet); brass (trumpet, trombone, euphonium); and classical strings (violin, viola, and cello).
The studio also offers classes in oil painting, traditional and modern clog dancing, yoga and tai chi.
“It’s growing organically,” Bonazzoli said, referring to the variety of classes being taught. One of his guitar students presented him with an oil painting as a gift, and Bonazzoli told him he should be giving lessons in painting. He is now teaching at the school.
“Art is the unifying factor,” he said.
Bonazzoli, who also teaches at St. Brendan’s Catholic School in Ormond Beach, said the goal is to have a welcoming, positive and nurturing environment, where students want to hang out even when they aren’t having lessons.
He liked the facility when he saw it because the skylights and wood floors add to the comfortable and warm atmosphere he was seeking. He has had yoga classes out by the fountain in the square.
“We want a sense of community,” he said.
Even though it’s a relaxed atmosphere, where a student can grab a cup of coffee or a cookie when they first come in, he said the teaching is something they take very seriously, with detailed and personalized lesson plans for each student. All of the instructors have college degrees.
“Our world class faculty, our affordability, and our welcoming environment make us, I sincerely hope, an asset to the greater Ormond Beach community,” Bonazzoli said.
Bonazzoli plans to build music ensembles, allowing the students to play together.
“To become a musician, playing in an ensemble is the next step,” he said. “It’s the key to developing skills.”
He has students of all ages, from five to 63. He finds that parents want their children to learn music, because music is sometimes the victim of budget cuts in the schools, and private instruction offers more depth. Many adults want to play an instrument they’ve always wanted to learn but never had the time.
“I just love teaching,” he said. “In my small way, I’m making the world a better place.”
He said it’s fun to see people reach their goals and then want to do more. Sometimes a person will say they just want to play guitar around the campfire and after they learn, they say they might start a band. And then later, they say they might want to be on a stage.
“It’s the coolest thing,” he said.
Bonazzoli graduated from the University of Massachusetts and his musical experience includes symphonic music, jazz and blues, Broadway-style musicals and world music. He has been teaching guitar for 20 years, and decided last year to acquire commercial space. As he researched the possibilities, he got more and more ideas for what could be developed, and ended up starting the music academy.
Visit elitemusicandmotion.com or call 256-5847.
