Doris Hall-James, founder of Simply Music, Inc.
outside the studio in West Philadelphia.
Philadelphia, PA -
A new music studio has opened its doors in West Philadelphia where both children and adults can take music and voice lessons.
The Simply Music Studio is located 251 S. 60th St. near Spruce and offers instructions in flute, piano, guitar and bass.
The studio opened its doors in June 2015. Its owners said they have been impressed with the community’s response.
“It has been overwhelming. They are so happy that something like this is present in their community,” said Doris Hall-James, founder of Simply Music, Inc.
“They [community residents] keep coming in and thanking my partner and I always tell them that I come from this community, too, because they think I am from the outside. I’m from 61st and Washington and have basically lived here all of my life.”
This support comes not only from adults who reside in the area, but also children and others who stop in from across the city, according to Hall-James.
She incorporated her business in 2008 while living in West Virginia and is herself a former performer with Philadelphia roots.
It wasn’t until she returned to Philadelphia in 2010 that she began operating her business from her home.
“My long-term vision was to open a music training center where I could teach instruments to the community,” Hall-James said. “At first it was primarily geared toward the kids but we discovered that the adults wanted the lessons as much as the children and so we expanded our program to include adults.”
Out of the 25 students which Hall-James estimates to patronize her studio, some eight or nine of them are adults.
Hall-James said she began her career as an entertainer as a young child.
“I was always an entertainer, always sang, always did those kinds of creative things and I wanted to give the community a chance to do the same thing,” she said.
“I looked at some of the things that children are doing now and said that this could be a benefit to them because it would keep them off of the streets, it will keep them studying and I want to show them that they could make a career in music if they learn the correct way.”
Hall-James’ partner, bass guitarist Gilbert Lomax, said he learned to play the bass at 14 and would later play gigs in and around the city with other musicians.
“The bass followed me everywhere I went. At the age of 21 I went into the army and became a medic but the bass stayed with me, 20 years later I retired from the army and the bass stayed with me,” Lomax said.
After retiring, Lomax said he worked in corporate America for another 20 years but the bass stayed with him, albeit gathering a little dust during that time.
Lomax, who is a lover of the oldies, also has a degree from DeVry University in Computer Information where he developed his skills in radio and computer technology.
“I got into sequencing and multiplexes and all of the radio stuff and wound up being what I guess you would call a natural for Internet radio,” he said. “Since I have all of this computer background I just brought this knowledge into music hardware and software.”
That technological knowledge came in handy at the studio which now partners with journalist Van Stone to host an online radio show. This allows students of Simply Music the opportunity to not only learn the business of music and to record their music but also to learn radio technology in the process.
“The opportunity of doing that on Van’s radio station is wonderful, I love it — but I also love the fact that we are interjecting our own music,” Lomax said.
Powerwvsr1360.us started in 2003 and began as a tertiary AM band radio station. Thanks to Simply Music Studio, Stone said the station will allow Simpy Music to teach radio to those interested in careers in broadcasting.
“The fact that we have so many adult and school-age children listening to our station, we wanted to be able to work with these students interested in learning to play musical instruments and learn about professional music in the music industry and that’s why we chose to partner with Simply Music Studio,” Stone said.
