Yamaha Music School Prosper cultivates love of music

Yamaha Music School Prosper aims to teach much more than music, owner Venus Wood said.

Wood said she hopes that through music lessons, she can instill a lifelong passion for the arts and help her students build connections with the people around them.

“I want to have a positive impact in this community beyond music,” Wood said.

The overview

Piano is Yamaha Music School's most popular instrument and the center also offers lessons in a range of other instruments, including:

• Drums
• Guitar, bass and ukulele
• Violin and viola

Wood hosts a school-wide recital each spring and in-class recitals throughout the year to help keep kids motivated, she said.

“Kids here in North Texas are so busy. They have so many activities,” Wood said. “We give them a goal ... they have something that they work toward.”

For students who are particularly performance-motivated, Yamaha Music School offers a weekly Performers Club where members form a band and choose pieces to play for a quarterly recital.

“We learn to find their motivation,” Wood said. “I want the child to continue to learn music for the rest of their life.”

Who it’s for

Students ages 4-5 start out in Yamaha’s Junior Music Course, which focuses on ear training to help students “become fluent in the language of music,” Wood said.

Since younger students are often still developing fine motor skills, the curriculum uses listening and singing to build a foundation for future music education.

“They pick up on everything. They can memorize whole storybooks even though they cannot read a word. That’s how it is with music,” Wood said.

As students progress through the course, they begin to play their instruments and read music.

“Over time, they play more,” Wood said. “At the end of the two-year program, the kids can play pieces in both hands, up to five keys.”

After the Junior Music Course, students ages 6-12 progress to more advanced lessons with individual instructors.

Yamaha Music School also offers lessons for older students, including teenagers and adults. Wood has two senior citizens who come in for lessons every Friday morning and many of her adult students come in after work or on their lunch break.

Meet the owner

Wood’s journey with music started with classical piano training when she was 4, she said.

She taught music lessons as an undergraduate, earning a bachelor’s degree in piano performance at UCLA. She switched to a career in accounting while continuing to teach music on the weekends.

“The longer I was in accounting, the more I wanted to eventually open up my music school,” Wood said.

When her son was 4, she enrolled him in a Yamaha Music School. After sitting in on his classes, she fell in love with the company’s teaching philosophy.

“It was, in my mind, the perfect way to teach a 4- and 5-year-old the piano,” she said.

After moving to Prosper in 2021, Wood opened her own Yamaha Music School in October 2023.

Why it matters

For Wood, music’s impact extends outside the classroom. Her students often go on to build community through music in school bands, orchestras and other musical groups, she said.

“I like to be known as a music school that has a positive impact on our students, not only in music, but in their whole development,” Wood said.

To build a lifelong connection with music, Yamaha Music School tailors its curriculum to each student, adding in custom lessons and teaching students to play the songs they enjoy listening to, Wood said.

“I care less whether they play classical, pop, jazz, whatever,” Wood said. “I want them to continue to find the joy and the love of playing music.”