School

Folias Music School Lessons

Welcome to the Folias Music School! Led by guitarist Andrew Bergeron and flutist Carmen Maret, we offer private lessons for students of all ages and skill levels. Our specialties include flute, classical guitar, and composition. Our personalized one-on-one instruction and group activities emphasize music creation as a means of fostering discipline, self-love, and cultural understanding. Whether you’re new to classical music, a beginner, a college student, or a returning adult, we can help unleash your full potential for musical creativity. Thank you for choosing Folias Music School!

Sign Up for Lessons

Meet Your Instructors

Andrew Bergeron & Carmen Maret

Andrew Bergeron and Carmen Maret are musician-performer-teachers passionate about sharing music to explore life and art. Combined, they hold Master of Music degrees in Music Performance, Music Composition, and Ethnomusicology from Michigan State University. They are specialists in Suzuki and Early Childhood Music (Music Together), and teach a wide range of courses at the college level, including music theory, aural skills, music history, American popular music, music technology, and music business. They are currently offering virtual and in-person private lessons in flute, classical guitar, and composition from their home in the mid-town neighborhood of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Don’t hesitate to contact them for an engaging and rewarding musical experience!

Andrew Bergeron has a diverse musical background that began with keyboard lessons at the age of five. He started practicing on an electric organ in his parents' living room before learning electric guitar, percussion, and eventually classical guitar. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in Music and Philosophy from Grand Valley State University, where he studied classical guitar, music composition, and Chinese philosophy. Andrew also spent a summer studying abroad in Shanghai. He continued his studies at Michigan State University, where he earned a Master of Music in composition, was awarded the Paul Harder Composition Scholarship, and won the MSU Composition Competition. He studied guitar with Brian Morris, composition with Charles Ruggiero and Bob Schechtman, and music theory with Sherman Van Solkema.

Andrew began his teaching career at the age of 24 as a guitar instructor at Grand Rapids Community College. He also taught Suzuki guitar through the Grand Rapids Arts Outreach Program. With almost two decades of experience as a classroom instructor, Andrew has taught music theory, ear training, and guitar classes. He served as the ear training instructor for second-year students at Grand Valley State University for nine years and as the instructor for second-year theory and ear training at Aquinas College for eleven years. Since 2003, he has taught guitar classes at Grand Rapids Community College, Grand Valley State University, and Aquinas College featuring his own compositions and arrangements. Andrew's personalized teaching methods enable a wide variety of people to excel in learning classical guitar and music composition.

Carmen Maret has been passionate about music since she was six years old, starting with piano lessons and expanding to singing in choirs, playing flute in concert bands, and performing with youth orchestras throughout her teenage years. She earned her Bachelor of Music in flute performance from the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music, and her Master of Music in flute performance from Michigan State University. Carmen also has a Master of Arts degree in ethnomusicology from Michigan State University, where she focused on Argentine tango music and dance. Her primary flute teachers were Mary Posses and Richard Sherman. Carmen attended the Eastern Music Festival in 1998 and studied with Peter Lloyd at his summer flute seminar in St. Andrew’s, Scotland in 1999. She has also had the privilege of performing in masterclasses with William Bennett and Julia Bogorad and attending masterclasses with Carol Wincenc, James Galway, and Emmanuel Pahud. In addition to her classical training, Carmen has studied jazz improvisation with Bobby Watson and Ron Blake, and tango music with bassist Pablo Aslan.

Carmen began her teaching career in 2007 at the Grand Rapids Community College Arts Outreach Program, where she focused on Suzuki flute instruction. Since 2011, she has been teaching applied college flute lessons at Aquinas College and Grand Rapids Community College, leading studio flute classes, and conducting and arranging for flute ensembles. In her current classroom teaching experience, Carmen covers a wide variety of rotating topics, such as the history of Western music, MIDI technology, music entrepreneurship, and music theory basics at Aquinas College, and American popular music and the business of music at Grand Rapids Community College. She is passionate about sharing her love for music with her students and helping them grow as musicians.


FAQ

We offer lessons in-person at our home studio in Midtown Grand Rapids and online via Zoom.

Free street parking is available for those attending in-person lessons.

For the most effective results in learning music, we recommend signing up for lessons in sets of 4 or by the 14-week semester.

Pricing:

14, 60-minute lessons = $770 ($55/hr)
14, 30-minute lessons = $385 ($55/hr)
4, 60-minute lessons = $240 ($60/hr)
4, 30-minute lessons = $120 ($60/hr)
1, 60-minute lesson = $70

We typically teach two 14 weeks sessions: one in late August through December and a second one mid-January through April.

We work in advance with students and families to decide on the best dates and times for lessons. All sessions will be confirmed through either phone or email and scheduled based on Eastern Standard Time (New York Time). We'll collaborate to establish lesson objectives, including areas of focus, goals, and music preferences, among other things.

We accept Venmo, Pay Pal, checks, or cash. Please note that semester and/or monthly tuition must be paid in full before the first lesson in the package.

Please make checks out to: Folias Music LLC

Students must make cancellations to reschedule at least 24 hours in advance, except in the case of a family emergency or illness. Cancellations of rescheduled sessions will not be rescheduled. Our policy for weather-related cancellations is that if public schools are open, lessons will be held as normal.

Sign Up for Lessons