Wisconsin Conservatory of Music

Great place for lessons and the mansion itself is stunning! It is reasonably priced for the lessons and the teachers are great.

The Conservatory is not only the largest private musical institution in Wisconsin, but it’s legendary. My aunt received a certificate as a piano teacher there over 80 years ago, and our daughter studied both piano and flute there with memorable teachers over 25 years ago. Such an institution needs to have reviews that appreciate its broader history and its contributions to the Milwaukee cultural scene. While practical minor snafus should be corrected, the pride that Milwaukee has in this place should be celebrated.

My daughter has been taking piano lessons here for a number of years now. Since day one, I’ve been completely satisfied with our experience. Her teacher is professional, excellent with teenagers and young children, and super personable. She’s more than willing to collaborate with parents and even shares her personal cell phone/​text number.
At the end of the day, the proof is in her piano playing. My daughter is your typical teenager. But I think we owe it to her teacher that my daughters enthusiasm for music has never waned. She enjoys the performances they give and she gives me very little grief about practicing. I think we owe that in part to her teachers inspiration.
The cost is somewhat higher than other places, but I think it’s worth it. yes, the parking situation stinks down here… and that’s going to cost them a star… but if I had to do it all again I’d still come here for my daughters lessons. It’s the best I’ve seen.

I’ve had some good, some great, and some indifferent experiences with the music conservatory.
A couple of experiences that has me marking them down:

My first experience with the conservatory was signing up for a private lesson. I show up and it’s the teachers last week with them (they assigned the teacher). Not only that, but they were about to enter a «break» and there wasn’t any way to take something the next week. Not a very good first impression.
I ended up giving up on a class because it was impossible to find parking. The class was right after work, and just I didn’t have an extra 20−30min to spend looking for parking. Parking is the absolute biggest headache with their East Side location.
I’m in a class right now that is constantly left scrounging for a room. Seriously, if you advertise a class at a certain time the room should not ever be double booked and it should not be an ongoing issue.
I hate their breaks. As an adult, if I enjoy a hobby I want to continue. To have an 8 or 16 week thing and then a big break is a pain. Even worse is when the private lessons are affected by their breaks too.
On the bright side of things:
There are some excellent instructors teaching here. I’ve had good experiences with most of the classes and teachers. Most of them are at least semi pros.
Compared to other classes in the area I feel you get your monies worth here (considering they are a bit more expensive than the other options this is a good thing).
It’s possible to try something in a class and then get really serious with it with private lessons and such. Some of the other programs around the community leave you hanging after the intro class is done.