OTHER CITIES: 
Institutionlized Rhythm is Back
I feel a bit behind, but I recently found out The Rhythm Institute (TRI) reopened its doors earlier this month at their new, expanded home beside Beatstreet Records on West Hastings. The DJ school was originally established by local house DJ, Leanne Bitner (DJ Leanne) and was based out of the back of Boomtown for the last 4 years or so.
With the new digs comes an expanded host of services, like digital music production, studio rentals for practice and recording and "event solutions", courtesy of their Solutions Channel division. This new suite of services transforms the Institute into more of a hub for the music community and less of a straight ahead private school. It's a one-stop-shop now, if you will.
The origins of TRI still rests on their mission to teach people how to play pre-recorded music properly. With a current generation of self-taught or mentored professional DJs, one might wonder if there really is a need for neophytes to dish out $500 for such instruction. This certainly crossed Tobias V's mind when the school first opened up for business. I stumbled across his long and rather abstruse article for Discorder while doing some Googling today. Go ahead and slog through the essay at your leisure. He's got some interesting things to say about the true nature of DJing and how teaching it as a formalized course is just one more step in the commercialization of the craft itself. Or something like that...
I took classes at TRI about 3 years ago when it was still a cramped little studio tucked away in the back of Boomtown Records. Being totally clueless about what DJs actually did behind the decks, I went through the Beginner course, which consisted of 6 hour-long lessons and 6 hour-long studio practice sessions. I did not come out of the course with anything approaching competency. At the time I didn't own turntables and those 6 practice sessions, as generous as it sounds in the beginning, were not nearly enough for me to get a grip on beatmatching, the foundation skill of modern DJing.
This is not, however, a knock against the course. Without TRI, I was unlikely to take the plunge and blow a couple grand on DJ gear. Sure enough, just a few months after graduating from TRI, I purchased my own equipment and began to practice in earnest. Practicing at home... now that's where my real education began. So I have to thank the DJ school for whetting my appetite and giving me a chance to test the waters. Because really, with 6 short lessons, dipping your toes into the pool is about all you have time for.
Being a DJ is a huge financial investment and the TRI programs aren't cheap either. The pricing has changed a bit since I was there. I dished out about $370 for my Beginner course. It's now risen to $500 but compensated with lessons that last 90 minutes instead of an hour. If you're uncertain about spending the rest of your life acquiring music gizmos, digging for records and deafening yourself, you could do a lot worse than check out an information seminar.
DJ Leanne and DJ Marvel hold free info seminars every Monday evening, followed by a digital music production demo hosted by Kevin Mah.
I would be remiss if I didn't tell you that TRI isn't the only game in town. Boomtown now runs their own little DJ school in the dark little cubbyhole where TRI used to be. Their prices are lower but I can't comment on the quality of instruction or any perks associated with going with them. Prospective DJs would do well to call them up and do some comparison shopping.
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And there's also School of Mix.