United Conservatory of Music & Arts - Fresno

After research throughout Fresno/Clovis, I settled on giving this place a shot as my niece and nephew also attend for piano lessons. The place is very clean - from the private to group classrooms (even their restroom). There is a yearly registration fee along with a prepaid monthly fee. My child's tuition at the time was $160/month which equates to a once a week/30 minute guitar lesson. They do have a rescheduling policy if the student cannot make their scheduled lesson but chances are they might be assigned to another open instructor if their designated one is unavailable. Unfortunately, my child no longer attends (after 2 years) but only because she has the foundation to progress on her own. The staff here are friendly and I would recommend this place to anyone who wants to start learning an instrument.

I want to update that I contacted UMCA and they could not have been more understanding and helpful. This may have been isolated to our experience with this one instructor and we were so impressed with their response that we may return when our daughter is ready for music lessons.

I really love this place!I love the atmosphere when you walk in and see all kinds of music lovers...I love sitting in the lobby and listening to the music teachers singing and teaching kids how to use their instrument of interest.The front desk lady is always so helpful and her smile is cute.It is so easy to set up makeup classes and or cancel a lesson.Our son looks forward to coming to class every week and always talks about how cool his instructors are.Don't hesitate to take the leap and put your child in this place.Enjoy!

My daughter was interested in taking hip hop classes. As I started looking into it I found most studios are very pricey. I reached out to United Conservatory of Music and got a response the same day. They texted me! That was perfect since I'm usually very busy and don't always have time to talk. Turns out the hip hop class they offer had just began and they were trying to fill the class. We arranged to participate in an intro class and that was $45. My daughter had a great time. The instructor Dar is so sweet! She's a great teacher! My daughter has learned so much already. I recommend this place to all my friends. The staff is on it! They have 2 girls in the front handling business AND with a smile! It's busy here all day with kids and parents coming in and out of class. We love it here.

I was running on a limited schedule to get an instrument for a my son. They opened ten minutes before they had to for me. I found exactly what I needed and I was served with a smile and excellent pricing. I highly recommend you talk a visit and see for yourself.

My daughter has attended here for over a year and have been so appreciative of the experience! They are flexible and provide so many learning opportunities. My daughter started with Violin, then moved onto Piano, and who knows what instrument she will pick up next. I love the hours of availability, the warm and welcoming environment, and the one-on-one instruction. A growing organization that hasn't lost its family touch!

We haven't had the best experience with UCMA, and lately it's felt more like a business than a school. Sharing my experience to help others understand what they are signing up for (which isn't exactly as advertised).If you're considering signing up for private music lessons, please be forewarned that their standard operating procedure for teacher absences is to book you with a substitute teacher without informing you in advance. This may seem like a small detail, but it can turn into a major problem if your teacher is as chronically absent as ours was. Simply put, it has interfered with my child's ability to progress. In our experience, the other instructors had little knowledge of what my child was working on and were not able to challenge her in the way that her regular teacher did. They had no idea what aspects of musical literacy she was struggling with or what she was working on learning specifically. Weeks went by without her making any significant progress or even being assigned new homework.Beyond this, it takes time for children to build up trust with a new teacher, to not be afraid of a new face, to learn their teaching styles and to feel comfortable playing their instrument in front of them. While the substitute teachers were usually perfectly lovely human beings, they were new people and my child wasn't always prepared for it (being surprised at the last minute). It's not what I signed up for-- or what I *thought* I signed up for....I would have much preferred the opportunity to reschedule with our teacher if that had been made an option for us. It was disappointing that UCMA didn't seem to notice this was a recurring problem for us... however, upon checking the policies, I see that this is actually the rule-- which is pretty disheartening to me. Does UCMA not believe in the importance of having a consistent instructor for their students? I should note some pros: I have enjoyed some of the perks associated with a larger music school (namely, access to different types of music instruction) and some of our instructors have been outstanding. They are easy to communicate with when *you* need to cancel or reschedule. Unfortunately the lack of communication around substitute teachers is troubling-- as is their philosophy on this in general-- and perhaps a reason to consider a smaller music school or working with an instructor individually. I wish I had known this before signing up for lessons.

miss zxena is just wonderful with my niece! ever since my niece has started with miss zxena, her confidence has grown tremendously. she is very accommodating to my requests and has so much patience-- which is not easy to come by! thank you so much!

I started taking my son here for guitar lessons and so far so good! Teachers are amazing and front desk staffs are always friendly! Great place!

I gave a negative review about this not long ago, and I truly believe what was said to be as close to representation of events that had taken place at that moment in time, people need second chances and 1 sour event that took place is not a representation of the business as a whole, Chris came out and relieved us of our worries to make sure things become right and I truly appreciate what was said and offered. Maybe in another point in time we would reconsider and try again. One persons negative attitude and profession is not an portrayal for everone working here and it shows. Thanks again Chris.