Music and Arts School celebrates one-year anniversary

From left to right, Terra Sounds owners, Andrey Ash, Aleks Romanenko, and Matt Kostukovsky. | Jackie Pilossoph~for Sun-Times Media

Updated: February 19, 2013 11:54AM

GLENVIEW — They met a few years ago while working on a recording project. Today, Aleks Romanenko, Matt Kostukovsky and Andrey Ash are good friends, business partners and owners of Terra Sounds, a music and arts school in downtown Glenview.

“We saw that there was value in what we were doing together,” said Romanenko, a guitarist, singer and songwriter who has performed in several bands and theatre productions. “We realized we were a useful team and we enjoyed working together and creating and recording music.”

Terra Sounds, which will celebrate its one-year anniversary on Saturday offers group lessons and private instruction for kids and adults on several instruments, including piano, guitar, bass, drums, percussion, clarinet, flute, trumpet, trombone, French horn, violin, viola, cello and saxophone. The school also offers voice lessons, and other classes including song writing, improv, painting, sketching, photography, dance, martial arts, yoga and foreign language.

Terra Sounds also blends classes, where students can take on two different art forms, such as drawing and music, or yoga and art in one class.

“We use the interdisciplinary approach,” said Kostukovsky, a Northwestern University school of music graduate who has 17 years of performance experience and has been teaching music for over a decade. “Students can draw and be inspired by a specific song.”

Including Romanenko and Kostukovsky, Terra Sounds has 24 instructors, all who are practicing professionals, something which Romanenko said is very important.

“Our art teachers have exhibits, our music teachers are performers, and that is critical because it’s live experience, and that’s a totally different skill set,” he said. “When we’re interviewing instructors, they have to have two elements: an academic background and real life experience.”

Amy Olson of Glenview has two daughters, Linnea and Lily Dolan who take guitar lessons at the school.

“They engage my girls and use not just traditionally taught music, but more engaging music, so they are more interested,” said Olson. “They don’t just follow a book. It’s hands-on instruction.”

“We try to create an experience around everything we do,” said Romanenko, who in 2010 produced and released his first CD, “Horizon of Harmony.” “Our guitar classes have a recording session at the end of each session, and the students get to experience that and take something home.”

Romanenko is originally from Ukraine, Kostukovsky from Russia and Ash from Belarus, but all three say the same thing: they truly enjoy the business of music and arts.

“I’m merging two of my main passions in life,” said Ash. “I’m a business oriented person and here I’m merging that experience with my love for music. We’re creating something.”

“This place holds everything I ever wanted to do in life,” said Romanenko. “Both teaching and performing are rewarding, but it’s a totally different feeling when you have an audience who appreciates what you do on stage, and when you hear a 13 year old kid perform and you’re standing in the audience realizing you taught him.”

In honor of the school’s one year anniversary, Terra Sounds will be holding a celebration on Saturday from 5-8 p.m.

Students will perform a concert, instructors will perform, and the school will offer complimentary music, art and language lessons for kids and adults.~.

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