Cranford Guitar Showcases Students at Musicfest

The students of Cranford Guitar and Music Center of Garwood are out again, and they are ready to rock. On Wednesday, Sept. 14 at 5:15 p.m., students will be performing on the Crossroads stage at The County Fair at Musicfest. Musicfest will take place in Oak Ridge Park in Clark. This will be the first opportunity for Cranford Guitar and Music Center students to perform their music in an outdoor festival. The instructors have chosen some of the best and brightest performances from previous showcases for the show. There will also be students performing who will be on stage for their first performance ever.

The groups will be presenting challenging selections from American rock and classic rock genres, as well as current pop and folk songs. Ryan Cleary, Justin Kilpatrick, Marty Ventoro, Evan Perotta, Alyssa Blanchard, and Dina Shimanovich among others will be performing selections including Led Zeppelin’s “Heartbreaker,” Taylor Swift’s “You're Not Sorry” and Ozzy’s “Crazy Train.”

Teachers, José Valencia, Daniel Bulich and Kelly Bennett are planning to not only prep their own students to perform, but to also get on stage with them in order to work in a collaborative setting. As many students begin musical instruction, José and the other teachers of Cranford Guitar and Music Center feel that it is important to allow students to not only master their newfound musical skills in the lesson, but to also apply what they have learned in a real world setting.

“Having the opportunity to perform on the Crossroads stage at Musicfest is an honor. We have looked forward to putting this together for the students for quite some time, and we are excited about the students that we are presenting such great students to the community.” Kelly Bennett, voice and piano instructor feels strongly about student performances as a part of educational enrichment, as well as being one of the truly enjoyable parts of learning music. “I have performed on a number of stages, from rock bands to full scale opera productions. Having a chance to play at a festival is always something to look forward to.”

José Valencia, guitar and bass instructor is excited to see the students break out into the community as well. “Giving music students a chance to play in a variety of situations is really important. This will give the performing students a new sense of playing for a live crowd. The students will have a great opportunity to challenge themselves and break out of a comfort zone.” José has also performed with a number of rock groups, including Tactylics, who recently performed at the Blender Theater in New York and can be seen in October at the Top of the Rock at Rockefeller Center in Manhattan this October. He has also shown his extensive guitar skills in venues such as Crash Mansion, The Bitter End, and across the country in cities such as San Francisco, and Philadelphia.

Cranford Guitar and Music Center is a local full-service music school serving the Union County area. Known as the premier music school of Union County, they have been providing high quality music instruction for over 20 years. Owned by Joe Ferraro, Cranford Guitar not only offers guitar and bass guitar instruction by highly qualified instructors, but also offers drum, piano and voice instruction that offers students a lifetime of music learning.