Barcelona. A city where the streets hum with melodies, from the soulful strum of a flamenco guitar in El Born to the echoes of jazz floating through the Gothic Quarter. Whether you’re sipping a cortado by La Rambla or watching the sun set over Montjuïc, there’s a rhythm to life here—a heartbeat that pulses through the city’s rich musical history. If you’ve ever dreamed of learning an instrument, refining your voice, or diving into music production, there’s no better place than Barcelona to start your journey.
Why Study Music in Barcelona?
Beyond the breathtaking architecture and Mediterranean charm, Barcelona is a city built on sound. It has been home to legends like Pablo Casals, the iconic cellist, and the birthplace of modernist composers like Frederic Mompou. But it’s not all about classical music—Barcelona is a melting pot where flamenco, jazz, indie rock, and electronic music collide. The city boasts a thriving underground music scene, legendary summer festivals like Primavera Sound and Sónar, and a wealth of music schools catering to every genre and skill level. Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned musician, the city offers a creative atmosphere that makes learning music feel electric.
Studying at Shine Music School in Barcelona offers a unique opportunity for anyone passionate about music. With a wide range of instruments and vocal lessons tailored to all ages and skill levels, students benefit from personalized instruction by experienced teachers. Whether you’re a beginner or looking to refine your skills, Shine’s dynamic courses foster creativity, musicality, and confidence. You can join a vibrant community of music lovers, enjoy flexible learning schedules, and experience an inspiring environment that will help you shine in your musical journey!
Types of Music Classes Available
Barcelona has something for everyone, whether you’re looking for casual lessons or professional training:
Instrument Lessons: From classical violin to electric guitar, you can find private and group lessons across the city. Many music schools offer specialized programs in jazz, flamenco, and rock.
Vocal Training: If you want to refine your voice, Barcelona has top-tier singing instructors offering courses in opera, pop, and even traditional Catalan music.
Composition & Music Production: With its deep electronic music roots, Barcelona is an ideal place to learn music production, DJing, and sound design. And you can try your hand at creating your own music.
Flamenco & Traditional Music: If you want to immerse yourself in the true sound of Spain, flamenco guitar and singing lessons are widely available.
Kids’ Music Classes: Many schools offer early music education, perfect for introducing children to the magic of sound.
How to Get Started
Find Your Style: Are you drawn to classical music, rock, electronic beats, or traditional Spanish sounds? Your choice will determine the best teacher for you.
Set Your Goals: Are you learning for fun, or do you want to perform? Knowing your goals will help you pick the right level of training.
Check Out Trial Lessons: Not sure? Take advantage of discounted trial classes to find the right fit.
Explore Local Music Venues: Inspiration is everywhere! Visit places like Razzmatazz, Apolo, or Jamboree to experience live music and connect with fellow musicians. Shine even regularly runs Jam sessions, where you are welcome to come and see what our students get up to!
For Parents
Enrolling your child at Shine Music School ensures they receive high-quality music education in a nurturing and creative environment. With passionate, experienced teachers and a variety of music courses, your child will develop not only musical skills but also confidence, discipline, and creativity. Shine offers individual and group class options, allowing children to progress at their own pace while fostering a love for music that lasts a lifetime.
What to expect in your music classes
A warm, welcoming environment to ease any nerves.
Introduction to basic music concepts, tailored to your skill level.
Fun and engaging activities to make learning enjoyable.
Guidance on techniques, whether for an instrument or voice.
An opportunity to discuss your musical goals with your teacher.
Final Notes
Barcelona is more than just a city—it’s a symphony of culture, history, and creative energy. Whether you’re here for a summer, a year, or a lifetime, taking music classes in this vibrant metropolis will connect you to its soul in ways you never imagined. So grab your instrument, tune your voice, or fire up your DAW—it’s time to make some music in Barcelona at Shine Music School!
Ready to start your musical journey? Register HERE
After a break over the summer, the popular Shine Jam Sessions are back! Helmed by our awesome teacherPedro Polo students of Shine are once again able to sign up to join in the jam, where they can showcase a musical piece they are working on, as well as jam with other students of the song elected for each jam!
Jamming in music is a fun, spontaneous way for musicians to come together and create music on the spot. It’s all about improvisation, collaboration, and exploring new sounds without a set plan. Whether you play jazz, rock, or any other genre, jamming helps you communicate through your instrument, develop creativity, and sometimes even discover new songs.
In Barcelona, jam sessions are a vibrant part of the music scene. Held in local bars and venues, these sessions let musicians of all levels meet, improvise, and build confidence in a relaxed setting. From jazz and blues to funk and rock, there’s a jam session for every style. Open mics are also popular, giving solo artists and bands the chance to perform in front of live audiences and connect with the local community.
At Shine Music School in Barcelona, our jam sessions offer students the perfect opportunity to practice and perform in a real-world setting. These sessions help students improve their improvisation, gain stage confidence, and collaborate with others. They’re also a great way to meet fellow musicians, explore different styles, and have fun while becoming part of Barcelona’s thriving music scene.
Shine Music School has a host of impressive and talented teachers. Many of whom are working on new music. Our teachers are often recording albums or performing, and continue to practice and learn everyday. They bring these talents and expertise into the classroom and each of their students can benefit from their knowledge.
Check out some of their new work!
photo by @andregaetano
Gian Carlo Scevola is one of our brilliant guitar teachers. He has been teaching with Shine since its humble beginnings in Barcelona, almost 10 years ago! Visit his profile to learn more about him, or sign up for lessons with Gian Carlo. Gian Carlo recently made it to the final of the International Music Competition of Cambra d ‘ Andorra, Amics Cambra Romànica with the Trío Desconcierto. Here is some of his new music with his Scevola Ensemble:
A new album by the accomplished César Munera titled Wood Mirror is out now. Cesar teaches guitar, specialising in fingerstyle guitar, classical guitar and flamenco guitar at Shine. Follow him on Instagram and enjoy frequent videos of his playing or contact us for a lesson. You can purchase his album on amazon or listen on Spotify.
Sebastian Pan, another of our superb guitar teaches plays in collaboration with Antonio Monasterio Ensemble in the video below. Sebastian frequently shares great videos performing on his really cool travel sized electric guitar on his Instagram. He teaches electric guitar at Shine. Contact us if you would like to do some lessons with Sebastian.
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Music is an important part of the human experience. Be it through song and dance, listening to music in a cafe or at home, going to a concert with your friends, or jamming with your band. People connect through music. Sound and rhythm are learned from early childhood, in fact babies start to hear and feel sound in the womb. Music helps us to develop and learn language as toddlers. It is part of our daily life, through movies, radio, and other places. You can sit on a terraza and buskers may pass you, playing on their instruments or singing. Music is such an integral part of being human.
As a parent you probably want to encourage a love of music, or as an individual maybe it is a hobby you would like to take up. Music can be an interesting career, with many aspects. From music production to teaching and performing. As a music school we understand the benefits of studying music and creating an environment where we can enjoy learning.
But studying music can also be daunting for a beginner, and without expert advice, it can be expensive and at worst, not a positive experience! With so many health benefits, from improving your cognitive abilities to actually being a physical workout and a stress reliever, studying music or learning an instrument should not be scary.
One vital aspect is your instrument! At Shine we offer fantastic rental instruments from our instrument rental department.
Imagine that your child wishes to start playing a musical instrument, or it’s been your dream to take a guitar class, but you just don’t know where to start. Perhaps you are spending a semester in Spain and don’t want to stop playing music, but shipping or flying with your instrument is not an option. Whatever situation you find yourself in, playing an instrument can be an expensive and often confusing endeavour as any professional musician will tell you.
This makes so much sense!
Test & Try
Hiring a musical instrument instead of buying one is an option that just adds up for multitude reasons. Not only can you try and test out a variety of instruments, but you also don’t have to make a huge investment in an instrument without some musical knowledge and know-how.
Grow with your Instrument
This is especially relevant when looking into instruments for children. More often than not, the instrument has to grow with your child. This can mean buying numerous instruments as your child requires a bigger size. A disaster if your kids decide they don’t want to play anymore, and also extra work if you have to keep buying and selling instruments.
Quality Instruments
Unfortunately as you will quickly discover, cheap instruments are difficult to play, tricky to tune, often sound bad, and in the end a cheap instrument regularly results in the player getting frustrated and not wanting to play. What a lost opportunity for musical discovery!
All your questions answered!
Long-term instrument rental is an affordable and flexible way to play an instrument. Hiring a digital piano or cello to play at home makes practice easy and practical. If you happen to move, you don’t have to lug a heavy or expensive instrument with you! You find that your musical experience will improve when you don’t have to worry about your instrument. If you are interested in finding out more, get in touch with us or head directly over to our website, where you can hire your instrument online through a few easy steps!
We have a wide array of instruments from quality brands, from beginner instruments to advanced instruments.
Connecting through music is an important part of the human experience. From the first moments that our ears develop in the womb, we are exposed to sounds. Heartbeats, breathing, and the sound of our mothers voice.
Music has been scientifically proven to benefit us in many ways, studying music develops a multitude of skills as well as actually “working out” our brains, making our synapses fire faster, and helping us to make faster connections. Humans use sound, music, and dance to communicate, and they are vital to developing our emotional abilities. Music is used in therapy, in expression, in connection. And you don’t have to be able to play and instrument or be able to sing to enjoy music, an to share it with others!
As a parent, we find ourselves responsible for encouraging development and facilitating experiences where our children can discover music. Starting early is fantastic but you can include musical activities from any age. Better late than never, just remember it’s all about positive reinforcement. If you are excited about music, your child will naturally develop a love for it too!
Musical Activities to do with Kids
Singingmay not be the easiest for everyone, and not everyone sings well. But singing is proven to be a huge health benefit, and singalongs soften any off-key voice! Take off the pressure! Make a fun and easy kids music playlist and choose a time of day to have a sing-a-long. Bath time is great, or perhaps if you travel by car, you can have a go-to car playlist. Another great way to include music in your day, is a nap time play list. Focus on softer, quieter music, you may even find that certain songs start putting your kids to sleep no matter where they are and can be a huge help in soothing kids if they are not feeling well, or are out of their comfort zone (in a holiday hotel, or needing a nap after a strenuous day)
Play musical games, or set up musical games for them to play with friends. Musical games are perfect for developing rhythm and listening skills. They are also great for getting moving and using up all that boundless energy that kids have. Make up your own games or add music to existing ones.
Have a dance party! This is a great way to expose your kids to different musical genres! You may be surprised by what kind of music they like! Try to include a range or make different playlists for different dance parties. Then for 20 mins or so, pick the smaller kids up and dance with them on your hips, or hold hands or just dance around the house or garden together!
Make Instruments or play on toy instruments. Bang pots and pans, plastic bowls or cups. Make shakers from rice and beans, try create a water xylophone. Play with sound and music. Facilitate an environment where the kids can create their own songs. If they are into videos, you can always incorporate the idea of making a music video. This activity can include other materials, drawing and painting, writing music, thinking about how the music video will look, and filming the whole thing. If the kids are older, it can be a fun idea to add in editing the video. Your kids will be making Tiktok or youtube videos before long anyway!
Take small babies and toddlers to a music sensory group. They will be exposed to different sounds and musical experiences. Repetition, like clapping is great for memory and helps with language development. You can then repeat these games and activities at home and incorporate music into your life. Make up songs for doing chores like tidying up or brushing teeth. It turns these otherwise boring activities into a fun game and can involve other learning like counting or movement!
Watch musical movies. Kids love tv, there’s no doubt! So pick out some movies with great songs that you can sing together, or series about music and bands. If they are older perhaps make movie playlists, have a family movie night, and watch a movie about their favourite band or singer, or even a movie with a great soundtrack! Disney has a whole host of musical movies for all ages.
Get out there! Experience music outside of the home! Take your kids out to the theatre to see a musical, expose them to music festivals or concerts from a young age. You can always buy sound softening headphones for the littlest kids, or choose more family oriented concerts. Not only will they be seeing how great music is in the context of the wider world, but going to a weekend concert is a great event for the whole family.
15 GREAT SONGS FOR KIDS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S__fbCGwOM
The Ants go Marching, is a great counting and rhyming song!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAUOQFz9OfE
Der Glumph is so much fun to sing with small children. Just wait for the “laaa de da!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXfTXCIXIq8
A firm favourite for kids who are of all things Ocean!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yUdLV77zN0
This is a classic kids song by Raffi, a famous American Children’s music singer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbZSe6N_BXs
Everyone knows “Happy” by Pharrel Williams. It’s a super song with great beat, perfect for a car ride sing along, or dancing around the house!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qho9o4zRwtE
The Wiggles are a Kids band from Australia. They have plenty of perfect kids songs. This one is cool for movement and repetition.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rrXR6n0RTY
A Disney Classic. This song has great musicality. The video is also full of colour, sound and different instruments!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JDzlhW3XTM
I wanna be like you is a great way to introduce “Swing music” to kids. It’s an easy song to both sing and play!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbY_aP-alkw
Such a happy song! Perfect for kids and adults alike to enjoy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jofNR_WkoCE
This song is just silly fun. Try making all the weird sounds together!
