Notes are the easy part.Piano, voice and guitar lessons in Sun City, Arizona
Group and one-to-one learning for adults who are starting late, coming back after forty years away, or finally learning the thing they always meant to. Children are welcome too. You do not have to live in Sun City to join — clients travel in from across the West Valley.
Musicality is the difference between playing the notes and telling the story.
It is the shaping — where you breathe, where you lean in, where you let a phrase sit before you move on. Two people can perform the same page correctly and only one of them will make you feel something.
That difference is not talent, and it is not something you are born with or without. It is a skill, and it can be taught.
It matters because stories are how people connect to each other. A song is a story told with or without words, and when you learn to tell it well, people lean in. That is true singing in a choir of forty and true playing for one person in a living room. We teach musicality because the point of learning music is connection, not performance.
Sing unto Him a new song; play skillfully. — Psalm 33:3
- p (piano — quietly)
One lesson, $25
Nothing to sign, no obligation to come back. Most people use it to find out whether they like being taught.
- mp (mezzo-piano)
Weekly lessons
45 lessons a year, one to one, in 30, 60 or 90 minutes. You pick the day and it stays yours.
- mf (mezzo-forte)
Sing with the choir
Thursday afternoons, October through April. No audition, no cost, and you do not have to be a member of the church.
- f (forte)
Play for the room
Sunday morning solos in a sanctuary that seats a thousand, with an accompanist provided. Take it when you are ready.
Group lessons, $98 a month.
Choose voice or guitar. Weekly 45-minute classes, capped at 6 students, billed evenly across twelve months — works out at $26.13 a class.
A one-time $35 registration fee applies when you start. The first class is $25 with nothing to sign.
Prefer to learn one to one? Voice, piano and guitar lessons start from $149 a month.
| Class | Per month | Per class |
|---|---|---|
| 45 minutes | $98 | $26.13 |
The sanctuaryA Steinway model B and room for a thousand people. This is where the performances and Sunday solos happen.
The choir roomWeekly lessons and Thursday choir rehearsals.
The waiting areaSomewhere comfortable to sit if you are waiting on someone.
Rory Dowse founded the academy after more than twenty years teaching music.
He is the music director at Faith Presbyterian Church in Sun City. In 2026 one of his former students, seventeen-year-old Freya Terris, became the first one-handed pianist to pass Grade 8 with the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music in the board’s near-140-year history — after relearning the instrument with her left hand alone, taught online across a seven-hour time difference.
Voice and guitar lessons are taught by Dan Ryan, who has more than twenty years’ experience teaching both. Piano lessons are taught by James Wade.
Rory DowseMusic Director, Musicality Music Academy
- Daily Independent · August 18, 2026Music brings new life to Sun City church
- FOX 10 Phoenix · July 5, 2026Arizona piano teacher helps Irish teen make one-handed music history
- ABC15 Arizona · July 7, 2026Phoenix piano teacher celebrates student who beat the odds to make history
- BBC News · July 12, 2026I passed my Grade 8 piano exam with one hand
In August 2026 the Daily Independent and the Sun City Independent covered the academy as part of a wider story about Faith Presbyterian Church opening its campus beyond Sunday services. Pastor Greg Emery told the paper the church is “on a quest to share this campus with the community,” and pointed to the academy as the clearest example of it:
“What Rory is doing is trying to engage people across the age range, and music is one thing that we all have in common.”
Rory told the paper why he built the school around storytelling rather than technique: “It’s a story-telling element where words fail — that’s when music takes over.”
Daily IndependentAugust 18, 2026
“Music brings new life to Sun City church” — on Rory’s background studying piano at the Royal Northern College of Music and the Royal Irish Academy of Music, and on the academy’s classes for adult beginners, capped at six students, with no prior experience required.
“Dan Ryan recently joined the academy as a vocal instructor, and I was impressed — not just by his background and experience, but by his character. He wants people to love music as much as he does, and to help them grow as musicians. He has a great sense of humor and a great love of people. As a pastor for fifty years and a choir member for nearly seventy, I believe you will not find a better instructor.”
— Rev. Allan Conover
The choir costs nothing and asks nothing of you but turning up.
No audition and no experience needed. If you have not sung with other people since school, this is the least frightening way back into it — you are one voice among many, and nobody is listening to you alone.
- Thursdays
- 2:00 – 3:00 PM — Choir room
- Sundays
- 9:00 – 9:30 AM — Warm-up before the service
- Performs
- Sundays, 10:00 – 11:00 AM
- Season
- October through April
- Cost
- No cost
- Audition
- No audition
How much do lessons cost?
Group voice lessons are $98 a month, capped at 6 students, weekly 45-minute classes. If you would rather learn one to one, voice and piano lessons start at $149 a month for a weekly 30-minute lesson, up to $447 for 90 minutes. That covers 45 lessons a year either way. There is a one-time $35 registration fee.
I am starting from nothing. Am I too old?
No. Most of our students are adults over 55 and a good number have never had a lesson in their lives. Adult beginners tend to progress faster than children because they already know what they want to sound like.
Can I try a lesson before committing?
Yes. A first lesson is $25, with nothing to sign and no obligation to continue.
Where do lessons take place?
Lessons are held at Faith Presbyterian Church, 16000 N Del Webb Blvd, Sun City, AZ 85351. Parking is free and level, and the teaching rooms are on ground floor.
Do I have to be a church member?
No. The academy rents space at the church and is open to everyone regardless of faith or membership.
Tell us what you would like to learn.
Rory reads and answers these himself.