{"id":247627,"date":"2026-04-02T00:57:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T00:57:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/247627\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T00:57:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T00:57:10","slug":"music-with-greg-keeps-things-strummin-los-gatan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/247627\/","title":{"rendered":"Music with Greg keeps things strummin\u2019 | Los Gatan"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"at<\/a>BEFORE THE LESSON – Greg Wachala gets ready for his students to arrive. (Faizi Samadani \/ Los Gatan)<\/p>\n

When entering Greg Wachala\u2019s second-story music school, don\u2019t be surprised if a feeling of nostalgia instantly overwhelms you, if you\u2019ve ever been a professional\u2014or even a novice\u2014musician.<\/p>\n

A plethora of instruments adorn the room, including electric and acoustic guitars, drums, piano, and a microphone, which is reminiscent of scenes from \u201cSchool of Rock\u201d starring Jack Black.<\/p>\n

For nearly three years, Greg Wachala has been teaching music in downtown Los Gatos.<\/p>\n

Prior to migrating to the west coast, Wachala taught at the university level for 17 years.<\/p>\n

But one trip to California made him realize this was the place he wanted to call home.<\/p>\n

Since then he\u2019s provided instruction to more than 200 students.<\/p>\n

Wachala offers his students guitar, piano, drums and even singing lessons.<\/p>\n

Given the success of his small studio\u2014located above a dry cleaner\u2019s storefront, Wachala now has his eyes on expanding his business in the not-so-distant future.<\/p>\n

Students at the school, named Music with Greg<\/a>, range from age four to 74, with the majority of his students being in the K-12 age bracket.<\/p>\n

Growing up in upstate New York, Wachala holds the unique distinction of being the only musician in his family.<\/p>\n

He began playing guitar at 12 years of age.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was racing BMX bikes, and I got in a real bad accident,\u201d he said. \u201cMy mom said she couldn\u2019t handle watching this anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"tuningPREPARATION Wachala tunes his guitar ahead of a morning lesson. (Faizi Samadani \/ Los Gatan)<\/p>\n

Wachala recalls how his mother urged him to select a different extracurricular pursuit.<\/p>\n

It came down to season tickets to watch the Buffalo Bills, or learning the guitar.<\/p>\n

Wachala received a baseball scholarship to Georgia College in Milledgeville.<\/p>\n

But he left due to another injury.<\/p>\n

He finished his undergrad degree at the University of New York at Oswego.<\/p>\n

Shortly after, Wachala returned to music, receiving his master\u2019s at Boston University.<\/p>\n

That took two years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI learned a lot, but it was difficult,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Wachala has been teaching private music lessons for the last 25 years.<\/p>\n

He was a professor at Hobart and William Smith College in Geneva, New York.<\/p>\n

Wachala also taught at a private music school on the side. He realized he could start his own music business.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe curriculum that I teach is to gear the students towards a pre-college curriculum,\u201d he said. \u201cWe focus a lot on jazz and blues, which is indigenous to the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

This May will mark the Los Gatos business\u2019s third anniversary.<\/p>\n

Reflecting on the benefits of running your own show, Wachala says it\u2019s great to control your own destiny.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt can be very difficult maneuvering in a college. You have to go through committees to get things done,\u201d he said. \u201cThough mostly positive, the problem I run into now is that I have to wear so many hats with the business side.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MusicSATURDAY SESSION \u2013 Greg Wachala joins his students, who are singing and playing \u201cFly Me to the Moon\u201d by Frank Sinatra. (Faizi Samadani \/ Los Gatan)<\/p>\n

Supply and demand<\/p>\n

Wachala recognized a void in the marketplace, and he began offering the means for young students to excel on their journey in musicianship.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the days ahead Wachala sees an opportunity to rebrand and grow.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there\u2019s a real need for jazz instructing,\u201d he said, stating that youth too often end up showing up unprepared for music class. \u201cThere\u2019s not enough private instruction locally to get them prepared for high school.\u201d<\/p>\n

He has a dream of hiring a team of instructors\u2014that would be made up of professional gigging jazz musicians, as well as piano, bass and drum instructors\u2014with a quartet that teaches and performs in the area.<\/p>\n

Students have found Wachala\u2019s school primarily through word of mouth.<\/p>\n

One of his students, named Japhy Herbert, has been with him for more than three years.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s currently a senior at Bellarmine High School who received acceptance letters from Berklee College of Music, Loyola New Orleans and University of Miami.<\/p>\n

Herbert committed to USC\u2019s Popular Music program, which has about a 5% acceptance rate.<\/p>\n

He intends to major in popular or contemporary music with an emphasis on electric bass.<\/p>\n

\u201cI learned the upright base two years ago now, and he\u2019s helped me learn theory, musicianship, composition and production,\u201d Herbert said. \u201cI\u2019ve had a lot of fun, and have grown as a musician with his help.\u201d<\/p>\n

After finishing his college degree, Herbert plans to play backup for bands, then write and record his own music.<\/p>\n

Herbert says that, as a teacher, Wachala is great at keeping it fun by building that enjoyment for his students.<\/p>\n

He wants to ensure that learning is a positive experience.<\/p>\n

One of Wachala\u2019s previous students won a Grammy for helping with the Alicia Keys musical \u201cHell\u2019s Kitchen.\u201d<\/p>\n

A new culture in Los Gatos<\/p>\n

Los Gatos is on the precipice of much change, for example with many housing developments in the works.<\/p>\n

Does Wachala see the social and arts culture shifting as well? And could he be part of steering that shift in a positive direction?<\/p>\n

\u201cSomething that would double as an education center, that also does performances, would be ideal,\u201d he remarked. \u201cYou could bring in local or regional musicians, and then the students can perform.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wachala ponders about offering a place for community to mesh with education.<\/p>\n

Some of Wachala\u2019s favorite artists are John Coltrane, Pat Metheny, Wes Montgomery and Ed Sheeran.<\/p>\n

He plays acoustic and electric guitar with a collection of 15 guitars.<\/p>\n

When Wachala was looking for a space to teach and hold his instruments, he says that it was difficult to find a place, due to the noise.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a lot of people say, \u2018No,\u2019 when I was looking. This was one of the few places that would allow me to rent from them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Wachala says that there is very limited music education in the town, relative to the demand.<\/p>\n

There just are not enough opportunities for kids to practice and play, he argues.<\/p>\n

Every once in a while, Wachala takes his students to Chez Philippe to perform.<\/p>\n

He also personally plays at Forbes Mill Steakhouse.<\/p>\n

With the interest level remaining strong for music education in the Silicon Valley area, Wachala believes that it would be appropriate for there to be a future music center downtown for people to congregate.<\/p>\n

And that would mean engaging performances, building community and developing a rich arts culture.But, for now, he\u2019s already making a difference: Anna Bhorga, a Los Gatos High School graduate who is a former student, is set to sing the national anthem at the Earthquakes game this Saturday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BEFORE THE LESSON – Greg Wachala gets ready for his students to arrive. (Faizi Samadani \/ Los Gatan)…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":247628,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[387,110588,54353,1269,110589,88,90,89,30790],"class_list":["post-247627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-business","tag-greg-wachala","tag-guitar","tag-music-education","tag-music-with-greg","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news","tag-tutor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247627"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247627\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/247628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}