Village Music Thrives in Tudor Village

Photo by Ben Rollins

Story by Isadora Pennington
Photos by Ben Rollins

The joy of music is alive and well in Avondale Estates.

Nick Edelstein, owner and founder of Village Music, has always been a musician at heart. He first started taking music lessons at the age of four, embarking on a lifelong love of music. As a teen, he later joined his high school's band.

“I had a really fortunate set of circumstances that provided me with experience in all genres of music,” Edelstein explained.

At the age of 13, Edelstein played his first concert at Chastain Park Amphitheatre, now known as Cadence Bank Amphitheatre. By the time he was in college he was a member of two bands and playing gigs “all the time.”

This passion for music was evident to those around Edelstein, and one of his college professors suggested that he try offering lessons at the Community Center that was across the street from the University. His mother taught for Atlanta Public Schools and he had grown up around educators, so he felt that teaching was in his blood.

“I knew from that point that I wanted to teach and perform,” Edelstein said. He soon went from teaching through a company to teaching in public and private schools. Edelstein has now been teaching music for a little over 20 years, all while performing and recording with various artists.

“It has sort of been this parallel career path,” he explained. Edelstein is also a licensed composer and a member of the Recording Academy, formerly known as the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS).

The Recording Academy’s history dates back to the beginnings of the 1950s Hollywood Walk of Fame project, and is responsible for the Grammy Awards, for which Edelstein is a voting member.

For many years, Edelstein was looking for a suitable home for his music lessons studio. He had been teaching at a venue in Decatur but the space was not ideal for Edelstein, and he realized that he would soon need to find a new place to teach. He began his search, primarily focused on Decatur.

One fateful day, when waiting at the traffic light on N. Avondale Road, Edelstein found himself considering the upper windows of the Tudor Village. He wondered if they were office suites, and if any might be vacant.

Edelstein learned of one available space on the upper floor that was being used as a storage closet, and soon thereafter moved in.

“That’s how it all started,” he said. “That was in August of 2015, so we just passed the 9 year mark in this building.”

Village Music’s evolution ever since is a case study in organic growth. As he began offering classes in that small space upstairs, Edelstein started getting more and more requests for lessons on instruments he doesn’t teach. “It was a demand-based growth, which I think is healthy,” said Edelstein.

Soon, his staff went from two teachers to four, and in January of 2020 they added a second room to their rental upstairs. When COVID hit, Edelstein’s landlord reached out to him with information about an upcoming vacancy. The storefront had been an alterations shop and the tenant had expressed that she was ready to retire.

With that, Village Music officially landed on the ground floor of the Tudor Village. After moving into their new space around the end of April 2020, Edelstein embarked on a renovation to convert the space for music lessons.

During the project, even with brown paper still covering the windows, passers-by continued to knock on the windows and ask for help with music equipment or repairs.

Amidst the restrictions of the pandemic, musicians in the community were stuck at home and turned to music to help them get through the experience.

“Most of the stuff we were selling that year were items that people requested,” Edestein continued.

“We didn’t have any inventory. We went from having two rooms upstairs to having this space on the ground floor with three lesson rooms.”

For a while, they had to offer their lessons virtually due to the pandemic. They offered music lessons exclusively on Zoom for about a year, growing steadily all the while. In October 2020 they had their first in-person masked meeting with staff since the onset of the pandemic, and they officially took the paper off the windows on Halloween weekend.

Edelstein leaned on his vast knowledge of musical instruments to source gear and equipment for the shop from trusted vendors. Now the shop offers lessons, instruments for sale, rentals, repairs, plus accessories, gifts, and even a collection of records for sale.

The space soon expanded into a second Tudor Village storefront to the left of his original shop in 2022. The space had formerly been occupied by Mama Bath & Body. Even during the often loud and messy build out of the new, expanded space, Village Music continued to prosper and offer lessons to a community hungry for more.

He recalled instances where one student would play upright bass in the dusty, empty shell of the space, noting that the effect was like being in a music hall.

“It was a whole experience,” he shared with a chuckle.

Today, Village Music remains one of the most popular and beloved music and music education venues in Avondale Estates. Edelstein often works with the city to run sound for special events, such as the annual Christmas Tree Lighting event at Town Green.

Edelstein has been instrumental – pun absolutely intended – in incorporating music into city events.

“I never necessarily planned on – or had the ambition to have – a retail store, it just happened that way. It has been a really awesome ride."

Village Music currently employs around 20 teachers who teach in eight rooms. There are lessons offered seven days a week for all ages in disciplines including voice, drums, piano, guitar, ukulele, violin, viola, trumpet, keys, and more.

"Every day I learn new things, meet new people, and help new customers. It’s super fun. It’s really exciting and you just never really know what to expect,” said Edelstein.

Village Music is located at 112 North Avondale Road and is open seven days a week. For a full listing of hours, lessons, and merchandise, visit them on their website.

This story is from the Winter 2024 Edition of The Verge Zine.