Why "Between The Lines?"

What's in a name?

Technically, we called it Between the Lines because we're located between the red and blue Max lines, in Downtown Portland. But if you read between the lines.....

... see what we did there? We're kinda big on puns around here. Sorry. 

No, the fact is that naming a new venture is an under appreciated level of organization. We tossed around a lot of ideas, and ultimately came to the conclusion that we wanted to avoid the standard way of naming a music school, which is to say we didn't want to have a specifically "music term pressed into service as a school name." (Not that there's anything wrong with that!)

Anyway, we thought that one of the big differences between us and our competition is our location - right in the heart of Portland's Downtown. We hope to be able to take advantage of that market, recruiting students who are adults that work (and possibly live) at the heart of the city, and want an opportunity to study music without having to go out to the 'burbs to do it. As such, we thought our name should reflect our location. 

Which brings us to "Between the Lines." The historic Semler Building is, indeed, between the Yamhill and Morrison transit corridors, and we are easily accessible by bike, car, and transit. 

We also appreciate a good secondary (or tertiary) meaning, and we got that too. We like to take a deeper look at the meanings of the songs and pieces we perform... looking at music in the context of the history behind its composition, the significance of the words (if there are any) and what we, as musicians are trying to communicate with our audiences. That's playing the music between the lines, and we'd love to share our knowledge with you!

Call us now!