Musical Businesses: Miss Sherri Moves Base to the Middletown Arts Center

Eventually, Sherri Ehrlich said, it became the only practical decision.

After 14 years of taking up residence on Monmouth Street in Red Bank in the space with the yellow-trimmed door and green awning, Honey Child Music has packed up and moved its .

The news was delivered via an emailed newsletter Sunday evening from Ehrlich, better known to many as Miss Sherri, saying Honey Child had relocated its home base for instruction and programs to the Middletown Arts Center on Church Street in Middletown.

Reached by telephone Sunday night, Ehrlich said the combination of a still-poor economy and the rising cost of rent in Red Bank, two concerns she brought up with Patch in previous conversations, forced her hand.

The move was necessary to keep the music going.

Honey Child Music, and Ehrlich, was an area pioneer in the business of kiddie rock-and-roll, a business that continues to grow still with new music education outfits popping up throughout the area.

Though Ehrlich didn’t mention if other businesses played a role in the decision to move, Honey Child Music faced competition from number of other, similar programs, including ones held at Summit Music and the Count Basie Theatre, right there along with her on Monmouth Street.

Ehrlich said the immediate effect of the move would be small. Students and parents are in the middle of taking classes and the only change would be driving to a new location. She said she believes she’ll continue offering the same classes and programs following this latest round, but did hint that she’s considering changing or dropping the Honey Child Music moniker now that she’s no longer in Red Bank.

With the move to Middletown presumably lowering the cost of running the businesses, Ehrlich, sad to be leaving her Red Bank location, said she’s going to take the opportunity to work on more projects.

Not just a music teacher, the writer, producer, and performer said she plans on reaching out to the community in a number of ways to help encourage children to get involved in music.