Does the idea of teaching yourself Pro Tools scare the bejeezus out of you? Take a deep breath. St. Petersburg college will get you through it in a classroom setting, taught by experts. And Pro Tools is just a small part of the college's new four-semester Music Industry/Recording Arts (MIRA) program that will be taught at the 66th Street campus in the 'burg.

Check out the impressive program here.

MIRA is up and running for this coming semester, which begins Jan. 12, 2009. To enroll, students should contact Mark Matthews at matthews.mark@spcollege.edu or (727) 341-4364.

Eric Snider is the dean of Bay area music critics. He started in the early 1980s as one of the founding members of Music magazine, a free bi-monthly. He was the pop music critic for the then-St. Petersburg...