Why The Music Studio?

"Through music, a child enters a world of beauty, tastes the joy of creating, develops his mind, adds grace to his body, and expresses his inmost self..."

This statement from the United States Child Welfare Association is the bedrock of our belief and the core of our students' experience. Quite simply, the study of music changes our students enormously. We structure our program to make the most of these changes.

By change, we don't mean the physical changes in children's brains that some studies link with early music lessons nor the idea that music lessons increase spatial reasoning and math abilities. We've never thought that future success in calculus was a convincing reason for a four-year-old to take up piano and, as teachers, we're pragmatic enough to realize that what one study gives, another study may take away. That being said, our alumni includes several Westinghouse/Intel National Competition finalists, many individuals selected in the Johns Hopkins National Search for Academically Talented Youth, more National Merit Scholars than we can count, and thousands of athletes, scholars, activists, and other students who have also excelled in music and gone on to excel in life. We are so proud of all of them.

The changes we focus on are three: Musicianship, personal responsibility, and a wider, more spirited empathy. We do this by instilling the fundamentals of music from the very first song; by gently setting goals and helping students develop the skills to meet these goals; by encouraging students to work together in a variety of ways; and by making sure that all student activities take place in a supportive, fun environment. We are thrilled at the many piano competitions that our students have either won or placed in, just as we are delighted when our students help each other, or even younger students, out. The Student Experience details some of the activities we involve our students in to ensure that the music instruction we provide is something more life-changing than just another piano lesson.