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JANUARY 2008

School For Strings Continues To Vibrate As Suzuki-Based Music School
                      
By Joan Baum, Ph.D.

Though it’s been a few years since Charles  Osgood featured The School for Strings (SFS)  on CBS, nothing’s changed at this jewel of a children’s music school. In fact, nothing’s really  changed in the school’s 38 years of existence—  which is the way its focused but wonderfully  relaxed director Alexander “Sasha” Yudkovsky  wants it (well, he wouldn’t mind roomier quarters  and being able to offer lessons tuition free  or at least more scholarships). Like the school’s  founder, an early Suzuki enthusiast, who’s still  playing and teaching at 91, violinist, Louise  Behrend, whom Mr. Yudkovsky credits as his  mentor, Russian-born Yudkovsky, who came to  this country as a 14-year old cellist, and who has  no problem answering to “Sasha,” wants SFS to  remain small and intimate. It’s essential, he says,  for him to know every student, from the age of  two and a half on, and to know their parents. 

He’s not interested in fame that leads to expansion  or development. It was CBS who came to  SFS, he points out, not the other way around.  Charles Osgood noted why: his own five children  had been students at the school and absolutely  loved the experience. His wife pointed out how  she would travel with their growing quintet over  the years, spending four out of five days a week  at the school. The participation of parents, Sasha  notes, is a basic requirement of SFS, regardless of  a youngster’s level or ability to play. Parents must  attend classes with their children, learn the instrument  their children choose and pursue practice  and music appreciation at home. That’s parents,  not grandparents, nannies or caregivers. Hard  on working mothers and fathers? No doubt, but  somehow they make it. Thousands of youngsters  from middleclass and lower middleclass homes  have passed through SFS and applications continue  to pour in, and not just from Manhattanites.

Founded in 1970, with 180 students, SFS has  been described as “the premiere Suzuki-based  music school” in the country, dedicated to teaching  and promoting the ideas of Dr. Shinichi  Suzuki, who believed that learning a musical  instrument was like learning a language, and  involved immersion and encouragement—ear  training early on as opposed to theory, and family  reinforcement instead of lone rehearsal. As SFS’s  mission statement puts it, the Suzuki method  is premised on the idea that all children “can  achieve beyond their expectations” and that close  collaboration among parents, teachers and students  can build a “love of music, self-confidence,  discipline, good work habits, and outstanding  achievement.” Children get to feel that their  instrument is part of their body, Sasha says.

“Playing string instruments is not, as with  piano, a visual experience: you don’t see notes,”  you have to feel it. Approximately 300 or so  youngsters now attend SFS. New emphases  include programs in early childhood, summer  pre-K workshops, a summer institute for chamber  music (ages 10 and up), and more professional  training sessions for teachers.

To judge not only from the Osgood program  but also from on-site observation, SFS is doing  everything right. A three-year old child comes  in, “Where’s my class!” It’s just about to begin,  and Education Update is invited to look on. Four  young girls and boys are being led in rhythm  exercises. Teacher Tara Hoisington, full of charm  and confidence, with an expert Faina Khodos, on  piano, guides the small ones to do-re-mi…by way  of a “Solfege” Mat and directions to bob up and  down according to the notes on the scale. Then  the children are led to say “Watermelon” and  recreate syllable accents with castanets. Big beats  and minor beats, fast and slow, are then illustrated  by way of “Jingle Bells” and the dance of the  “Sugar Plum Fairy.” The parents delightedly go  with flow. Does it all work? Regional festivals  where groups of youngsters gather together to  make magic, not to mention their appearances  every now and then at Carnegie Hall—and CBS!  —Would seem to indicate an unequivocal Yes.  Call 212-315-0915 for further information. SFS  is located at 419 W. 54. #

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