More room for special needs kids to toot horns
Few music studios build in programs for special needs kids to strum away on a guitar or learn their way around a drum set.
But Music Education Center rolls out the welcome mat to this population and moved to a bigger and better location in November to accommodate its growing student base. There are other studios that offer special needs music lessons around Rochester, but few are specifically equipped to deal with profound disabilities like Music Education Center, said music instructor Sarah Jamison.
"It's fantastic because we get these kids who may not be served as well in public schools as their peers," Jamison said. "We take anyone really, no matter what they do or don't have going on…we keep our doors open."
Public and private schools are increasingly paring down their music programs, said fellow instructor Sean Conlon.
"Music therapy used to be standard in schools, but now it's often the first thing to get cut," he said.
Jen Spencer of Webster started bringing her son Josh DeLucia, 9, to the Webster studio four years ago to work with Conlon. DeLucia is on the autism spectrum and had a hard time in social situations or performing onstage.
"We needed to find a studio that worked with kids like this," Spencer said. "And it's been beyond phenomenal."
DeLucia works with music therapists at his school, but Spencer said consistent lessons were the key to helping him move forward with music education. He now plays viola and guitar.
"He was given music therapy, but this is different," she said. "This has helped his social anxiety and he's doing solo performances now, which is huge."
Even though the new location is farther away from Spencer's home, the trip is worth it, she said.
Owner Christian Schenk opened the studio in his Webster home 10 years ago, but the location was out of the way for most students and parking was a squeeze. After his student base grew to around 40 regular pupils last year, he started looking for a new place.
"Some people liked the fact that the first studio was like going to someone's house, but if you had someone coming from a group home, it was almost impossible to get vans in and out," he said.
He found that most of the studio's clientele came from the east side of Rochester, so he found a facility at 1788 Penfield Road that had 70 parking spaces, several lesson rooms and a bathroom — Jamison added that the bathroom "seemed to be a selling point for our students."
Schenk plays the bass guitar for the U.S. Army Band, and currently lives in North Carolina, where he runs the administrative side of the music studio business while his Rochester instructors run the studios' day-to-day activities.
The new facility has triple the capacity of the old location, he said, and offers more visibility to the community. He plans to advertise through the schools about the new location, and has several programs for February school break in the works.
The studio also operates a satellite studio in Spencerport for those coming from the west side, and all of the three teachers offer in-home lessons, said Conlon.
The instructors offer training in most instruments, and work with students with disabilities ranging from dyslexia to visual impairments to cerebral palsy.
"It's about being adaptive, and being able to deal with the individual students' needs," Conlon said.
A third teacher is licensed in music therapy — which is geared toward engaging in musical activities as opposed to learning to play a specific instrument — and the studio will be ramping up its therapy offerings now that there's space to grow.
"We have students who've been here forever," Jamison said. The studio's hope is to create a welcoming environment for students.
"Sometimes even with the services available (at schools), sometimes it's not the right fit," she said. "Then they come in and try a lesson; and they end up really clicking with the teachers they have; and it ends up being a really great, long-term thing."
STADDEO@DemocratandChronicle.com
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