Chris Boyd, Chair of the Childhood Music Department, and Jennifer Guillow, Office Manager, will bring musical activities for young children to the Bidwell Farmers Market on Saturday, August 28 between 9 a.m. and noon.
Look for the parachute!
This is a preview of our Music, My Grownup & Me and Music & Me (on my own) classes for 6 month - 6 year olds which are held at several of our locations. Miss Chris and Miss Jen will have registration packets that day.
CMS will again offer musical activities at the annual Music Is Art Festival on Saturday, September 11 on the grounds of the Albright Knox Art Gallery.
We have been part of the Kids Village at the Festival for the past 4 years.
Chris Boyd will lead participatory Music, My Grownup and Me for youngsters and adults from 1:00-1:45 p.m.
Mike Yanoski will lead a Drum Circle for all ages from 4:00-4:45.
Chris and Linda Mabry will oversee the making of pictures with washable paint and musical instruments used instead of paint brushes from 11 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Come and join in the fun! These are photos from previous years.
Drum Circle
Fall lessons will begin on Tuesday, September 7 so now is the time to register. Convenient lesson times are filling up quickly at all our sites: Buffalo, East Aurora, Getzville, Lancaster, Lockport and Snyder.
It is also still possible to enroll for a few weeks of summer lessons. The procedure is the same.
Please fill out the registration form for lessons or classes and submit it to us together with your registration fee ($16 for 1 in the family, $26 for 2 and $32 for 3 or more) as soon as possible. You may mail everything to 415 Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo, NY 14222, stop in at the same address or fax the forms (884-7529) and call (884-4887) with your credit card information for fast processing.
If you wish to apply for financial assistance, please do not delay. Submit a Request for Financial Assistance Form (click on Register at the left and then FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE FORM on the webpage itself) along with proof of income for the family. Because of changes in resources, we have less funds for financial assistance, particularly for adults. (If we are unable to provide financial assistance and you paid a registration fee, it will be refunded.) Aid will be awarded on a first come, first served basis so don't delay. Please submit your Request Form and required proof of income today.
If you have questions, please call 884-4887, Monday - Friday. We will resume Saturday hours after Labor Day.
Nine students in four age categories were selected for Ruth W. Marcy Performance Awards at the annual Honors Recital held in June at the Montante Cultural Center.
8-11 year old category: tie between pianist Mya Parish (student of Fran Landis) and pianist Deborah Jung (student of Shirley Chan)
12-14 year old category: tie between pianist Nicholas Bartelo (student of Shirley Chan) and pianist Maria Fritz (student of Kenneth Atkinson)
15-18 year old category: tie between pianist Katherine Licata (student of Shirley Chan) and soprano Julia Register (student of Maria Goodrich)
Adult category: three-way split among alto Shana Benefield (student of Leah Schneider), soprano Michelle Carr (student of Cheryl Hudson) and bass-baritone James Fox (student of Cheryl Hudson).
Judges were sopranos and Co-Chairs of the Voice Department Maria Goodrich and Cheryl Hudson and pianist Fran Landis.
Each winner received a scholarship to further study at CMS. Pictured below are Kate Licata, Mya Parish, Maria Fritz, Debbie Young and Jim Fox.
Contralto Danielle Green sang a Graduation Recital for friends and family in the Barnette Room on June 26. She enrolled at CMS in September 2007. She studied with the late Joanne Goldman and then with Maria Goodrich, Co-chair of the Voice Department.
By the end of her first year, Danielle had received an Honors Certificate for an outstanding performance on exams, had been selected to sing on the Honors Recital and had won a Marcy Performance Award-Scholarship. She has continued to win similar accolades.
This spring Danielle was invited to perform on a CMS Shining Stars Concert at Kleinhans Music Hall as well as for the School’s 85th Anniversary Gala Dinner.
Everyone at Community Music School is very proud of Danielle and all that she has accomplished. We know she will be very successful in her musical and personal life and wish her all the very best.
Pictured with Danielle (center) are her teacher Maria Goodrich (Co-chair of the Voice Department) on the left and accompanist Linda Mabry (CMS Executive Director) on the right.
In late June a plaque honoring Virginia P. Schoellkopf (Mrs. Alfred H.), generous donor and first president of the School's Board, was installed on the Buffalo Cultural Walk of Fame located on Elmwood Avenue at Bidwell Parkway. The Buffalo Cultural Walk of Fame is the project of Charles Griffasi. This year marked the third annual installation of plaques celebrating people who have been important in the past and recent cultural history of Buffalo.
At the organizing meeting of the School in May of 1924, with members of the Chromatic Club of Buffalo and representatives of Welcome Hall Social Settlement (operated by First Presbyterian Church) in attendance, Mrs. Schoellkopf was elected President of the Board. The School's original name was the First Settlement Music School of Buffalo. Mrs. Schoellkopf immediately volunteered to purchase a lot at 232 Myrtle Street, across from the Settlement House. In addition to purchasing the property she also built and furnished the first home of the School.
Mrs. Schoellkopf remained President until 1933. (She died in 1975 and is buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery alongside her husband.)
In an article appearing in The Buffalo Times in March of 1931, Mrs. Schoellkopf explained: "We believe that music is needed to fill out existence."
"During the present economical depression it has been rather difficult to raise money for the school. People say, 'When families need bread and butter, why give them music?' The point is that our children are still finding it possible to gather together their little 35-cent fees for the weekly lesson...If music is as important as that to them, isn't it imperative that we should maintain the school so that music may be theirs for the taking?"
The Chromatic Club of Buffalo and others continued to be responsible for supporting the School.
The 10 plaques installed this year are Virginia Schoellkopf, Funder of Community Music School; Michael Dominico, Dancer; Wolf Blitzer, Journalist; David Boreanaz, Actor; Harold Arlen, Songwriter; Grover Washington, Sr., Musician; Charles E. Burchfield, Watercolor Painter; Kathleen Howard, Singer; Leslie Fielder, Literary; and Edward Streeter, Writer.
Please stop by and view this tribute to the arts in Buffalo.
Nine students became winners in the 19th Annual Ruth W. Marcy Scholarship Competition held on February 27. (Select "more" to see other photos.)
7 Years Old and Under Sidney Kim, piano Student of Shirley Chan
8-11 Years Old Jenna Artist, voice, tied with Mya Parish, piano Students of Maria Goodrich and Fran Landis, respectively
12-14 Years Old Lucy Bell, soprano, tied with Eleanor Rath, piano Students of Maria Goodrich and Kenneth Atkinson, respectively
15-18 Years Old Danielle Green, contralto, tied with Jeremy Kieffer, baritone Students of Maria Goodrich/the late Joanne Goldman and Maria Goodrich, respectively
Adult Lisa Berglund, mezzo soprano, tied with Jennifer Fitzery, mezzo soprano Students of Maria Goodrich and Melissa Cruser, respectively
The musicians charged with the difficult task of selecting winners were pianist/teacher Kenneth Atkinson (Chair of the CMS Piano Department), pianist/teacher Edward Kramer and soprano/teacher Audrey Shafer.
Sidney Kim
Lisa Berglund
Jennifer Fitzery
We celebrated our 85th anniversary on Thursday, May 27 with a Gala Dinner at Salvatore's Italian Gardens.
We presented CMS Legacy Awards to conductor and pianist John Landis, opera singer and artist-teacher Genia Las and jazz musician Bobby Militello. In addition, special recognition went to Kenneth Atkinson who has retired as Chair of the CMS Piano Department after a record 32 years. The smiling award winners
are pictured below at the end of a wonderful evening filled with great food, excellent music by faculty and students, accolades for the School and award winners and terrific auction items.
We would like to thank M&T Bank - our Anniversary Sponsor, the companies and organizations that purchased Patron Tables, the donors and businesses who provided auction prizes, the fabulous musicians who entertained us, the guests who joined us for this special occasion and Stratton Rawson for serving as our Master of Ceremonies. We were so pleased with the kind words offered by Vic Chiodo on behalf of the Chromatic Club of Buffalo, our founding organization together with Welcome Hall Social Settlement.
Pictured on the right above are just some of the people who master-minded the event: Ashish Vikram, Gala Committee Co-Chair Jennifer Gorczynski, Co-Chair Bryan Bechard, Carol Mayer (in front), Linda Mabry and Jack Trachtenberg. Missing are Reena Dutta, Sarah Liefke and Kathleen Rizzo Young.
Below are Phil and Gretchen Banaszak, City Fiddle, and student contralto Danielle Green who were some of the evening's entertainers.
Below (on the left) are faculty soprano Maria Goodrich with pianist Linda Mabry who also performed and Gala Committee members Jennifer Gorczynski and Kathleen Rizzo Young.
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