Assistant Editor
Most students in the U.S. who sign up for music lessons quit within two years. But at Carondelet Music Center in Latham, currently celebrating its 10th anniversary, they routinely defy the odds.
"We've got a student who was part of our first Kindermusik class for 18-month-olds. Nine years, he's been with us -- and he's not the exception!" boasted foundress and director Sister Patricia St. John, CSJ.
Carondelet Music Center, located in the Sisters of St. Joseph's Provincial House, was Sister Patricia's dream. She began playing the piano at age seven, taught by a St. Joseph sister.
Introduction
In 1992, after having both joined the order herself and become a music teacher, she was asked to assess the instruments in the Provincial House's chapel and the entire "musical life" of the house.
Instead of replacing their damaged pipe organ, her order agreed to spend the same amount of money on a new organ and a grand piano for the chapel -- and seven pianos for a new music center.
"Each of us in the community says, `What are my gifts and how do I bring them to the building up of the people of God?'" Sister Patricia remarked. "Music has been an important part of my life. I thought I could start a place that could be ours, that was
consistent with our mission as Sisters of St. Joseph."
Theme
Creating a music center within the order's Provincial House gave it a different perspective than a secular center, the director said: "The environment we're in connotes something more than a storefront. It's building community. People come and find that connection."
Carondelet Music Center began with just 90 students and the goal of "fostering a love for music by making music." Students don't audition to be accepted, and many -- including adults -- take lessons not because they plan a musical career, but just because they enjoy it.
"Only taking the best students is not part of what we do," Sister Patricia stated firmly. "We've gotten to a place in our culture where we think you have to be on the concert stage to make music. That's a very exclusive place, and not about the heart of the social origins of music." While playing at Carnegie Hall is an admirable goal, she added, "that's not the only way music is made and experienced."
Development
That perspective has made Carondelet a success. Today, more than 400 people from two months of age to 84 years participate in the center's lessons and programs, taught by a dozen lay and religious teachers.
Lessons are available on every instrument from the French horn to the drums. No student is turned away because of financial need; scholarships and family discounts are available. Whole families often sign up for lessons, said Sister Patricia; one current group of students includes four children and their mother.
About 97 percent of students who commit to a semester of lessons return to sign up again -- and Sister Patricia keeps track of the three percent who don't, wanting the center to keep improving. In fact, all the center's teachers are degreed, practicing musicians, and Sister Patricia is working toward her doctoral degree in music and music education.
Variation
The Kindermusik program is one of the center's most popular offerings. Young children learn about creating and using their own instruments and making music at home. Even infants can benefit from the program, said Sister Patricia: "There's lots of ways you can stimulate the brain, exercise the baby's limbs, strengthen the ocular nerve."
Besides, she added, for busy mothers with young babies, Kindermusik "is 45 minutes of just you and your baby bonding -- an opportunity for moms to relax and just enjoy their baby."
To mark its anniversary, the St. Joseph order added a new room for the Kindermusik program for children, a new piano lab and a performance room where students can listen to each other to prepare them for recitals.
Recapitulation
On a recent Friday, the center's usual bustle was absent. Sister Patricia explained that no lessons are taught on Fridays so that families can "have the opportunity not to run anywhere" that day.
Instead, the director pointed out a long hallway of photos. For the center's anniversary, Sister Patricia has assembled a display featuring every St. Joseph sister who has ever taught music, from 1857 to today.
"Music has been an integral part of the heritage of the Sisters of St. Joseph, especially in the Capital Region," she said.
It's a heritage the director wants to continue. Her goals for the center's future include boosting enrollment and creating a chamber ensemble of students.
"The joy of music is sharing it," she noted.
Coda
In addition, Sister Patricia hopes to find new ways to motivate teen students. She remarked that she'll often pass a practice room and hear the strains of the "Titanic" or "Star Wars" themes that teenagers have asked to learn.
She and her fellow teachers believe in helping students feel good about themselves: "When a child leaves this room, I want them to feel a head taller -- proud, confident, filled with self-esteem."
When she thought about how quickly the past 10 years have flown, the director shook her head. "I don't know where the time has gone!" she exclaimed. "In a lot of ways, I feel like we're just starting."
She began to laugh. If there's more to come, she said, "Bring it on! There's so much more we can do. That's what has totally energized me."
(Carondelet Music Center's students and faculty will hold a concert called "An Afternoon of Lessons and Carols" Dec. 16, 3 p.m., at the Provincial House. The center is also currently accepting registrations for its next semester, which will begin Jan. 22. The registration deadline is Jan. 11. Call 783-3608.)