THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 17, 1995 TAG: 9509150211
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ERIC FEBER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 94 lines
Inside and out, it simply looks like a comfy home, the kind you might be invited to to watch the Super Bowl or a movie on the VCR.
But the for past 10 years the house at Tyre Neck Road known as The Music Staff has been busy teaching music, art and even sign language to hundreds of students from Western Branch, Churchland, Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Suffolk, the Peninsula and North Carolina.
To celebrate 10 years of music education, Mary Ann Medlin, who started the school in 1985, and her staff will offer an open house today from 2 until 4 p.m.
There will be student performances from 2 to 3 p.m. followed by faculty performances from 3 to 4 p.m.
Medlin said the public is invited to come out and inspect the school's computer labs, studios, recital rooms, waiting area and art room and to hear good music from the faculty and students.
``We call this a music house,'' Medlin said. ``We offer a relaxed, home-type atmosphere. I like students to feel comfortable and at home as they learn and listen to music and develop an awareness of the arts.''
Along with its comfortable atmosphere and state-of-the-art computers that help teach music and music history, the school has a faculty of about 15 teachers who offer lessons in piano, voice, guitar, violin, clarinet, cello and other instruments along with art instruction and even sign language for the hearing-impaired.
Teachers at the Music Staff are not like the ones who taught your parents how to play the piano.
Rather than the stereotypical stern and frowning piano teacher, the Music Staff's faculty are friendly, talented and affable folks who are quick to laugh and offer positive comments to students.
Medlin said her teachers are all active performers, many involved with several different performing groups and ensembles, including violin instructor Annie Loud, who is involved with the Williamsburg-based Capriole ensemble and Governor's Musik, and guitar teacher Linda Murphy, also a member of several performing groups.
In addition, most are members in good standing in the Music Teachers National Forum and the Tidewater Music Teachers Forum.
``These organizations set a high standard, and we all try to live up to those standards,'' Murphy said.
Many are public school music teachers and church musicians. Most are active in their communities and have their own families.
``Above all, I think they're role models for the students they teach,'' Medlin added.
Medlin, who had taught piano in Alexandria and for the now-defunct Glover Music Village, wanted to get away from private, in-home piano lessons and open a school that would offer all manner of music instruction for all ages. She said she wanted the rapport, exchange of ideas/techniques and student interaction found in a school. So in 1985 she gathered five teachers and set up shop on Tyre Neck Road.
``I didn't know how it would be received,'' she said. ``But I think a school is a better atmosphere for exchange of ideas and being exposed to other teachers and other instruments.''
``Many times, the lesson sessions overlap,'' Murphy said. ``Students will hang around, listen to each other and show each other different things they learned or skills they have mastered.''
Medlin opened the school with about 60 students. Soon networking and word-of-mouth spread the word about the school, and the enrollment grew. Now the Music Staff teaches more than 300 students ranging in age from 18 months to senior citizens.
Along with one-on-one music instruction, the school offers Kindermusik, music lessons based on a German curriculum for children 18 months to 7 years old. This course incorporates parental involvement while teaching basic music, movement, language development, symbolic thinking, coordination and social interaction.
``Before we even offer this, the teachers have to be trained and certified in this course and technique,'' Medlin said.
Former teachers have included the late Ronald Marshall and other expert musicians. In addition, Medlin said she continuously brings in well known area musicians/teachers for master classes.
Other features and innovations at the school include a complete computer music lab set up by Medlin's two sons, Roger and Brian; sign language classes; recitals and performances given by the teachers for the students; training in ensemble and accompaniment skills; and summer music camps for younger students.
Medlin said she, her teachers and her students routinely perform at the Maryview Nursing Care center, the Emily Green Nursing Home, Chesapeake Square Mall, other community spots and functions and at the Obici House during the Christmas season.
She said today's open house is another example of the school's involvement with the community.
``Today's event is in celebration of 10 years here in Western Branch,'' Medlin said. ``We're open to the public to show we're here, what we've got and that we appreciate and support the community.'' by CNB