CYM provides exceptional instruction to develop proficient instrumentalists who are life-long supporters of music. CYM's community of students, parents, and teachers provides a cultivating environment that leads children down their own path of musical discovery. As adults, some students become performers, band directors, instructors, scientists, or writers. Regardless of where their love of music takes them, each student has had very formative experiences with using the power of music to move audiences.
A highlight of enormous significance was the 2007 Opening Day of the White House Holiday Open House. (CYM musicians also played during the 2006 and 2008 holiday events.) The White House Staff gushed at CYM students' professionalism, musicality, and their ability to execute their pieces with refined purity, delighted that the First Lady and the President were in audible range of the performance.
The highly experienced faculty embraces methods and philosophies that encourage family involvement, using positive reinforcement to help students achieve. Over the course of many years, we have developed a comprehensive musicianship and performance program with input from each of our faculty members. Goals and evaluative methods are consistent from instructor to instructor.
In this carefully constructed setting, the talent of each child, as both an individual and an ensemble player, is patiently developed. Along with performance training, a thorough program of aural, vocal, reading, writing and analytical development fosters a high degree of understanding and competence.
CYM curriculum coordinators are especially aware of age-appropriate means to facilitate each student's comprehension and success. We recognize that our students may not always perform on the violin, viola, cello, piano or guitar, but we ensure that they will always have the skills to do whatever they want with music as they grow. Students who attend CYM long-term will graduate with thoroughly developed skills that will lead them in positive directions in all areas of their life.
We actively establish connections between our students and Pittsburgh's great music institutions. Gerald E. McGinnis, Board Member of the Center for Young Musicians, and his wife, Audrey, endowed the Pittsburgh Symphony Fiddlesticks Program, the family concert series, in honor of the school. A special provision that culturally under-served students receive tickets to the Fiddlesticks events makes this endowment valuable to the larger community. CYM students also have worked with world-renowned chamber music ensembles, with the support of the Pittsburgh Chamber Music Society.
In the words of famed cellist, Yo-Yo Ma, "music enhances the education of our children by helping them to make connections and broadening the depth with which they think and feel." At CYM, children and their families make these connections within a musical community. Here, they share all aspects of music; their musical skill grows in concert with their values, and in turn, their love of music grows ever deeper.
Recitals: Participation in school recitals is required for all Classical and Popular instrumentalists, and Early Childhood Music students are required to attend. Adjunct students who demonstrate high achievement may be invited to participate in the summer recital but are not guaranteed a spot in the program.
Community Outreach and Neighborhood Concerts: Live audiences provide an important element to a CYM student's musical development and so we organize monthly opportunities for instrumentalists to share their work. Concert venues range from private performances in fellow student's homes, to the televised KDKA fundraiser for Children's Hospital. All instrumentalists are encouraged to participate in these concerts, which continue to develop their stage presence and confidence.
Evaluations: Classical students are evaluated each semester to help them reach performance and music-literacy goals. CYM uses national music-education standards and consults experts within and outside our organization to establish our measures and procedures.
American Legends and Connections students are informally evaluated by their instructor, and parents are kept abreast of their progress.