David Hochstein Memorial Music School

The mission of the David Hochstein Memorial Music School is to provide people of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities with access to excellent music and dance education in a community that nurtures and encourages personal achievement.

For children and adults, individual instruction – the most effective way to improve musical skills – is at the heart of our comprehensive music program. Lessons are available in all orchestral instruments, voice, guitar, and drum set. Classes for children emphasize fun, creativity, and movement, while classes for tweens, teens, and adults are tailored to their interests in specific topics. Ensemble opportunities include orchestras, bands, chamber music, rock and jazz combos, and choral groups.

Hochstein's dance education philosophy emphasizes the joy of dance in a range of styles, grounded in a strong technical foundation. Offering a full range of sequential, guided instruction, our classes include creative movement, ballet, tap, jazz, African, Latin, and modern dance. Beginners of all ages – children, teens, and adults – are welcomed and encouraged to explore the enjoyment and art of dance, while a variety of levels provide the serious student advanced training.

Music, Art, and Dance Therapies are well-established and researched healthcare professions offering therapeutic music, art, and dance interventions that address the physical, emotional, cognitive, communication, and social needs of individuals of all ages. Our Expressive Arts program offers individual sessions in music, art, and dance therapy, in addition to group offerings at the Hochstein building as well as many group homes, senior centers, healthcare facilities, and community centers throughout the greater Rochester region.

• Our faculty help make up the richly talented and remarkably diverse community that is uniquely Hochstein. Faculty members are specialists in their area and draw upon their extensive performance and teaching backgrounds to share their knowledge, expertise, and love of music and dance to students of all ages and levels.
• Expressive Arts sessions improve the quality of life for persons who are well and meets the needs of children and adults with disabilities, disorders, illnesses, or learning differences. Interventions are designed to promote wellness, relieve stress, alleviate pain, express feelings, enhance memory, develop academic skills, improve communication, promote physical rehabilitation, and improve social development.
• The music FUNdamentals department at Hochstein offers the teaching methods of Carl Orff and Zoltan Kodaly, among others, and provides a nurturing environment for both children and adults to listen, move, sing, and play instruments together.
• Ensemble experiences not only take students' musical skills to the next level, but they instill confidence while building collaborative skills and camaraderie among our students.
• Music Theory is the study of the building blocks of music. A knowledge of theory is an essential tool for musicians and gives performers and listeners valuable insights into a composer's creative thoughts and technical methods. Students may take advantage of a curriculum–sharing partnership between Hochstein and Eastman Community Music School.

We employ a faculty of over 120 specialists in music, dance, and therapeutic arts who hold advanced degrees and are experienced teachers as well as active performers, in addition to an administrative staff of 25 (12 FT, 13 PT).

Our faculty help make up the richly talented and remarkably diverse community that is uniquely Hochstein. Faculty members are specialists in their area and draw upon their extensive performance and teaching backgrounds to share their knowledge, expertise, and love of music and dance to students of all ages and levels.

All Expressive Arts therapists are board-certified, and many have additional training in neurologic music therapy and performance wellness.

Through support from the community, including individuals, foundations, and corporations, Hochstein is able to continue to offer tuition assistance to those who qualify ensuring all who has a passion to learn can access our programs and services.

Since its founding in 1920, Hochstein continues to be a great asset in our community.
It is unique in its depth and breadth of offerings -- extensive and varied music and dance programs for ages 6 months through 90+, large and small ensembles, as well as therapeutic arts (music, dance, art therapy). Hochstein will continue to serve our community in the future, attracting highly-skilled faculty and staff, while identifying partnerships that will increase access to our programs and services.

Below are some of Hochstein's accomplishments:

• Hochstein's ensemble program draws from a rich history that started with the original Hochstein String Quartet in the 1920s and has grown into the comprehensive program in existence today. Hochstein's ensemble program includes four student orchestras, three wind symphonies/bands, three vocal ensembles, jazz combos, rock and Dixieland bands, and a myriad of chamber and instrument-specific ensembles.
• On average, Hochstein awards more than $276,000 annually in need-based assistance to over 1,700 individuals ensuring our community has access to our programs and services.
• Hochstein partners with several other organizations to support ROCMusic, an after school program at the David F. Gantt and Edgerton Community Centers that brings classical music instruction and instrument lessons to city children in grades 1-12, free of charge.
• Hochstein also maintains a collaborative relationship with the YMCA that allows pre-school children from low income neighborhoods to come to Hochstein for tuition-free, sustained, hands-on learning that develops not only their musical skills but also their social and academic skills.