Asbury Conservatory music teacher Zack Clark, left, teaches Hannah Cobb how to play the guitar during a music lesson at Asbury United Methodist Church in Columbus.
A pint-sized student sitting at the piano a few days ago represented a big opportunity for local students.
The child, kindergartener Esmerelda Teu, carefully plucked out notes of a song, “I Hear the Echo,” for instructor Hannah Gordon seated next to her. The youngster quickly won the teacher’s immediate and admiring praise.
“You got all your notes right, and you’re doing a good job of remembering to hold your half notes,” Gordon told her. “That was very well done.”
The scene unfolded as part of the new Asbury Conservatory, currently serving 68 area youth — and a waiting list has begun — with free, 30-minute instrumental lessons at Asbury United Methodist Church, 1751 27th St. in Columbus. Organizers and board members hope the reverberation of such an outreach can be felt for years to come.
The program’s goal is to reach students “who may be at a socio-economic tier where the household budget does not allow for music lessons,” according to program founder and Asbury member Chuck VanNatta. All students must be recommended by their music teacher and/or have a letter of recommendation from a classroom teacher or a home school source, organizers said.
Parents or guardians are working from their own honesty about a family’s financial situation, because there is no formal checking of that detail. Organizers say that’s because though an income level can sound substantial, it doesn’t take into account extenuating circumstances such as significant medical expenses or some similar elements.
Longtime community music lover VanNatta, who led the popular, cultural Music At Asbury series locally for years and led Asbury’s choir for decades, launched the latest program early this year with 31 students — and with seed money of more than $400,000 of his own funds to cover expenses for a coordinator, teachers and more.
The Heritage Fund — the Community Foundation of Bartholomew County manages the funds.
“The Asbury Conservatory program has started with much greater success than we thought was possible,” VanNatta said. “Each week, students are finding the joy of music.”
It’s obvious that such a strong beginning makes VanNatta proud, especially since he believes that music education can enhance other learning as well. His late wife, Janet, a musician herself, perhaps would herself be beaming over such success. VanNatta had medically cared for Janet for years and realized when she died in 2017 that “I (now) had funds that I would probably never need.”
Katey Meadows signed up her 9-year-old son Thomas for piano lessons with teacher Gordon, and sees those sessions as precisely the right note of motivation, besides having a multi-instrumentalist dad for their boy.
“It’s been a blessing just because No. 1, of course financially, but also just the fact that Hannah’s been amazing,” Meadows said. “She connects with the kids and is so patient and just encouraging.”
“I just like working with my hands,” the boy said.
Meadows also recently enrolled her daughter Amelia in guitar lessons through the program.
Conservatory administrator Alyssa Paul mentioned that parents’ goals for the lessons are across the board.
“We have some parents who say things like, ‘I expect a lot out of lessons,” Paul said, “and I expect my kid to practice a lot. We have others who say ‘I expect my child to do really well,’ and then we have those who say, ‘I just want my kid to know the basics — or understand piano a little bit and also have fun.”
Her own 6-year-old son, Milo, takes piano lessons through the program.
“All our teachers do a great job of making it really fun,” Paul said.
“We use a lot of games encouraging students’ focus,” Gordon said.
Paul mentioned that maybe the ideal growth for the conservatory in the future would be to expand lessons to a location such as Foundation For Youth in Columbus.
“There are so many kids who go there after school,” she said.
For more information
Contact coordinator Alyssa Paul at [email protected].
