Suzuki schools & school districts w/ strong music departments? (Columbus: best school, moving to)

[tigerlilly31415]

We're moving to Dayton, and I was wondering which school districts have the strongest music departments in the area? Specifically, I am looking for good string programs, NOT band/chorus programs.

Also, I'm interested in finding a Suzuki violin or cello teacher in the area. Ideally, I'd like to find a large Suzuki school with multiple teachers and lots of students so we can take advantage of group lessons as well as private lessons, but not sure if something like this exists without going to Cincinnati. Google has not turned up anything, so I'm hoping someone on here may have some info. Thanks!

[SWOH]

For this kind of question, I would contact the school districts directly. They would know best.

What I can tell you is that the smaller districts certainly won't have a program. So at least you'll only have a small handful of places to work with - Stivers School for the Arts (probably the most likely), Northmont, Centerville, Beavercreek, Kettering, Wayne... and that's probably about it. If you're lucky, Oakwood, Bellbrook, Miamisburg, or Springboro might have programs too.


As for Suzuki schools, try contacting the Dayton Philharmonic:
https://daytonperformingarts.org/


Good luck!

[tigerlilly31415]

The smaller schools wouldn't have a string program at all? Wow, that's good to know, I had no idea. Thanks for the heads up!

[SWOH]

^Probably not. Many kids don't get into that kind of stuff here.

If you really want a smaller district, and the city's best school district, you'll be choosing Oakwood, which for this area is a mid-sized district. They may have something, I don't know, but I certainly wouldn't count on it.


One option I hadn't thought of before would be private school. Is this possible?
If it is, the best school in the area is The Miami Valley School - meggoo, a forumer whom recently moved to the area, has children attending there. She may be able to offer some better advice there.

Otherwise, given the size of the region, the overall arts community here is top notch. As far as adolescent strings programs go, I don't really know what's offered, but I would not be surprised if the K-12 gallery for young people or a similar initiative offers something.

[RDriesenUD]

I'd contact the local school districts. I am sure they can answer the quetion you have. I know Fairmont has a really good program, but I am not sure if they have exactly what you are looking for. I'd have to think Centerville and Beavercreek are good too.

[randomparent]

Google the Ohio Music Education Association and scroll through the rankings for high school orchestra to get a feel for the Dayton-area string programs. My experience with the regional programs is twenty-five years out-of-date, but that's where I'd start. You might also call them to ask for specific recommendations.

[meggoo]

I know the Miami Valley School has a strings program starting in 4th grade. (I think) and supports private lessons at a young age. My kids are still in their early childhood program so I don't have direct experience with it but if you email the school I am sure they will be happy to provide details.

[RDriesenUD]

Here is the Fairmont High School site you can look through. I don't know if it will answer the questions you have, but you can contact them if you need too. I am sure most schools have a website you can look at.

Kettering Music

[dxdtdemon]

Unfortunately, you are moving to an area that probably takes competitive marching band the most seriously without giving that much credence to instruments that can't be marched with. It seems that the school districts that do have string programs are pretty random, i.e. Stebbins has one of the better school orchestra programs in the area outside of Stivers, but isn't a particularly great school district otherwise.

It seems that Hauer Music knows the contact information for a lot of the local music teachers, and so they would probably know who the local Suzuki teachers are.

[tigerlilly31415]

Thank you, I will look into all of these.

If we end up needing to go to Cincinnati or Columbus for Suzuki lessons is that a crazy commute from Dayton 2x per week? Googlemaps puts various parts of Dayton (Centerville or Fairborn) at about an hour from the Suzuki schools in Cincinnati and Columbus, but with weather/traffic is it going to be twice that? Hopefully won't be necessary, but just want a realistic picture.