Our Program
A musical education and experience like no other.
Program and Class Overview
Group Classes
All Music Haven students participate in group classes, designed to supplement their experience in one-on-one lessons and provide the opportunity to learn and play music together. Studio classes bring together all the students in a teacher’s studio to perform portions of their current solo repertoire, learn how to give and receive feedback, and share the progress they’ve made as the year goes on. In Suzuki Playdown classes, students play together through a cumulative review of pieces they’ve learned from the Suzuki method, from the most advanced song they know all the way down to Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star. These group classes reinforce the skills learned in one-on-one lessons and give students more opportunities to play for and with their peers.
Student Ensembles
Harmony In Action (HIA) is Music Haven’s advanced student chamber orchestra. In addition to numerous performance opportunities throughout the year, HIA students also plan social action projects, host guest speakers, participate in workshops, and attend concert trips. Before students are ready for HIA, they play in a variety of Beginning and Intermediate Ensembles such as Music Bridge, Music Lanterns, and Dragonhunter ensembles in which they build music-reading skills and learn to play together with other young musicians. Through our Student Quartet Program, intermediate and advanced students have the opportunity to play in chamber ensembles just like their teachers and are coached weekly by members of our Teaching Faculty. All of our student ensembles play concerts throughout the community, with a focus on providing opportunities to play in their own neighborhoods.
One-on-One Lessons
Students receive weekly One-on-One Lessons with a member of our Teaching Faculty, all of whom are conservatory-trained professional musicians with masters’ degrees and a minimum of 10 years of teaching experience. Students come together for studio classes, celebrations, recitals, and potluck dinners, building a community of young musicians, and strong relationships with their peers and teachers over many years. By the time they graduate, our students have been at Music Haven for an average of nearly 10 years, most of those years studying with the same teacher. Pictured here: 6th-year violinist, Jack, finally has the opportunity to have an in-person lesson with his teacher, HSQ Violinist Gregory Tompkins, after more than a year of zoom lessons!
Music Bridge
Music Bridge began as a beginner violin class serving a diverse group of students that included recent immigrants and refugees. Now many of those students are 3rd, 4th, and even 5th year Music Haven veterans, and they play with, learn alongside, and mentor new arrivals in this inclusive and supportive class that not only builds music skills, but also relationships and communication skills across boundaries of language and culture.
Leadership
High school-aged Music Haven Fellows are trained to assist group classes and serve as mentors and practice buddies to our younger students. Through the College & Career Pathways Program, students also participate in college visits, such as the 2016 trip to Juilliard and Lincoln Center pictured above. As our students have grown, so has this program. Many of the students pictured here now serve as Alumni Network Fellows, doing paid work for the organization, serving as panelists for workshops about college, and even leading Music Haven tours at their own campuses. Represented in the above picture are: University of Connecticut, Western Connecticut State University, and Central Connecticut State University.
Wellness
Our “HERE to Play” Initiative recognizes that our students deal with traumas and stresses that can impact their physical and mental health, and we understand they need the space, tools, and supports to respond and recover. (HERE stands for “Health & Emotional Recovery Education”.) Year after year, our students tell us that playing music helps them calm down when they are stressed, but we also realize they need help each day to deal with the tolls that stress and trauma take on their minds and bodies. HERE to Play includes access to healthy snacks, physical outlets such as yoga, martial arts, and meditation, as well as referrals to trauma-informed mental health support through our partnership with Clifford Beers.
Academic Success
Our Academic Success program ensures that all of our students are presented with the opportunity to be tutored by excellent instructors and given proper homework help after school. Students are tutored in subjects like math, reading, and science. Students who have gone through this program have seen great improvements in their respective subjects.
Download our printable program overview below to learn more!
Meet your musical mentors.
Our resident musicians spearhead the organization’s tuition-free strings program for youth.
The resident musicians lead Music Haven’s tuition-free strings program for our youth. Our program was recognized six times as a top 50 after-school arts program by the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities. Our musicians have been featured in The New York Times, on NPR, and are sought after for their command on the concert stage and their mastery as teachers.
Our musicians help our students bring outstanding music performances to New Haven neighborhoods and throughout the region with concerts, recitals, and collaborations with other youth organizations for diverse audiences in public spaces.
How we operate.
Music Haven provides a rigorous program of one-on-one lessons and mentoring, group classes, ensembles, concert trips, workshops, and more — 100% free for all of our students. No auditions are necessary. Enrollment eligibility is determined by family need.
