THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 17, 1995 TAG: 9509150198
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 15 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ERIC FEBER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 64 lines
Inside and out, it simply looks like a comfy, well-carpeted home, the kind you'd invite the gang over to watch the Super Bowl or a movie on the VCR.
But the for past 10 years the house on Tyre Neck Road known as The Music Staff has been busy teaching music, art and even sign language to students from Western Branch, Churchland, Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Suffolk, the Peninsula and even North Carolina.
To celebrate 10 years of music education, Mary Ann Medlin, who started the school in 1985, and her staff will hold open house today from 2 until 4 p.m.
Student performances from 2 to 3 p.m. will be followed by faculty performances from 3 to 4 p.m.
Medlin said everyone is invited to come out and inspect the school's computer labs, studios and art room and hear good music.
``We call this a music house,'' Medlin said. ``We offer a relaxed home-type atmosphere. I like students to feel comfortable and at home as they learn and listen to music and develop an awareness of the arts.''
And along with its comforting atmosphere and state-of-the-art computers that help teach basic music lessons and music history, the school has a faculty of about 15 teachers who offer lessons in piano, voice, guitar, violin, clarinet, cello and other instruments along with art instruction and even sign language for the deaf.
Medlin said her teachers are all active performers, many involved with several different performing groups and ensembles including violin instructor Annie Loud, who's involved with the Williamsburg-based Capriole ensemble and Governor's Musik, and guitar teacher Linda Murphy, also a member of several performing groups.
Most also are members of the Music Teachers National Forum and the Tidewater Music Teachers Forum.
Many are public school music teachers and church musicians. Most are active in their communities and have their own families.
``Above all, I think they're role models for the students they teach,'' Medlin added.
Medlin, who had taught piano in Alexandria and for the now defunct Glover Music Village, wanted to get away from private in-home piano lessons and open a school that would offer all manner of music instruction for all ages. She said she wanted the rapport, exchange of ideas/techniques and student interaction found in a school. So in 1985 she gathered five teachers and set up shop at Tyre Neck Road.
``I didn't know how it would be received,'' she said. ``But I think a school is a better atmosphere for exchange of ideas and being exposed to other teachers and other instruments.''
``Many times the lesson sessions overlap,'' Murphy said. ``Students will hang around, listen to each other and show each other different things they learned or skills they have mastered. Many are in the same band classes at school and they form friendships at this school.''
When Medlin first opened the school she began with about 60 students. Now the music staff teaches over 300 students ranging from toddlers to senior citizens.
Along with one-on-one music instruction, the school offers Kindermusik, music lessons based on a German curriculum for children as young as 18 months. by CNB