(CBS) — How do you get to Symphony Center? This is Regine Schlesinger with Made in Chicago. For decades, the non-profit Merit School of Music in the West Loop has been training the most promising musical prodigies in the city.
“It’s for the best and brightest kids in the city,” said director of programs Kurt Gildow. “They audition in and once they’re accepted, it’s completely tuition-free. So they come to Merit 26 Saturday’s out of the year and receive basically a collegiate-level conservatory training for music.”
Merit was founded in 1979 to fill the vacuum after Chicago public schools cut music education to save money. Besides the conservatory program, it now offers classes through the schools for beginners who want to play. Nine-year-old Stephen Spradley at Chopin School just took up the violin.
“The hard part is to get your bow grip and your hand right to hold the violin,” she said. “The easy part is the notes.”
Gildow says the program has enormous benefits for all students.
“Music is a vehicle for helping kids discover their artistic selves but, also improve their self-confidence, teach them how to work with other kids.”
Once a year, this year on May 8 and 12, more than a thousand Merit School of Music students get the chance to perform on stage at Chicago’s Symphony Center.
“We know that not every kid’s going to go to Julliard, but our hope is that maybe some of them will. And others will go on into other fields and a lot of them will keep playing and they’ll learn things that will carry them all the way through.”
For more information, visit meritmusic.org.
