WEBSTER GROVES, MO (KMOX)--The Community Music School of Webster University is marking a century of creating musicians in St. Louis.
Director Nicole Springer says CMS has been providing high-quality instruction to students of all ages since 1925. In 1974, CMS merged with the St. Louis Conservatory and School for the Arts (CASA). In 1994, CMS partnered with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra.
Springer says CMS' evolution has allowed them to expand programs to students in grades K-12. There are currently about 1200 students at CMS.
There's a unique mother-son duo who instruct piano students. Instructors Sue and Matt Pankratz.
"The goal of all of this is to give musical education to anyone who wants it," Sue Pankratz, CMS Music Instructor. "It not only gives [students] an appreciation of music but it also fosters the audience of the future."
Sue remembers growing up with family members learning music through CMS programs and her son Matt went there as well.
"People who take piano lessons, or any other kind of lessons, they may not go into music because that's a huge commitment," Sue Pankratz said, but they become life long aficionados of any kind of music.
Currently, more than 85 percent of instructors have advanced degrees at CMS.
"So many of the students, from the advanced ones to the ones who won't do music going forward but are at least learning the discipline and the skills that go along with playing an instrument, they are all centered around the CMS," Matt said. "I am lucky to be a pianist who accompanies and has my hand in many different programs and I see the way these kids always gravitate back to the CMS."
YPSO to play at Carganie Hall
CMS' Young People's Symphonic Orchestra (YPSO) has been selected to participate in a nationwide competition in New York City.
"We are going to Carganie Hall in April," Springer said, "We will be part of the band and orchestra festival. That's a national festival where different orchestras, ensembles, and bands are invited. It's a three-day trip and the students are very excited."