Music Education Centers | Adaptive Music Enrichment Programs

Adaptive Musical Enrichment, Music Instruction, Special Education Services, Army Music, Music Services, Voice Lessons, Singing Lessons, School, Studio, Piano Lesson, Guitar Lesson, Drum Circle, Special Needs Music Lessons, Special Needs Students, Special Needs Music Lessons, Recreation

Down Syndrome, Autism, Learning Disabilities, Asperger Syndrome, PDD-NOS, Special Needs Students, Recreation, Asperger Syndrome, PDD-NOS

Rochester, Watertown, Webster, New York

Service Coordination, Residential Habilitation, Group Home, Autism Speaks, UNYFEAT, CP Rochester, NNY Cerebral Palsy Association, Benchmark Service, Lifetime Assistance, Heritage Christian Services, DPAO, BOCES, MATT, ARC, LDA, The Advocacy Center, DePaul, RCIL, Medicaid Waiver, EFMP, Pieter’s Family Life Center

Music Education Centers is a privately operated organization, dedicated to providing adaptive musical enrichment programs for students of all ages and abilities.

Realizing that finding support, understanding and community resources is at times difficult, Music Education Centers provides individuals with another avenue of communication and development. At MEC, the instructors know the importance of working one on one with the students in order to establish a fun, friendly learning environment where students can feel at home while they expand their horizons and develop new skills or uncover hidden talents.

MEC fulfills an unmet service need within the community. Their staff of experienced and caring professionals offer personalized private lessons and group classes to those residing in Rochester, Syracuse and Watertown, NY.

About

our story

our method

our vision

our founders

teachers and staff

Sean Conlon...

Sean has been working at MEC since April 2009. He is extremely proud to be able to share the gift of music with his students, and equally proud to be working with the dedicated staff at MEC. Sean is also a professional bassist and member of Rochester's Uptown Groove.

Call for a FREE trial 877-632-6833

PO Box 1302, Webster, NY 14580

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our story...

Originally known simply as Uncle Andy's Place, Music Education Centers opened its doors in 2004. For founders Christian and Nova Schenk, it began as a way to bring together several very distinct skill sets and share the gift of music to those who may have been passed by in traditional school music programs.

The studio was originally housed in the extra bedroom of the house in front of the Webster Studio on Van Alstyne Rd. The rear building was a barn/garage combo with pigeon coops and a wooden staircase to the upper level. between 2004 and 2005, the space was renovated to allow for the quickly expanding demand.

In the early years of expansion, MEC underwent a myriad of changes in both its business structure and the method in which services were delivered. A second location in the town of Greece was open between 2006 and 2008. As the economy started to slip, it became necessary to close that location in order to continue through the turbulent times.

By late 2009, it was decided that the simpler things were - the better! Their relationship with the Pieter's Family Life Center and Dori's Music Studio as Satellite locations were forged and their current monthly tuition and services delivery model was solidified. That year also saw the birth of the Music to You program in which instructors would bring lesson programs and classes into the students' homes and other community locations.

Did You Know?

Uncle Andy’s Place was named in homage to Andy Kaufman, a great performance artist whom some believe was on the Autism Spectrum.

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our method...

Having taught hundreds of students with varying needs and learning styles, Music Educations Center's adaptive methodology allows its program to be specifically tailored to almost any student. You will find elements of many popular methods such as Suzuki as well as MEC's own color coded visual piano program.

MEC instructors are trained to handle many behavioral challenges in a positive way in order to create a productive, fun working environment. They are focused on creating a memorable, lasting relationship with each student. Creativity and Flexibility are two things that every member of the staff possess.

Sarah Jamison...

Sarah Jamison holds BM and MM degrees in Music Education from the Crane School of Music (SUNY Potsdam) and Roberts Wesleyan College. Sarah has been an active music teacher in the Rochester area since 2008, having taught instrumental music as a long-term substitute in the Brighton, Honeoye Falls-Lima, and Rochester City School Districts. Sarah also worked as a woodwind instructor for the Webster High School Marching Band for two seasons. Sarah began teaching for MEC in March 2010.

Sarah also publishes a budgeting and money management blog - 20somethingbudget

our vision...

Our goal at Music Education Centers is to promote inclusive musical experiences to enrich the lives of our clients.

Elizabeth Lewicki...

Elizabeth has not yet written her bio

Katie Samuelson...

Katie is a graduate of the Crane School of Music at

SUNY Potsdam. She is currently enrolled as a graduate student at SUNY Geneseo, pursuing her M.A. in Speech-Language Pathology. She is excited to be working with the wonderful students and committed staff at MEC!

our founders...

Christian Schenk has always had a passion for music and since the age of 12 it has been an obsession. Piano, guitar and bass lessons were weekly occurrences along with school band rehearsals and concerts throughout high school. Between 1996 and 1999 he attended Berklee College of Music in Boston where he earned his bachelors degree in music. Music had always come naturally for him and by the end of 1999 he was performing with anybody and everybody in the Rochester area.

Meanwhile, in the spring of 1995, he began working as an ABA instructor and realized that teaching was another talent that he possessed naturally. It was a very rewarding job that helped put him through school and kept him grounded whenever he was not traveling with his band.

In 2003, after almost three years on the road touring the country, he returned to Rochester to settle down and start a family with long-time girlfriend Nova Yanoch.

Nova, an Albany native, had graduated from SUNY Brockport in 1999 with a degree in recreation therapy. She had been working with various agencies in the Rochester and Buffalo areas since 1997 and as the Recreations Supervisor for CP Rochester since 2000. Nova went on to complete her Masters in Public Administration.

The idea for MEC was born during a conversation after work one night. Christian realized he was tired of being a touring musician and was ready to maximize his potential as a musician and teacher locally. Having taught music lessons privately in the Rochester area for years, one student stood out in his mind as a child he had really made a difference to - a child that happened to be on the autism spectrum.

All of the couples combined experience pointed them in one direction - to run a music lesson studio that focuses on teaching children with special needs. So in 2003 they purchased their first home/studio in the making and began building what is now Music Education Center's Webster studio.

In 2005 they gave birth to their first child, a son, named Quinlan, soon to be followed in 2006 by Vega, their first daughter. When Quinlan was 2 years old he had yet to speak, make eye contact consistently, respond to his name when called, or divert his attention from objects of interest such as spinning wheels, anything requiring batteries, and very seldom when given the choice would entertain the idea of playing with another person. They had a wonderful pediatrician in the Rochester area that suggested Quinlan be evaluated.

Quinlan began receiving a full schedule of home services including Speech Therapy, Occupational Therapy, and had a Special Education Itinerant Teacher 5 days a week. His skills began to come steadily, muttering letters, sounds and finally words. Learning to make eye contact and respond to his name. Learning how to play with adults. While the couple was awaiting the arrival of their third child, Kaplan, Quinlan received an autism diagnosis from the Kirsch Center at Strong Hospital. His services continued through pre-school and into elementary school, where Quinlan is now in a typical first grade classroom with limited supports.

Their years of experiences working with other children, now coupled with their own have continued to inspire the expansion and growth of MEC. Having their own child with Autism has brought them full-circle in their ability to relate to MEC's students and families and train their staff to be empathetic to the challenges surrounding the lives of each client.

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