HochStories

Meet Sara Ward, currently a sophomore at Churchville-Chili High School, who has been playing saxophone for 6 years, since fourth grade. Sara began taking private saxophone lessons online with Hochstein instructor Nancy Boone-Bahr during the onset of the pandemic in March 2020. Her first in-person lesson was just two weeks before her solo fest recording in April 2021.

The new “Play for Your Life” musical action-adventure game with Warner Iveris wrapped up last week. During the class, the kids traveled to various places and battled evil forces, using their musical talents. The kids played a variety of music from Bach and Suzuki to Europe’s “The Final Countdown” and also composed their own music.

It’s National “Love Your Pet Day” on February 20, so we asked Hochstein faculty and staff to send in photos of themselves and their companion animals. Lots of cats, dogs, and even chickens! Read stories about our people and their pets.

Voice instructor Elizabeth Lind, who joined the Hochstein faculty this past fall, issued a song challenge to students in her voice studio at the beginning of the year, hoping to inspire them to explore different genres of music. The song challenge is in the form of a grid with different topics for them to work on. She says, “I was inspired by the idea of New Year’s resolutions but wanted to expand it for lessons. Each student is completing this at their own pace.”

With 2020 now behind us, we took a look at all that happened during Hochstein’s 100th anniversary year. Although not all of our centennial celebrations took place as planned due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many exciting things did happen during the year. Hochstein’s faculty and staff quickly pivoted to offering online lessons and classes and worked together to find solutions to myriad new challenges.

Our first “Hochstein at Home” recital of the semester was held on Saturday, October 17. Instrumental and vocal students of all ages performed, with friends and family members watching on Zoom from as far away as Oklahoma and Michigan. 

​​​​​​​Chuck and Pat Williamson of Liverpool, NY, were married in the Hochstein building in 1963, back when it was still a church. They have come back over the years to take a photo of themselves in the main hall to mark the occasion. 2020 marks their 57th wedding anniversary! We’ve celebrated with them the past few years and it was nice to catch up with them again today and see family photos – just like old friends do.

On Saturday, September 19, the Hochstein Youth Singers' year got under way with a Barnyard Sing at HYS Director Maryellen Giese’s farm – with everyone masked and properly distanced so they could sing together. Both ensembles – Hochstein Youth Singers and the older Hochstein Singers students – are working on social justice repertoire this year. The day was all about being together, meeting the new singers, and seeing and interacting with each other in person.

This summer, Pia Liptak held the first “Complete Violinist” workshop series – which reprises this fall, starting on Wednesday, October 7. In addition to talking about violin techniques like harmonics and shifting, one whole session is dedicated to discussing the role of music in our lives. Read on to hear more from participants in the class, and see a video.

Despite having his wisdom teeth removed in July, Fairport 11th grader Kyle Kasprzak still took his horn lessons online with Colleen Wolf this summer even brought his horn along to have a lesson while he was on vacation. Colleen says, “This is the beauty of virtual learning – it can be done from anywhere!”