SUSAN PASCALE, Director, South Pasadena Strings Program

Susan Pascale is the founder and director of the South Pasadena Strings Program,  which offers innovative music instruction to children and adults.

Pascale, a former symphonic violinist, moved from Long Island, N.Y., to South Pasadena in the spring of 2001. Soon after, she went to the local public school and inquired about enrolling her daughter Ariana, a 2nd grader, in the orchestra program. Ariana had played violin in her New York public school orchestra.

Pascale was astonished to discover that, like so many budget-strapped California schools, there was no instrumental or orchestral program for children under 5th grade. She describes her reaction as 'panic.' "I wandered around the school's picnic tables and expressed my upset to any parent who would listen!"

She found that many parents wished musical instruction  were available through the schools. So she volunteered to teach a free beginning violin class for 6 weeks. Twenty-five students signed up. By holiday season, the group played its first concert. That was the start of the South Pasadena Elementary School Orchestra.

Since then, the program has grown to include more than 300 students of all ages, taking lessons in violin, viola, piano, cello, bass, guitar, and voice. The KinderStrings® and KinderPiano® programs offer violin and piano instruction to the youngest children.

The program is known for its many exciting performance opportunities. The elementary and youth orchestras routinely win top honors at regional and national music festival. In 2005, some 60 elementary and middle school students traveled to New York City to play at a prestigious Carnegie Hall student music festival, where they earned top honors. More than 100 family members accompanied them.

 "I feel that my job as Director of the Strings Program is not only to teach the kids how to play a string instrument correctly," says Pascale, " But to create an environment that inspires them to practice - to set goals, to be a part of something larger then themselves, and to experience what it means to work hard and accomplish something really great -- whether it's performing in the school auditorium, or at Carnegie Hall. Working hard pays off. It makes you feel good about yourself." They plan to return to Carnegie Hall in Spring, 2009, with the Elementary Orchestra.

Other exciting performances:

• String Awareness Week/Month: By Mayoral Proclamation, held in December since 2003. Young musicians serenade S. Pasadena residents and shoppers at a variety of seasonal events. 
• The Family Performance Series: Students and their parents (or siblings, or friends) perform for the community at an elegant recital.
•  'Music in the Parks' Festivals: Students combine musical performance with a day at a theme park.
• Larry Elder Show: Pascale and her students were honored as "heroes" on an episode of this nationally-broadcast television program. The students performed like professionals, playing on split-second cues before and after commercial breaks.
• MSNBC Television: Pascale and four of her students  were invited on nationally-televised MSNBC for an interview and performance after their Carnegie Hall concert.
• The South Pasadena 4th of July Parade. String orchestra members normally play sitting down. But for this community event---which attracts thousands of spectators---the violin and viola players march while playing 'America the Beautiful.' The cello players sit on a flatbed truck, and Pascale conducts while marching backwards. One year, the orchestra submitted the event to the Guinness Book of World records. Although they did not set a record, the orchestra was invited to be the Grand Marshal for the 2005 Parade.

Susan Pascale has done all this with a busy family life. Her oldest, Zak, started on cello at 4, switched to violin at 8, and finally settled on jazz saxophone. A graduate of the South Pasadena Middle School (SPMS), he is now a student at the LA County High School for the Arts (LACHSA). His younger sister Ariana, the violinist who inspired the program, switched to viola. Like her brother, she graduated from SPMS and entered LACHSA. In 2006, she played live on the Grammy awards as an accompanist to singer Kelly Clarkson. In 2007, she performed with a youth orchestra on an episode of the Disney Channel’s ‘Suite Life of Zach and Cody.’ The Pascale’s youngest daughter, Jenna, born shortly after the Strings Program was launched, began her musical studies with KinderStrings® and KinderPiano®. She is now a member of the KinderQuartet, and plays cello with the Elementary Orchestra. Pascale’s husband, A.J., a veteran rock bass player, serves as executive director of the ever-expanding program.