Strings for Success

Strings for Success (SFS) is a free, inclusive, and innovative instrumental strings program available to all students in grades 2-8 at the Dr. Charles T. Lunsford School 19 in the Rochester City School District. In addition to high-quality music instruction, SFS students participate in ensembles, performances, field trips, and learning opportunities with visiting artists from Rochester and beyond. Strings for Success is offered during the school day so that all interested students can participate.

SFS began in 2008 with the vision that all children should have the opportunity to benefit from the life-changing power of learning a musical instrument. Through a partnership between the Center for Youth and School 19, Strings for Success started with 16 students, 2 volunteer violin teachers, and donated instruments. Over a decade later, the program has grown rapidly and now serves over 100 School 19 students annually.

Strings for Success aims to nurture whole child development through its many learning components. The program fosters social-emotional, cognitive, and fine-motor development; builds executive functioning, problem-solving, and teamwork skills; and supports academic success and college/career awareness.

Strings for Success students have performed with professional, college, and community orchestras, at festivals and in various museums and concert halls. Our past field trips have included travel to Albany, Washington DC, New York City, and Boston, where SFS students have performed at historical sites such as the Capital (for a Congressional Briefing on the Arts), the 911 Memorial, and the JFK Presidential Museum and Library.