By Noah Zucker

MILFORD — Both upstaters and downstaters looking to hone their musical skills don’t have to travel far. From several convenient locations, the Music School of Delaware has been providing musical education to Delawareans of all ages for decades.

“Our purpose is to provide lessons, classes and ensembles for people of all levels and all abilities,” said Kate Ransom, a violinist and the school’s CEO.

“We do that by offering about 30 individual instruments, including voice, but also we offer music classes for early childhood up through adults, and we also offer ensembles for children, teens and adults,” she said.

Although the Wilmington branch is the main headquarters and the site where most of its students and teachers meet, the Milford branch is not sparse in terms of its own offerings.

“The traditional 101 instruction is more in the classical style,” said Amos Fayette, a professional violinist teacher and the Milford branch director. “However, we do have offerings that run the gamut from classical music to jazz to rock.”

Michelle Peters, another violin teacher at the Milford location, said “the main focus would be the classical approach, but not to the exclusion of anything else.”

Currently the branch offers individuals on over 30 instruments, group classes on a variety of topics for all ages and even music therapy.

A six-pack of 30-minute individual lessons cost $250 while the cost of courses and programs for adults are generally a few hundred dollars more.

Both Mr. Fayette and Ms. Peters made it clear that no prospective student has ever been turned away for lack of funding. Financial aid and other help is available for those who need it.

Although it’s smaller, Mr. Fayette said the Milford branch doesn’t play second fiddle to the Wilmington location. One of his students travels from Middletown, which is slightly closer to Wilmington, for one specific instructor.

“He’s our Milford branch Suzuki Academy instructor,” Mr. Fayette said of strings teacher James Colby, who the student travels to see.

“Suzuki is a method of teaching young children not just the violin but really any instrument. It started with violin, but it’s since been adapted for the piano, flute, cello, you name it,” Mr. Fayette said. “It’s a method that in the beginning reinforces listening and playing back to a degree.”

Ms. Peters said the method works well for very young children.

“He found out that children spoke the language before they read the language,” she said of Japanese violinist Shinichi Suzuki, who founded the practice. “He taught them how to play by ear before reading the notes. The notes came in at some point of course, but they took that part away so they could focus on playing.”

The two main branches in Wilmington and Milford used to be their own separate organizations.

Ms. Ransom said the Wilmington branch, once known as the Wilmington Music School, was founded in 1924 and held its first classes in January 1925. For almost a century, generations of upstate musicians have honed their skills there with the help of world-class instructors.

The Milford branch, which started with the Music School of Delaware name, has a shorter history.

In June 1981, two Milford mothers, Linda Breedlove and Rachel Grier-Reynolds, decided they wanted something similar to the Wilmington Music School downstate.

“They were the ones who were instrumental in starting it, because… they wanted the same opportunity for their children and the broader community,” said Ms. Peters, the Milford branch’s founding director from 1981 who still teaches violin with the school.

In 2007, the two merged into the present organization.

“We were having some financial difficulties… and our board of directors were becoming very small,” Ms. Peters said of the situation at the time.

“It helped both our causes,” she said of the merger.

“I know the Wilmington Music School was looking to have a statewide reach,” Ms. Peters said. “It helped us financially to continue and it helped them bring their vision statewide as one organization rather than two.”

Since then, both locations have continued to expand. The school’s services are so popular that they’ve opened up satellite locations attached to both the Milford and Wilmington branches.

“Satellite locations exist in areas where there is a demand that justifies the sublet of a space, but not enough demand to require us to open an actual branch,” Mr. Fayette said. “They can be seen as sort of an exploratory outpost, or they could be seen as providing a convenience.”

For students in Lewes, for example, “because of their schedule or whatever, it may be a little bit difficult for them to come up to Milford when the teacher is available, but if the same teacher is willing to give some hours in Lewes, it makes it much easier,” he said.

Mr. Fayette said the Milford branch’s most happening satellite branch is at the Christ Episcopal Church in Dover.

“Our Dover satellite has been growing quite steadily, or had been pre-COVID,” he said.

Like the rest of the world, the school has been deeply impacted by COVID-19, which has changed the way teaching is carried out. With a few exceptions, lessons at both branches are being conducted virtually.

“You have to rely exclusively on your ability to communicate verbally,” Mr. Fayette said of these Zoom lessons. “It does involve a lot of trial and error. Everyone is really finding their own way. For me, it’s being able to explain things very clearly and doing a little demonstrating, not as much as I would in a live lesson.”

Although their students range in age from toddlers all the way up to senior citizens, both Ms. Peters and Mr. Fayette believe music education, and learning about the arts in general, are extremely important at any age.

“Educating someone on the arts addresses the human condition like nothing else does,” Mr. Fayette said.

“The more you get into music, the more you get out of life,” Ms. Peters added.

On Friday, March 12 at 7 p.m., the Milford branch will hold a concert titled, “Sixteen Strings and 88 Keys.” The event will be livestreamed and will not be available to in-person spectators. Patrons can reserve their space as a viewer at musicschoolofdelaware.org.

For more information, those interested can reach the Wilmington branch at 762-1132 or the Milford branch at 422-3340.