Music conservatory earns national accreditation

SANDPOINT — The Music Conservatory of Sandpoint started four years ago in the corner of a local dance studio with little more than a handful of miniature keyboards and a heart full of dreams.

Funny thing, those dreams. If you put enough work behind them, they are liable to come true.

Conservatory founders Ruth Klinginsmith and Karin Wedemeyer have grown the school’s class schedule and student roster by keeping their shoulders to the wheel and pushing the organization forward one milestone at a time. The journey has taken them from only a couple of classes with a total of about 12 students in the beginning to a schedule that today includes more than a dozen group classes, private lessons on almost every instrument imaginable and a student population closing in on 200.

Over the past year, conservatory founders, administrative staff and the 11 instructors who teach there worked harder than ever, clearing the bar that now has earned national accreditation for the school and its curriculum through the Western Association of Schools and Colleges — one of two major accreditation agencies in the U.S. for music conservatories.

“Accreditation is a huge milestone for the conservatory,” Wedemeyer said. “There were 89 standards that had to be met and we prepared for them over an entire year. Now, when a student says, ‘I want to pursue a career in the performing arts,’ we can definitely have an impact on that.”

Both founders pointed to the efforts of Kathi Samuels, who mentored the conservatory during the yearlong process, as the catalyst for gaining accreditation.

“She has been the person behind all this,” Klinginsmith said.

“We call her our accreditation angel,” said Wedemeyer.

Accreditation also means that high school students at Forrest M. Bird Charter Schools can now take performing arts classes for credit through the Music Conservatory of Sandpoint.

Further tying into the charter school’s academic approach that allows high school students to accrue college credit for certain classes, the conservatory currently is developing an articulation agreement with North Idaho College that would pave the way for its new classes in Latin language to meet those same standards.

Latin I, an introductory course, and Latin II, for intermediate language students, will be taught by conservatory instructor Karen Pogorzelski, who holds a degree in Latin and also teaches music classes at the school.

According to Wedemeyer, the Latin language program is designed to assist students who want to enter the sciences, improve SAT scores or deepen their understanding of singing in foreign languages or performing the works of Shakespeare — the latter two categories being part of the conservatory’s existing curriculum.

“It’s a cultural and academic enrichment class — we’re just giving it a broad application,” she said. “We are who we are, not because of what happens today, but because of what happened hundreds or thousands of years ago. Like music and theater, the Latin language speaks to beauty.”

“The Roman poets were writing about the human experience 2,000 years ago, so it’s totally relatable,” Pogorzelski added. “I’ve had adult teachers approach me and say, ‘I’d love to take that class for continuing education.’”

International connections have spurred the school toward another growth spurt, based on a cultural exchange that took place this spring and summer between conservatory students and a sister music school in Mexicali, Mexico. In March, four local string players and string ensemble director Caytlin Driggars traveled to Mexico to study with conductor Antonio Mallavé Ruda and perform with his Red River Nuevo Orchestra there. The conductor returned the favor a few months later, when he traveled north with some of his musicians — a trip that culminated in a cross-border concert at the Panida Theater.

“There was so much interest that it became a full orchestra,” said Klinginsmith, pointing out that 34 students took part in the program. “The beautiful thing we experienced this summer was bringing band instruments and strings together.”

The young musicians mastered six pieces in five days, including works by Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Telemann and Sibelius.

“It was a lot of work and it was incredible,” said Klinginsmith. “As an extension of that summer youth orchestra, we’re adding Beginner Orchestra and Youth Orchestra programs to our conservatory classes.”

Beginner Orchestra, designed for students ages 7-14 who are just learning to read music, will be held Wednesdays from 3:30-4:30 p.m. Youth orchestra, for those who have played for more than two years and have developed proficiency in reading music, is scheduled for Wednesdays from 4:30-6 p.m. Both orchestras begin Sept. 16 at the charter school and required auditions will take place on Sept. 11 and 12.

Klinginsmith said the school is seeking sponsors for the orchestra, with the eventual goal of making it free to all interested students.

Even as all these new programs fall into place in time for the start of the fall semester on Sept. 9, the school’s education and outreach coordinator, Ffion Soltis, is developing plans for what the founders call a “special purpose pre-school” that incorporates elements of the Little Mozart music program along with the school’s Instrument Carousel for violin, piano and recorder and its Storybook Theater curriculum to teach concepts of phonics and mathematical reasoning to pre-kindergarten students.

And as all these new directions take shape, the Music Conservatory of Sandpoint has begun preparing for its next stage of accreditation, this time through the National Association of Schools of Music.

“That’s our next step,” said Wedemeyer. “We just keep climbing the ladder.”

For more information on fall classes or to arrange an audition slot for the new orchestra programs, call (208) 265-4444 or visit the Music Conservatory of Sandpoint online at: www.sandpointconservatory.org.