Rockland Conservatory of Music in Pearl River

I have often shared my pride on Patch about how rich Pearl River is in music and I am doing it again.

Just one example or more examples are the classes/schools of Irish music for young people. The teachers are the artists who are perpetuating an almost sacred heritage of centuries handed down from every generation. I am not one of them, but was baptized with the water of music by my Irish wife.

The musical educations are so successful that many of the students win international contests in both America and Ireland. The competition is from around the world.

And in this wee hamlet is another musical treasure - the Rockland Conservatory of Music. It has has a history. here is just some of it

1956 Edward & Janet Simons, two life-long musicians, open the Community Music School of Spring Valley in an old firehouse to fill the need for quality music instruction in the community. Four musicians make up the faculty, teaching strings and piano one afternoon per week and one evening per month

1959 Incorporated and chartered by the Board of Regents of State of New York, officially making us a not-for-profit entity.

1961 Inauguration of Scholarship Fund, with concerts given in order to make lessons available to families in need.

1963 New York State Council on the Arts awards are new able grant for scholarships for students of color, which is still applied for and successfully awarded at its highest level ever in 2018 – 2020.

1974 Accepted as a full-member of the National Guild of Community Arts Education, cementing us as a cultural hub for music education in Rockland County.

1989 The Community Music School of Spring Valley officially changes its name to the Rockland Conservatory of Music

1995 Growth and expansion lead to new quarters in Rockland County where we thrive for over 15 years.

2000 Music Therapy program benefiting mentally and physically challenged adults from ARC of Rockland and Venture is initiated through corporate and foundation support. MY FAVORED ONE

2010 After renting for 56 years, we purchase and renovated a beautiful, convenient, and spacious home of our very own at 45 South Main Street in Pearl River, NY

2011 The Overtures Concert Series is inaugurated, bringing world class talent to Simons Hall with music ranging from World Music to Jazz, to Bluegrass to Classical.

2012 RCM’s largest single donation – $100,000 – kick-starts the school’s Capital Campaign helping to establish firm financial ground to grow for years to come.

2013 The Royal Conservatory Music Development Program names RCM a Founding School, an honor only bestowed on quality musical educational institutions.

2017 Seventy students receive over $45,000 in tuition assistance, continuing the Conservatory’s history of never turning away students for an inability to pay full tuition

2019 Creative Aging Initiative expands to include a Songwriting Class for life-long learners

2020 RCM Faculty & Staff go ‘virtual’ without skipping a beat…to keep music in students’ lives during a difficult time.

My son, Chis Murphy, was not part of any of the above.

Chris learned about Turkish and Indian music at Simon’s Rock of Bard College and then studied composition at Boston’s New England Conservatory of Music. A longtime instrumental dabbler,Chris has mostly taught himself how to play percussion, guitar and mandolin, even some Eastern instruments, but he found his proper match at 22, when he picked up the violin. “It’s the one instrument you’ll find anywhere you go,” he says. “And it has a wonderful, charming kind of minstrel quality. I love all the myths surrounding it.”

Now he performs around the world as a troubadour performing his original music of every genre.

He will be performing again in the Rockland Conservatory of Music.

Chris lives in Southern California and visits home often

He will be performing on Saturday November 4 at 7 PM . It's a perfect warming comfortable venue to hear the music close up. Call 845-356-1522 for a reservation. You won't be disappointing.