The Main Line Conservatory of Music provides the best possible education, guidelines, and practical training necessary to the qualified piano student who wishes to pursue a career in music, as well as to music-loving children whose aims are non-professional.

Students at the Conservatory receive close individual training through a carefully planned program designed to fit the student’s need and ability. An integral part of the piano instruction is the enrichment of the student’s musical knowledge which arouses his interest in, and appreciation of, music. It is so important to have a teacher for your child who is passionate about music, and knows the way to reach a child.

The teaching method used is a combined approach, based on the Kodály Method, and on recent insights of pedagogy and psychology.

Dr. Kiszely, who was privileged to have Zoltán Kodály among his great teachers, took an active part in the inception of the Kodály Method in Hungary, and has incorporated it into the American system of education with great success.

The basic philosophy of the Kodály concept was put into words by Kodály himself:

“The pure soul of the child must be considered sacred; what we
implant there must stand every test, and if we plant anything
bad, we poison his soul for life.

A child is the most susceptible and the most enthusiastic appreciator
of pure art; conversely, only art of intrinsic value is suitable for
children. Feeding on genuine art results in spritual health.
Those who develop a taste for what is good at an early age will
become resistant later to what is bad.

In the early years of a child’s intellectual and spiritual development,
musical education is of extraordinary importance.

Music must not be approached by some mechanical method,
nor should it be conveyed to the child as a system of algebraic symbols.
He will be brought no nearer to it by means of sham educational
literature which is so fashionable now.”

Through this learning process, the student discovers a new potential, and a new confidence, and courage to try without fear of failure. By this method, even 5-year-olds are able to learn to sight-read music.

Students who attend the weekly musicianship classes at MLC learn musical skills which form a solid platform from which they vault into artistic and expressive playing.

One of the great violinists of our time, Isaac Stern, after visiting music schools in Hungary, wrote an article “Enchanting Your Child With Music” in the Aug. 13, 1990 U.S. News and World Report, in which he said:

“There’s a system called the Kodály [pronounced Ko-dye] system
which I am very high on...

Kids who learn this system do astonishing things musically, and
their comprehension in mathematics, in logic, in reading, also
goes right off the graph. Even for “disenfranchised kids”,
from different backgrounds and cultures, it works like magic.”

To quote Isaac Stern:“Education should be about discovery, about the exultation of being alive, and the ecstasy of knowledge.”