Dorothy Gerber Strings Program Turns 20

The string's the thing

By Brighid Driscoll | Dec. 11, 2021

In 2000, a musician named Karey Sitzler was working as the education director for Crooked Tree Arts Center in Petoskey. A large portion of her job was dedicated to touring local arts students through CTAC’s galleries. The other part of her job — the smaller portion, which had attracted her to the position — was conducting the art center’s youth orchestra.

“I was so excited for the first rehearsal,” she says, “and when I walked in the door, I think there were about 12 kids.”

Hardly an orchestra. And though she was excited by the challenge of the kids’ differing skill levels — some had only played a few months; others had the luxury of private lessons — Sitzler was underwhelmed by the number of students. In an attempt to fatten up the orchestra, she went to her bosses, brimming with questions.”

“[I asked,] ‘Who feeds this?” she says. “’How do we build it? Where are the kids? I’ve got to shake some bushes or something.’ They said, ‘Well, actually our schools up here don’t have [strings] programs.’”

Sitzler, aghast — and also a teacher certified in the state of Michigan — went next to the Petoskey Public Schools superintendent.

She offered up a deal: She would teach elementary students every week, for free, in exchange for a school giving her a dedicated time and space to do so.

“They thought that sounded like a great idea, so we started in Petoskey,” she says. A vacant classroom and an hour a week were all it took for word of the strings program to sweep through the region. Other northern Michigan schools began adopting it, and by the end of its first year, says Sitzler, 17 schools had signed on to host the strings program.

HITTING THE RIGHT NOTE
“It seemed like every other month I was starting another 30 kids, or 60,” she says. “Going out to Beaver Island was the epitome of things because I think they had 69 kids in the school that year, and 63 of them were in the program. That was pretty cool.”

At the end of 2001, all of the participating students from the programs’ schools got together and put on a concert in Bay View. The performance was unforgettable: “It was amazing. It was such a treat for me to see a little of the fruition of my work and so many people enjoying playing,” says Sitzler.

Peter and Gay Cummings were in the audience that night and were so taken with the students’ passion and talent, they were inspired to fund the program going forward, naming it after Gay’s mom, Dorothy Gerber, co-founder of Gerber Baby Foods.

ALL GROWN UP
Today the Dorothy Gerber Strings Program is in its 20th year serving Charlevoix, Emmet, and Antrim counties. Although the program has expanded over the years, its core impact has remained the same: It enables students from ages four to 18 to receive free lessons, as well as opportunities to perform as part of small and large ensembles. Its host organization is Great Lakes Center for the Arts in Bay Harbor, and for the past four years, the DGSP Music Director has been Dr. David Reimer. Reimer, who has his doctorate in violin performance, instructs along with a team of nine others, all of them musicians with extensive training: Trisha Berquist, Iuliia Fetysenko, Peter Tolias, Beth Deininger, Byron Farrar, Becky Palmiter, Elizabeth Bert, Maggie Stewart and Karen Jervey.

Nowadays, lessons continue to be held in school classrooms and churches around the region, but many are held inside the acoustically inspiring Great Lakes Center for the Arts. The breadth of program offerings have expanded too. Beginner, junior, and intermediate classes are available; all classes, no matter the level, run one hour, twice a week. Students who’ve never played an instrument remain at the beginner level for a year before moving through the ranks. Students who show exceptional drive and skill may join the Dorothy Gerber Strings Youth Orchestra — though it’s not a given.

“It’s the very top of our program,” Reimer says of the orchestra. “They’re the most advanced students, and they audition to get into the orchestra. They play the most advanced music and take private lessons as well. They can come from anywhere in our program, and yes, they were beginners at some point.”

PRE(MUSIC)SCHOOL
A unique aspect of the DGSP is that it also teaches music to kids who do not yet have the finger skills to hold a pencil or write. It utilizes the Suzuki method, developed by Japanese violinist Shinichi Suzuki. Based on the belief that any properly trained child can become a talented musician, Suzuki employs many of the same techniques used in teaching language. By starting children as young as three years old, Suzuki believed kids are able to nurture a love and proclivity toward music that will inspire talent and good character for the rest of their lives. Because of the young age of students, parent involvement is a part of the program.

Reimer, who started playing violin at age four, says that early development of skills in music can have a positive impact that lasts a lifetime.

“[Music training] develops discipline. There’s all of the cognitive development in terms of brain activity. With learning music and an instrument, you cross over between the right and left sides of the brain. A lot of people tend to think of the arts for the expressive part, but with an instrument, it’s also very logical, mechanical, and intellectual as well. You’re utilizing your hands, your ears, and then coordinating it all from your brain. It just stimulates a lot of personal growth.”

Interested in learning more about the Dorothy Gerber Strings Program? Visit www.greatlakescfa.org/educational-programs. For interviews with past teachers and students — many of them professional musicians today — search “Dorothy Gerber Strings” on Facebook.