Artistic Director
Artistic director Stephen P. Hudson is an award winning pianist, and composer for film and the concert hall, with over 20 years of public performance and over 17 years teaching experience in public/private schools and several universities in the US and Canada. In addition to directing the music program at HMS, he has taught for Rider University in Princeton, and St. Francis College in Brooklyn. He is a graduate of Mason Gross at Rutgers and Manhattan School of Music, and has been a finalist in the International Songwriter’s Competition. He has played the Blue Note, Lincoln Center, Monterey Jazz Festival, many festivals/theaters throughout the US, Canada, and Europe, and his film music has appeared in films with HBO, Cannes Film Festival, and network television. www.SteveHudsonMusic.com
Our Story
It all Started....
Our organization started in 2002 with a piano, a small group of students, and pack of Oreo cookies. Wow, that was 22 years ago! Year after year since our beginning, we added more artistic disciplines (art, ceramics, theater, cooking classes, adult lessons and classes) and our organization has grown tremendously.
What underscores all of our programs ties back to an experience I had taking piano lessons when I was around 10 years old. My parents thought it was a good idea to have my sister Melina and I take piano lessons. I would take a few lessons and then quit. This happened with three different teachers, all nice folks. The idea was that you plow through a method book, and once you obtain a base level of knowledge, you could then play the songs that really interested you.
There was a problem though. I wanted to learn the music of Ray Charles, Jerry Lee Lewis, Billy Joel, Elton John, the Rolling Stones, and Jimi Hendrix. My teachers looked at me in disbelief, so I quit. Then something miraclous happened. The art teacher in my school, James Reed, had an upright piano and he used to play a rock-n-roll style, boogie-woogie, and he taught a group of us how to play and improvise. I then had a phenomenal band teacher, Mr. Jim Ellington, who had us playing Yes, the Rolling Stones, and the Beatles.
In a nutshell, I want to replicate this kind of experience for all our students. Once a student is inspired, once he or she has that fire, it's almost like you have to stand out of the way. Teaching is more about guiding at that point, because of that internal motivation.
We have some core principles that all of our faculty members have in common:
• Stay curious and open to what resonates with students. There are 1000 ways up the mountain.
• Be a great communicator, know how to read the room, and know there is an art to teaching, a push and pull between when to challenge and support. A great teacher is aware of that balance.
• Pursue your own own artistic career. That hunger, curiosity, and ambition colors one's teaching, and often helps students get from point A to point B, very quickly! It's important to have your own thing, your own vision, and ideas to see through.
Our mission is to inspire all of our students so that their world also opens up, and they go on to build and create in their own unique way.
FACULTY UPDATE
Mike Noordzy (also faculty at Rutgers University) and Anthony Ware, Faculty at Rock Camp, Performing at the Stone Pony.
Anthony Genovesi (drums), Faculty at Rock Camp, performing a sold out show at Stubb's in Austin.
