Settlement music school Reviews

Excellent school. I took both violin and piano lessons as a hold. Those wonderful memories of that beautiful building and the amazing music coming form each of those beautiful wood floor rooms.

this place has a great dance education. Ms. Kaye is the best teacher my daughter had for dance! I believe that there should be even more dance opportunities in the summer. For example I believe that you guys should hold tap classes! tap and ballet is my kids favourite forms of dance as of right now.

A Philly gem and legendary training place for decades.

A good community music school. Staff is friendly and teachers are kind.

Our kids have been Settlement students for many years. What a great school!

We love the school of my twins. Teachers , personnel, activities, events...

I waffled between two or three stars. None of my friends or acquaintances had any experience with Settlement, so I hope this review is helpful to some parents. I was looking at Temple and Settlement at the same time, and happened to speak to Settlement first. Two of my kids take lessons there. The administrator makes it VERY CLEAR you have to follow strict rules in the event of absences, and if, for whatever reason, you have to leave the school, you forfeit your registration fee. You sign a contract (which is typical with most music programs) in front of her demonstrating your understanding this. So the financial burden/obligation sets the tone of the relationship you have with the school. But every parent knows that the teacher-student relationship can be a gamble. If it doesn't work out at Settlement, you are pretty much STUCK for the contracted year (their locations are not close to one another so moving to another teacher at another school is not a realistic option for city families). I hoped for the best, but that wasn't a good strategy. The school is, for the most part, dark and dated. Think reform school with instruments. But, more importantly, there's no esprit de corp. You feel you are just part of a transaction fulfilling your part of a financial obligation. But it has parking, which fills up quickly during the weekday. One child enjoys the instruction, the other doesn't. So, when the contract comes up, I'm looking for another program that is less dogmatic and more progressive in its approach to servicing families, and has an environment, at least in spirit, that we look forward to joining and doesn't leave me feeling sad.