MISSION STATEMENT
Diller-Quaile's mission is to teach music in a way that develops the innate musicality in each student and inspires participation for a lifetime.
Our goals are to:
- Offer individual and group music instruction, as well as ensemble and performance opportunities, to students of all levels and abilities.
- Foster musicianship and the development of individual skills and knowledge through student-centered teaching.
- Provide teacher training and support ongoing professional development for faculty and staff.
- Share music with the community through faculty performances, concerts, master classes, and outreach programs.
Our objectives are realized by:
- Employing a highly qualified faculty and staff comprised of credentialed, experienced, and dedicated artists, educators, and administrators.
- Providing excellence in music education, from beginning through advanced levels, to infants through older adults.
- Maintaining a beautiful and artistically inspiring facility, which includes an acoustically outstanding performance space.
We value:
- Individuality within Community
- Inspired and Responsive Teaching
- Comprehensive, Researched, and Dynamic Curricula
- The Pursuit of Artistry
- Collaboration
- Creativity and the Development of the Artistic Imagination
- Ongoing Assessment
- Tradition and Innovation
History of the School
The Diller-Quaile School of Music was founded in 1920 by pianists Angela Diller and Elizabeth Quaile. They believed that the capacity for understanding and creating music exists in everyone. Additionally, they felt that a music school should provide a dynamic and well-rounded experience not just for select students, but for all. Together, they initiated a comprehensive approach to teaching music, combining individual piano lessons with classes in musicianship and theory. Their purpose was to develop musically sensitive and receptive individuals who played with the eloquence that comes from understanding the structure of music. Through inspired teaching, they would awaken in students a responsiveness to the beauty of music and to the subtleties of artistic performance.
The first teachers at the School were selected from the two founders' adult pupils. As the School grew, so did the need for more teachers, and formal teacher training courses evolved. In addition to developing materials for teachers, Angela Diller and Elizabeth Quaile collaborated to write the well-known Diller-Quaile Series, publishing the "First Solo Book" in 1918. Ultimately, they wrote forty books, which have sold more than two million copies worldwide. Fifteen of these publications are still in print and currently used in individual lessons and classes at the School.
Today, The Diller-Quaile School of Music is a thriving community music school on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, comprised of the Early Childhood, Instrumental and Vocal, Adult, Teacher Training, and Outreach Departments. Throughout the academic year, Rug Concerts, Explorations Concerts, master classes, student recitals, faculty concerts, and special events are offered. Diller-Quaile annually enrolls 1,200 students of all ages. Additionally, our extensive Outreach Programs bring the spirit and mission of Diller-Quaile to more than 600 individuals throughout New York City.
