8 Things You Might Not Have Known About the School of Music

Much more than just an unassuming building on Grove Street, the Dana Hall School of Music has a long history (since 1958!) of providing musical instruction to Dana Hall students and local community members.

Did you know?

1. The School of Music maintains 13 pianos among 13 teaching rooms. Twelve of these are grand pianos, 11 of them are Steinway grand pianos, one is an upright. The largest room at the School of Music features two Steinway grand pianos side by side for students working on piano concertos. In addition, our formal recital hall, Beveridge Hall, in the heart of Dana Hall’s campus, features a Steinway concert grand piano. Bardwell Auditorium also features a Steinway grand piano for all-school events and convocations. 
2. In addition to piano, the School of Music offers lessons in: flute, piccolo, saxophone, clarinet, trumpet, trombone, tuba, euphonium, French horn, violin, viola, cello, bass, guitar, electric guitar, bass guitar, harp, voice, ukulele, drums, percussion.
3. The School of Music has a teaching faculty of 30 strong, who both teach and work as professional musicians on (symphony) stages throughout the Boston metropolitan area.
4. Upper School students have the benefit of taking lessons within their academic school day. This allows students to continue their music education while also engaging in co-curricular after school activities. Lessons are regularly scheduled once per week and can fit into any free period. Lessons may also be scheduled into the evenings, in the rare case that a student’s daytime schedule is completely full. The School of Music is open seven days a week, day and night, for students to come practice at any time, including during any free periods, and for students to gather in music.
5. The School of Music offers individual lessons to Dana Hall students’ family members with a 10% tuition discount.
6. The School of Music hosts two formal music recitals per month for students to engage in as frequently as they'd like. In addition, there are five informal Music Cafe student gatherings throughout the year for students to simply share what they are working on and for others to enjoy taking it all in. There is a formal Honors Recital each year (end of April) to recognize extraordinary commitment and growth or accomplishment demonstrated by students from the School of Music.
7. In 2024-25, a Dana Hall 12th grade student and a 10th grade student traveled to New York City to play at Carnegie Hall, after successful auditions for the American Protege International Music Competition the previous spring. Dana Hall students may register and audition for Eastern District and All State music festival competitions each year.
8. There is a committed and thriving music community at Dana Hall School, and we enjoy crafting performance opportunities to both challenge and showcase our student musicians.