Most Influential Business Women: St. Louis Superstars

St. Louis Business Journal, August 7-13

What began as a passion for Beverly Milder has led to a successful music school that has influenced thousands of lives.

Milder founded Milder Musical Arts in her basement in 1978. Today the Chesterfield school has nearly 700 students weekly, ranging in age from 2 to 82. Annual revenue is $800,000. The school offers education in piano, voice, guitar and musical theater.

As a youth, Milder loved taking piano lessons. Through her high school choir, she discovered how much she loved sharing music, and when she saw a music school using the Yamaha Music Education System, a method for early childhood music education, she knew she wanted to teach music.

"I loved the way the students were learning," Milder said. "I liked that the parents were there, the students were having fun, and they were in a class sharing music."

Milder earned both her bachelor's in liberal arts and her master's degree in music education from Washington University. She taught music at Pierremont Elementary in the Parkway School District for a year before starting Milder Musical Arts. She had planned to run the school out of her home, but after 100 students enrolled, she moved to her current location off Ladue Road in Chesterfield and hired additional staff as enrollment kept growing.

While many of Milder's students perform in competitions and a few of her students go on to major in music, the school does not train professional performers. Rather, "we want to teach students so that they will enjoy music for a lifetime," Milder said.

Children as young as two take classes in which "they learn music naturally, as they would learn a language," Milder said. As students develop, they move to smaller groups and then to private lessons.

"Parental involvement is crucial to the development of a young musician's skill," said Milder, who encourages parents to sit in on classes.

Susan John, mother of two students at the school describes it as "a community in which my children are able to interact and learn," in both group and one-on-one settings.

As her school grew, Milder learned the bushiness of operating a successful music school. As the director of the school, she is in charge of the administrative duties and no longer teaches. Regardless, because of her knowledge and love of music, the school remains focused on education. "I always felt that if we had great education, then we'd be successful," Milder said.

"I enjoy coming to work every single day, and in all honesty, Beverly has made that possible, because she lets me teach students a good way to learn guitar," said Mort Melman, who has taught at the school for 13 years.

In 2004 the school help a benefit performance that raise $10,000 for the Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital.