PAGE 10 FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2018

Business Spotlight

SUPPORT LOCAL BUSINESSES

SUPPORT LOCAL BUSINESSES

HAMILTON • ROLEX • CARTIER • CITIZEN • LUMINOX • SKAGEN • TAG HEUER • SWISS ARMY WATCH, CLOCK, JEWELRY SALES & SERVICE CENTER

CERTIFIED WATCH MAKER • WATCH REPAIR • WATCH BANDS • BATTERIES FOR ALL WATCHES

1401 MISSION STREET. SUITE C6 • SOUTH PASADENA, CA 91030 • 626.799.9919MONDAY-FRIDAY: 10AM - 6PM • SATURDAY: 10AM - 5PM

VanaWatch&Jewelry

G R A N D O P E N I N G

ROLEX, BREITLING, OMEGA, TAG HEUER, CARTIER, BALL, MOVADO, HAMILTON, LUMINOX, VICTORINOX (SWISS ARMY), CITIZEN, SEIKO

Watch, Clock, Jewelry Sales and ServiceCertified Watchmaker • Watch Repair • Watch Bands • Watch Batteries

1401 Mission Street, Suite C • South Pasadena • 626-799-9919Monday - Friday 10am - 6pm • Saturday 10am - 5pm

Bring in this ad for $5 off any item.One per customer,

One per visit.

Your Feet are a Masterpiece of Nature and Work of Art.

Be Kind to Them.Gabriela Wiltrout, C. Ped

Lisa Wiltrout, C. PedCertified pedorthist on premises

Casual restaurant offering a menu of traditional Chinese fare,

including seafood specialties.

OAK TREE INNChinese Seafood Restaurant

1315 Fair Oaks Ave • South Pasadena • (323) 682-288211AM–10PM • menu: oaktreeinnpasadena.com

Lunch • Dinner • Cocktails Daily lunch specials

Free delivery, minimum $40, within 3 miles

Pascale Music InstituteCultivating Excellence in Music

By Mario BoucherSenior Reporter

When Susan Pascale moved to South Pasa-dena as a single moth-er, she had no idea her passion for music would turn into such a success-ful enterprise.

The award-winning and nationally acclaimed Pascale Music Institute teaches kids as young as three years-old to play the violin, viola, cello, bass, guitar and piano.

Pascale developed what is known as the Pascale Method, a sys-tematic approach that utilizes detailed direc-tions, fun exercises, rap-id progress, and a reward program to motivate the students.

“The Pascale Method is Galamian-based, de-signed for kids as young as four years-old and is codified into two books distributed by Alfred Music Publishing,” Pas-cale said. “Galamian is still the predominant system used at the Jul-liard School today. I am proud to say graduates of my program have at-tended this school as well as other colleges, in-cluding UCLA, Carnegie Mellon and Colburn.”

The Institute teaches the importance of music reading, which allows students to be able to perform for family and friends within 12 weeks and advance to the next level of instructions.

Four members of the L.A. Philharmonic Or-chestra—Michael Larco, Oscar Meza, Mitch New-man and Tao Ni—teach their students how to play the violin, viola, cello, and bass at the In-stitute. Each student is matched with an expert teacher who is trained in the Pascale Method.

But kids attending the programs get more than just music lessons.

“It is not only about playing music well, but what you learn in the process about working hard, getting along with others and maintaining a good attitude,” said Pascale, founder and music director.

Cade Okohira is a for-mer South Pasadena student who is using the interpersonal and disci-plinary skills he learned at Pascale Music while studying psychobiology at UCLA. He partici-pated in the 2010 Rose Parade and performed at Carnegie Hall in New York and on TV’s “Amer-ica’s Got Talent” as part of the Pascale Music In-stitute.

“The program at Pas-cale Music introduced Cade to his lifelong pas-sion of music and en-riched all of our lives with experiences we nev-er would have had,” said his father, Mark.

Pascale said she be-lieves every child can achieve greatness. “If you can do something, do it at a higher level,” she said. “I teach the children how to play properly and encourage them along the way with a notebook showing their progress. I make it fun while pushing them to be their best.”

Though most of her students are South Pas-adena residents, Pascale said some kids and par-ents travel from all over the San Gabriel Valley

to take private lessons or group classes. There are summer programs and boot camps as well.

“We are the only 12-and-under youth or-chestra in Los Angeles,” she said.

Once students devel-op their skills, they can participate in one of the Institute’s three orches-tras: The Training Or-chestra, the Los Angeles Children’s Orchestra (LACO), and the Los An-geles Children’s Cham-ber Orchestra (LAC-CO). The LACO and the LACCO orchestras have won several awards in regional and national performances, including three awards at the pres-tigious invitation-only festival at Carnegie Hall.

Little did Pascale

know she would be part of a performance at Car-negie Hall when she moved in 2001 to South Pasadena from New York with her two young children. Her daughter, Ariana, was eight at the time and needed to play the violin with other children to be successful. This led Pascale to vol-unteer free violin lessons before the school district hired her to create a mu-sic program for Hunting-ton Middle School.

“I got involved with the Middle School where there had not been an or-chestra since the 1940s,” she said.

The following spring, Pascale took her 60-member orchestra along with 150 parents and relatives to New

York City to see the chil-dren perform at Carn-egie Hall. Now, every four years, Pascale’s stu-dents, ages 6-13, get the privilege of performing in the famous concert hall.

This summer, the in-stitute was included in an American Family Insurance commercial directed by Todd Field. “What he captured is how I love to work with the kids,” she said. “That’s what the insti-tute is all about: teach-ing music and seeing the change in my students.”

Pascale said seeing the emotional and social improvement in her stu-dents is as satisfying as their progress with an instrument.

“We have all kinds of

students, from kids with disabilities to more gift-ed kids,” said Pascale. “I teach every kid the same way so each one can have a similar experience.”

Pascale also encourag-es her older students to become mentors for the new and young children entering the program.

“I have high stan-dards, and they have to meet them, so it teaches them to push themselves in a positive way,” she said. “When people start with me and my pro-gram, they stay because it is fun,” she said.

Pascale Music Insti-tute is located at 1401 Mission St., Suite 104 in South Pasadena and can be reached at (626) 403-4611. Its website is http://pascalemusic.com.

DVD

StickersIncluded BeGinninG ViOLin WORKBOOK

Written and illustrated bySusan A. Pascale

SecondEdition

DVD

StickersIncluded BeGinninG ViOLin WORKBOOK

SecondEdition

The Pascale Music Institute in South Pasadena performs every four years at Carnegie Hall. Photos courtesy of Pascale Music Institute

The Los Angeles Children’s Orchestra from Pascale Music Institute appeared on America’s Got Talent in 2015.

Pascale Music Institute is located at 1401 Mission St., Suite 104 in South Pasadena and can be reached at 626-403-4611. Photo by Mario Boucher

Founder Susan Pascale is joined by husband A.J.

Pascale Music offers up a Halloween performance.