“I’m a little nervous.” Frank Rudolph admitted as we chatted last week. If he was truly apprehensive, it didn’t show.
We were at the Main Street Music and Art Studio before the first students arrived. Mr. Rudolph was seated on a couch, sipping a cup of tea and smiling as we talked about the first concert of the season at the Village Bandstand. His students will be the featured performers. A schedule of all concerts will be in the June 10 issue.
For some of the students, this will be a new experience. They haven’t played in front of an audience of strangers. That’s why Mr. Rudolph says he’s nervous. But he’s not very convincing.
The teens have been practicing since March for what Mr. Rudolph calls an “Open Mic Night.” He doesn’t mean that anyone can stand up and entertain. He’s saying that the performers chose their own songs, and have put together a program that includes mostly popular music and rock.
That’s a departure from what he did in his first studio in Goshen. In those days, he tried to steer his pupils toward classical music. He changed his approach when he settled in Cornwall 10 years ago. Today, he lets his pupils select the music they want to study and play.
The studio was in Town for two years until Mr. Rudolph moved it to Hudson Street at the site of a former restaurant. (That’s right! The Main Street Art and Music Studio is not on Main Street..) He was concerned at the beginning about a lack of traffic. Motorists don’t drive through Cornwall-on-Hudson on their way to some place else. But since he opened in 2008, the number of students has increased, and the studio has expanded to cover the entire first floor of the building.
Starting at 7 p.m. on June 7, his students will entertain the audience with guitars, pianos, drums and vocals. “It should be interesting,” Mr. Rudolph says modestly. But deep down he expects that it will be good.
Featured performers: Jessica Bartul, Molly Broughan, Nick Dugan, Odessa Patmos, Bobby Speckenbach, David Stingle, John and Jack Workman.
