Music School of the Hof Symphony Orchestra
The large, red brick building at Klosterstraße 9-11 becomes a second home not only for many a student from Hof, but also for many parents. Week after week, more than 1,000 students take advantage of the cultural and educational offerings, which are unique throughout Germany: As the only professional orchestra in all of Germany, the Hof Symphony Orchestra has been operating its own music school since 1978, where students are taught at an exceptionally high level by active orchestra musicians and other highly qualified instrumental pedagogues.
Even the very youngest children from baby age can attend the early music education courses, in which children and their accompanying adults sing together, imitate simple rhythms, move and approach music with all their senses and their whole bodies.
From the age of three, the Hofer Symphoniker Music School offers Suzuki lessons in violin, viola, cello and harp, as well as piano from four. Within the framework of the Suzuki method, the children first learn to make music without notes through imitation, comparable to the acquisition of the mother tongue.
Also still from elementary school age, the children can begin with the other instruments. Due to the orchestral structure on which the music school is based, almost any instrument can be chosen from an extremely wide range of lessons at the Symphonic Music School. In order to practice playing an instrument in a group, there are various music school ensembles, from the accordion orchestra and the guitar choir to the saxophone ensemble and the big band, as well as student rock bands and various choirs for young and old.
In the immediate vicinity of the music school, in the Haus der Musik, the painting courses of the Hofer Symhoniker art school take place. As at the music school, not only children and young people are taught there, but also adults of all ages, for whom there are also offers such as the recorder playing circle for adults or the women's choir "Euphonia".
In addition, the music school of the Hofer Symphoniker cooperates with various Hofer schools. The cooperation with the Jean-Paul-Gymnasium (JPG), whose students of the musical branch receive their instrumental lessons at the music school, is unique in Germany. In addition, teachers from the music school supervise the brass class project at the Schiller Gymnasium in Hof. There is also cooperation with the Fachoberschule (FOS) in Hof and the music branch of the Realschule Naila. Within the framework of these cooperations, the Hofer Symphoniker Music School maintains large joint ensembles such as the joint Big Band with the JPG, the Hof Symphonic Wind Orchestra in cooperation with the SchillerGymnasium and the school-wide Hof Youth Symphony Orchestra.
