Local Music School Is Part Of A Successful National Music Instruction Franchise

Childbloom Guitar Program in St. Peters is a local franchise of the most successful music program in the country.

The program is led by Director Chris Peleshenko, a four-time winner of the Childbloom's Teacher of the Year. Peleshenko said the Childbloom Program uses the guitar as the method of teaching music to children between the ages of 5 and 12.

Peleshenko said one of the things that sets the Childbloom experience apart from so many other music schools is the fact that Childbloom uses parents as an integral part of the child’s achievement in their lessons.   

“We look to the parent-child relationship to build successful study skills in children in music,” Peleshenko said.

In fact, parents are encouraged to attend lessons with their children.

“We use the parent as the staple for the practice, we teach through the parents, and build on success, and it inspires the child to come back,” he said of the program.

Childbloom instructors teach small groups of children of about the same age and the kids learn music skills while playing games.

“The most powerful form of learning comes in the play environment, and teaching in a small group reinforces peer-group learning,” said Peleshenko.

Peleshenko’s background is in music and teaching and he studied Education at University of Missouri at St. Louis, but said he left the university to teach at Childbloom just short of beginning his student teaching.

He is also a musician and said teaching guitar came shortly after he began playing at age 10.He said he taught other kids in his neighborhood how to play guitar when he was 13.

“We’re not just guitar teachers, most instructors have backgrounds in education, and we’re taught in how to teach kids, much like a course a teacher would take,” he said of Childbloom instructors.

Peleshenko said Childbloom educators need to be as passionate about playing music as they are about teaching children how to play.

“We’re looking for great educators & musicians in our instructors,” Peleshenko said.

Before Peleshenko was teaching at Childbloom, he was instructed by renowned and respected guitarist Kirk Hanser at St. Charles Community College and Peleshenko said he worked with Hanser at the St. Louis Childbloom, where Hanser is director, for several years before he became the director of the St. Peters location.

In 2009, Childbloom awarded Peleshenko his own license to teach in St. Charles County, and he was awarded Childbloom’s teacher of the year award in 2004, 2005, 2007 and again in 2008.

“The numbers for the award are based on retention, and since 2005, retention has been at 90 percent, in part from keeping students motivated through the fantastic curriculum,” Peleshenko said.

There are three levels of learning within the program at Childbloom, at the first level, students are taught classical music curriculum and how to play the instrument, level two focuses on reading music, and the third level is all about playing music, from crescendos, and interpretations to improvisations.

Classes start monthly. Childbloom is located at 7829 Mexico Rd in Sunny Meadows Plaza,  for more information about the Childbloom program, visit their website.