The Center on Central keeps moms active, too
For those who feel less than stimulated while waiting for their children’s art or music classes to conclude, a creative arts center in Paoli may have the answer.
While your child may be expanding his or her creative mind in art or music class, you find yourself drinking a latte in the driver’s seat of your Toyota Sienna listening to adult contemporary — by yourself. This is what prompted musical therapist Katie Opher, co-founder of The Center on Central, at 24 W. Central Ave., to start her own practice.
The concept is simple: offer classes for children as well as their parents simultaneously. So while little Jimmy is taking an art therapy class, his mother may enjoy a yoga or Pilates class, in the same building, rather than sitting in a waiting room chair.
“It stems from taking my children to classes, and then being like, ‘What do I do for the hour while my daughter is doing ballet or karate, or in a lesson?’ so that was the beauty of having this space,” Opher said. “Mom can be taking a Pilates class or a yoga class at the same time that there’s a music or art class. I feel that moms deserve to be doing stuff for themselves, and it makes it that much more convenient.”
The building could be mistaken for any other house in the area, albeit a large one. With its grand opening in July, The Center doesn’t have any signage yet, and on Sept. 8, there was a small easel on the lawn showcasing its upcoming open house.
The house was completely gutted and renovated both inside and out — yet still has the feel of a house. It’s got a simple and clean feel to it, with polished hardwood floors and subdued paint in most of the studios. Co-founder Ron Opher, Katie’s husband, said it was important for Katie to have her own practice that was kid friendly — and far away from the traditional office setting, adding that potentially having insurance companies and accounting firms as neighbors wasn’t good for business for anybody.
Ron, an attorney, is soft-spoken, and handles the business aspects of the center. His musical therapist, performing arts-majoring wife, is more vociferous. On working with his wife, Ron said the key is finding a distinct role and sticking to it.
Katie got into the musical therapy profession because of her need to be around people. A classically trained pianist as an undergraduate at Florida State University, she played with the Jacksonville Symphony, and it sounds like she got lonely doing it.
“Pianists actually get isolated,” Katie said. “They say, ‘Go learn this Ravel piano concerto.’ I’m not with the orchestra until the final rehearsals. You spend a lot of time in a practice room, alone, working on the music.
“Therapy was more of a calling to me — dealing with people who could use music to accomplish other things, not teaching music for music’s sake.
Katie then interned at Allentown State Hospital, and attended graduate school at Drexel University, where she’s now an adjunct faculty member.
“She has the knowledge, I’m more of the person to make sure things move smoothly,” Ron said. “[The Center] is a passion of hers, and it’s a passion of mine to be an entrepreneur,” adding that he started his law firm from the ground up.
The Center focuses on musical and art therapy. There’s a room on the second floor that is filled with drums, xylophones and keyboards. There’s a lot of creating music together, Katie said, adding that it involves a lot of listening to your neighbor, and that helps a child socialize. And for children who find listening to music to be over stimulating, Katie said there’s the art therapy class — which still allows for group work, as a child would draw half of a picture, and his neighbor would complete it.
Almost all of the instructors have their master’s degrees. And all the yoga instructors are certified — including Katie, who said she was teaching a yoga class later in the evening.
At the center, there is a lot of music creation.
In the music therapy group, the children create the music together, and may use a piece of a structured song, and then do some improvisation.
The most popular classes depend on the needs of the child, but Katie said Tuesday’s 4:45 p.m. music therapy class, which coincides with a Pilates class, has been popular. Pottery, yoga and Pilates dominate the schedules.
A full schedule of courses may be seen at The Center on Central’s Web site at thecenteroncentral.com.
And, on working with her husband, she calls him an excellent writing and business plan guy.
“We’re a good balance, and I think we’re doing it well — we’re not fighting, right?”
While your child may be expanding his or her creative mind in art or music class, you find yourself drinking a latte in the driver’s seat of your Toyota Sienna listening to adult contemporary — by yourself. This is what prompted musical therapist Katie Opher, co-founder of The Center on Central, at 24 W. Central Ave., to start her own practice.
The concept is simple: offer classes for children as well as their parents simultaneously. So while little Jimmy is taking an art therapy class, his mother may enjoy a yoga or Pilates class, in the same building, rather than sitting in a waiting room chair.
“It stems from taking my children to classes, and then being like, ‘What do I do for the hour while my daughter is doing ballet or karate, or in a lesson?’ so that was the beauty of having this space,” Opher said. “Mom can be taking a Pilates class or a yoga class at the same time that there’s a music or art class. I feel that moms deserve to be doing stuff for themselves, and it makes it that much more convenient.”
The building could be mistaken for any other house in the area, albeit a large one. With its grand opening in July, The Center doesn’t have any signage yet, and on Sept. 8, there was a small easel on the lawn showcasing its upcoming open house.
The house was completely gutted and renovated both inside and out — yet still has the feel of a house. It’s got a simple and clean feel to it, with polished hardwood floors and subdued paint in most of the studios. Co-founder Ron Opher, Katie’s husband, said it was important for Katie to have her own practice that was kid friendly — and far away from the traditional office setting, adding that potentially having insurance companies and accounting firms as neighbors wasn’t good for business for anybody.
Ron, an attorney, is soft-spoken, and handles the business aspects of the center. His musical therapist, performing arts-majoring wife, is more vociferous. On working with his wife, Ron said the key is finding a distinct role and sticking to it.
Katie got into the musical therapy profession because of her need to be around people. A classically trained pianist as an undergraduate at Florida State University, she played with the Jacksonville Symphony, and it sounds like she got lonely doing it.
“Pianists actually get isolated,” Katie said. “They say, ‘Go learn this Ravel piano concerto.’ I’m not with the orchestra until the final rehearsals. You spend a lot of time in a practice room, alone, working on the music.
“Therapy was more of a calling to me — dealing with people who could use music to accomplish other things, not teaching music for music’s sake.
Katie then interned at Allentown State Hospital, and attended graduate school at Drexel University, where she’s now an adjunct faculty member.
“She has the knowledge, I’m more of the person to make sure things move smoothly,” Ron said. “[The Center] is a passion of hers, and it’s a passion of mine to be an entrepreneur,” adding that he started his law firm from the ground up.
The Center focuses on musical and art therapy. There’s a room on the second floor that is filled with drums, xylophones and keyboards. There’s a lot of creating music together, Katie said, adding that it involves a lot of listening to your neighbor, and that helps a child socialize. And for children who find listening to music to be over stimulating, Katie said there’s the art therapy class — which still allows for group work, as a child would draw half of a picture, and his neighbor would complete it.
Almost all of the instructors have their master’s degrees. And all the yoga instructors are certified — including Katie, who said she was teaching a yoga class later in the evening.
At the center, there is a lot of music creation.
In the music therapy group, the children create the music together, and may use a piece of a structured song, and then do some improvisation.
The most popular classes depend on the needs of the child, but Katie said Tuesday’s 4:45 p.m. music therapy class, which coincides with a Pilates class, has been popular. Pottery, yoga and Pilates dominate the schedules.
A full schedule of courses may be seen at The Center on Central’s Web site at thecenteroncentral.com.
And, on working with her husband, she calls him an excellent writing and business plan guy.
“We’re a good balance, and I think we’re doing it well — we’re not fighting, right?”
