It’s not uncommon at all for us to get students that come to us from another teacher. Sadly, in a majority of those cases, those students come to us from teachers that let’s just say seem to not always be focused on the fundamentals, at least from our perspective in what we see from the students in that first visit. I realize when I say that, it may sound like we’re being harsh and that’s not our intent at all! We want all students to find joy, wonder, excitement, fun, and beauty, in music! And we believe that most of those things are found easiest when students are taught to understand music exceedingly well, and be able to execute it with excellence.
We are always excited of course when those students choose us and we have the opportunity to help them on their musical journey. Usually, of course, unfortunately if a student is coming from such a situation, there’s going to be a lot of sort of retraining to get them up to speed to where we can then move forward. And that’s okay. We’re here for that! And what I really love to see, is when we see students that are actually already doing really well, but perhaps they’re just looking for something different, or something new—or in a lot of cases, they know they need to grow to sort of a new level beyond where they are and their current teacher just doesn’t have the ability to get them there. Or perhaps their current teacher is a nice person and maybe even a capable musician, but maybe they’ve just kind of lost their steam or their passion. Those things are really important.
We work very hard to make sure that the people who are teaching on our team are here because they love music, and they love teaching it. If neither of those things are true, they could be great people and great musicians but they should really be doing something else. Recently, I had the pleasure of taking on a brand new student who had been studying with somebody else in town for quite some time. This student is actually very capable, their prior teacher did a very good job of teaching him the fundamentals and I applaud them for that! I’m not 100% sure why he needed any teacher but my lunch is maybe it had something to do with those things I just mentioned. Either way, I’m excited to be able to take him to his next level and I’m thankful that a good teacher poured into him well!
We also love to see it when students come to us and take lessons in a particular instrument, and then later they add a second or third instrument or a second or third child or more. Or maybe it’s a parent who decides to add lessons for themselves! These things are awesome on so many levels, but I think the coolest part about this is it proves an important truth: The joy and excitement of learning music is infectious, as it should be when it’s done well. Also, it’s an encouragement to us because it knows we’re doing a good job, which is what we’re all about!
And of course, it’s super exciting to see kids just diving in and learning more instruments. Thinking about all the possibilities! Just last week we enrolled a new mom whose kids are taking piano lessons here, and this week, we’ve put a couple people on a wait list for spots in the fall to add another child and two more instruments to their current enrollment. Love it!
