NoJoMo 4: Fall Recitals

My new piano students had their fall recital yesterday. Three of my six kids signed up, and two of them showed up. It was just about the most low-pressure recital situation I’ve ever seen in my life. At my last studio, we performed in a concert hall on a grand; all the kids dressed up in their Sunday best; we had two practice recitals so they knew how to walk out and play their pieces and bow on their own. This recital had teachers walking out on stage to adjust mics or stands or switch cords, then announcing the kids, then having more technical difficulties and then finally playing their pieces (rarely memorized).

On one hand, I am a classical pianist and fall very much on the side of “Let’s treat this like something that deserves respect.” But I can understand how this is the style that works for these kids. Most of them are playing along to classic rock songs in their lessons, on guitar or bass or drums. Most of the vocal students are singing pop songs; my voice student sang a Disney song, and it was by far the closest thing to “classical” I heard. And there’s also the idea that music should be fun, and when classical music was in its heyday, it was very informal; performers were entertainment while you were drinking and chatting with friends, not the center of attention like they are now. And the kids seemed really comfortable with the idea of performing, whereas in the past I’ve had problems with kids having really bad stage fright.

So while this studio is very different from my past experience with a studio I absolutely adored, I’m starting to understand where they’re coming from.

I also finally met my boss (they’re based in Washington, where they have 3000 students, vs here in Oregon where they only have a couple hundred). I liked him a lot. They’re trying to change policies in the future so teachers can get raises, as well as get paid for all cancellations and reschedules (currently we only get paid for day-of no-shows). They’re buying ipads for all of the schools and looking into getting tea kettles or coffee pots and mini fridges, both of which would make the teaching experience way better. They’re also looking into running some sort of scholarship program for kids who don’t have the money but do have the passion, and that’s just incredible of them.

They’re doing construction on the location where I teach over Christmas break so we’ll have twice as many studios. That probably means I’ll be able to teach another day or two a week. I’m looking forward to that.