Choices

I am a full-time private music teacher; this is all I do, and it is a joyful job – one about which I am passionate. Changing the world through music, one singer at a time. Ahh…from the sublime to the practical…

Barrett Music Studio is also a business. I need to maintain a student load in order to be able to eat, sleep under a roof, and raise my children. Like all businesses, I advertise. I use a few different means of advertising to attract students: word of mouth, internet search analytics, some referral services. These are successful to varying degrees.

The form of advertising with the best record of retention is that of word of mouth. In these cases, a student who has been working with me recognizes a need in a friend or colleague and senses that our personalities will click. These referrals come with their own FAQ’s page – the personal testimonial of the student. They can offer personal insight into process, personality, positivity, and progress, things that are difficult to quantify when doing an internet search or using a referral service.

That being said, a majority of my students come to me through referral services. I have met some incredible people who took a chance with their choice and for the vast majority of them it has been a rewarding journey of discovery and progress. I’ve been so blessed with these students; my life has been deepened for getting to know and work with them.

For a few prospects it doesn’t work out and that’s all right. You cannot be all things to all people, as the saying goes. Part of it also is managing expectations. I am a vocal technician first, and a vocal coach second. As I remind my students, “Job One is beautiful sound. My job is to give you the tools to achieve that.”

Because of that mission, lessons with new students always start with exercises to give them the tools to start building and expanding their voices. As I teach them the exercise, I relate what its purpose is and how to use the exercise to achieve their goals. It is technical work and demands concentration and discipline. For the students that come in with the idea that my job is simply to teach them new songs and play along while they sing, I’m afraid the lessons will not be what they are expecting.

Choices. Looking for a voice teacher is already a highly personal pursuit as I have written about here:
https://barrettmusicstudio.blog/2019/08/09/courage/

In the information age there are so many choices it can be paralyzing. How can you tell which of those teachers are for real? Which ones are actually able to give you what you want? Who will work for you? My advice: take them for a test drive. There is no substitute for the impressions and experience of that in-person interaction.

More tomorrow…