In the month of July, I’m going to be posting on Wednesdays different blog posts that take you behind the scenes of being an independent music educator. Lessons that I’ve learned, things I do to prepare and much more! Today, I’m focusing on why do I do what I do.
If you were to tell the Craig graduating from college in 2001 that in 23 years, your income would come from teaching private music lessons, he’d laugh. I had a plan. That plan was to direct high school choirs for about 25 or so years, transition into full time church music, and then retire. Well….about plans. They change. My first year of classroom teaching was awful. I was awful. And so, that transition to church music happened quickly. To supplement my income (because church musicians don’t get paid much), I started teaching piano lessons. I had one student back when I was in high school, and while I had a lot to learn about teaching, I think she learned something from me.
To some extent or form since 2002, I’ve been teaching piano, voice, trumpet, guitar, ukulele, a clarinet and a saxophone lesson along the way. I don’t think the clarinet and saxophone student learned much from me, because all I could ever do on my sister’s clarinet is make it sound like a goose! But as a piano and voice teacher specifically, I’ve grown and become pretty good at teaching and making it fun. But 2020 changed everything.
Actually, to get to 2020, I need to back up to 2019. My dad had passed away 2 years before, and I was starting to think about what other options were out there for me. Was it a mid-life crisis? Maybe. But in talking to my wife and thinking about, the thoughts kept creeping back again and again. And I had the opportunity to take some of my church choir members to New York City and sing at Carnegie Hall. And as we were preparing, the realization hit me. I hadn’t performed as a vocalist since college. I missed it. I had been so busy directing, that I had neglected the performing. And so my wife and I made the decision that in 2020, I’d be leaving full time church music to figure out what’s next.
In January, I talked to my senior pastor and told him my decision. He was surprised, but understood and was supportive. At the end of the month, I announced to my congregation that I would be resigning my position at the end of June, giving the church time to find someone else. The doors were wide open. Do I go back to classroom teaching? Write music? Serve as a clinician? Teaching lessons was a thought, but it was lower on the scale. I had an opportunity to fly out to California to work with a friend’s church choir in March….but that was right as the pandemic hit. Which changed everything.
I continued to serve as a part-time church musician at my church until the end of 2020, started building my studio and then in August 2020, an opportunity was plopped in my lap. Direct choir part time at the school my wife taught at and our girls were going to. I did it, and it made my lesson schedule a bit stunted, but I worked it out. Despite that hiccup, things kept going and growing.
Building your own business isn’t easy. It definitely isn’t for the faint of heart. I’ve always had a love for teaching about music. It’s what I invested 5 years of college in. I’ve now found the area that I’m good at. One on one, connecting with students, encouraging and helping them grow and succeed in music. While I never thought I’d be at this point 23 years ago, I’m the happiest I’ve ever been and the most fulfilled I’ve ever been. I’ve learned a lot about creating and updating a website (something that will be happening more here in the next few weeks), learned about technology, marketing, social media and so many other things that my music education degree never instructed me on. But I love the students and families I get to serve. I love that feeling of joy that comes to me when I hear the growth and success of my students. And I look forward to much more of that to come in the future!