My Musical Story
I grew up singing in church from an early age and started piano lessons at the age of 7. My teacher, who seemed to be ancient at the time, but was probably only in her 50's, should be credited with a great deal of patience and fortitude, as I did not like to practice as much as I should have. On the other hand, I loved playing the piano and with my mother's constant encouragement (read: exasperated nagging), I succeeded in completing the first eight levels of the curriculum assigned to me. I participated in state-wide contests for six years and earned a 1 or 1+ (the highest marks available) each time.
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When I was in fifth grade, I was given the opportunity to join the middle school band and learn another instrument. Initially, I wanted to play the drums, since they are, arguably, the second coolest instrument to learn (after guitar), but my father, insisting that I already played a percussion instrument, refused to allow it. I settled on the clarinet, convinced by an older classmate, that while they weren't as cool as the drums or guitar, clarinets were the coolest woodwind to play. I continued to play clarinet in the school band through high school; experiencing both marching band and concert band. While I enjoyed the camaraderie of the group, I never grew to love playing that instrument the way I loved the piano (probably a lack of practice). The day I graduated from high school, I handed my clarinet to my younger sister and swore off the reed forever.
I took a few more years of lessons in piano after I graduated from high school, focusing on repertoire building, and one final semester in college, where I was told that I had reached the level of proficiency that would require a minimum of four hours of practice every day, plus an end-of-year exam and juries. I wasn't interested in committing my life to piano, so I stopped taking lessons.
I did not, however, stop playing piano.
All through college, I frequently reserved practice rooms in the Fine Arts building and took a bag of books filled with pieces I enjoyed playing or wanted to play better. I did not spend the required four hours of practice per day, of course, but I practiced enough to maintain the level of skill I'd already reached and occasionally foray into higher levels.
I also joined a church band for two summers while working at a summer camp. I learned how to read and play "chorded" music (music written mainly for guitarists), and expanded my improvisational skills during this time.
I moved back to my hometown after graduating from college and joined a few different church bands, expanding my skills in improvisation, chording, and singing while playing, in addition to playing with other people and leading groups of people in song.
I was eventually appointed to lead the music department at my church. It was also around this time that I began teaching piano. I was approached by a colleague at my day job, who was looking for a piano teacher for his two nephews, both in later elementary school. I explained that while I had never taught piano professionally, I could probably "figure it out". Surprisingly, they hired me.
I acquired a few other students and for about three years, taught piano part-time after work and on the weekends. I found I enjoyed teaching, particularly in a one-on-one session where I could share my knowledge with a captive audience who was actually paying me to blather on about things I love.
Over the next nine years, I balanced my day job, my volunteer work, my family, and my part-time piano teaching until the stress got too much. When I decided to leave my long-time day job, I contemplated replacing it with another similar position that would require less personal time, but the idea of teaching piano full time began to settle in my head and I started researching the possibility of turning a part-time paid hobby into a full-time business.
Eventually, I made the decision to plunge into self-employment and opened Noteworthy Piano Studio in July 2017.
The first couple of years were full of challenges and TONS of learning both how to be a better teacher and how to run my own business. In addition to loving music, I've always wanted to be a published author, something that had shunted to the position of a hobby for most of my life.
Opening Noteworthy Piano Studio changed that and gave me the extra time I needed to write and edit. I currently maintain a serial story on a blog site called The South Deer Island Chronicles and am working on my debut novel.
