How to Find Success in a Small-Town Studio

In the early 1990s, my husband and I chose a beautiful, rural mountain valley in north-central Washington state to make our home. The valley’s proximity to nature and the promise of a tight-knit community seemed like the perfect place to raise a family.

We brought with us diverse musical education and experiences. I studied violin and piano as a child and classical voice in college and had a bachelor’s degree in comparative literature. My husband had a master’s degree in classical guitar. But in a town with fewer than 1,000 residents, prospects for jobs were limited.

The music scene consisted of a local chorale that met for a few months in the fall to prepare a holiday concert, a few singer/songwriter/folk guitarists who gathered at open mics, and the elementary school music teacher, who gave a few piano lessons after school. 

At first, we took any odd jobs we could find. I cleaned rooms at a local motel and he was a host at a restaurant. But we also joined the board of the local music organization and gave concerts throughout the region at any opportunity. Slowly, our reputation as musicians spread. 

We decided to start a music school after the school district eliminated the music program. Thanks to our networking, the organization that sponsored the chorale offered to be our fiscal umbrella. We found an empty room for rent in the community center in the heart of town and put the word out that we were accepting students. 

As a guitarist who can play many styles, my husband quickly found students and filled his studio. I started teaching piano, voice, preschool music, a children’s choir, and group recorder classes. I even accepted violin students, although I was skeptical of my own ability. 

With time, our little music school started to be on people’s radar. Families were thrilled to have music education in their town.

As I took on more violin students, my husband suggested that I look into the Suzuki Method. He had learned about it when he was in college in Boulder, Colorado. 

I registered for teacher training at the Japan-Seattle Institute. From the moment I walked into Yuko Honda’s Suzuki Book 1a teacher training class in 2003, I knew this was my future. These were my people! People who loved children and music, and who thrived by sharing ideas and experience. And I witnessed the merit of the method that incorporated early ear training, parent involvement, the sequential development of technical skills, and the focus on cultivating the character of the child.  

In the years that followed, I taught myself to play viola and cello and took Suzuki teacher-training courses in all three. Workshops with Yuko Honda, Cathy Lee, Allen Lieb, Elizabeth Stuen-Walker, Priscilla Jones, and many more have been invaluable in giving me the materials, the support, and the confidence in myself to make my business grow.

I reached out to the schools where they had reinstated a band program to see if I could teach strings there. I was offered a grant by the Public School Funding Alliance, an organization of parents and community members that raises funds for enrichment programs in the schools. 

That support has continued. I have been teaching a strings program in the elementary school for almost two decades, which is where I met many of my private students. By now, over 500 children and adults have learned a string instrument through my school program and private studio.

Adults in our community who had played strings as children began to contact me about starting a community ensemble. In 1996, we launched an ensemble with four violinists. By 2000, we had a 10-piece string orchestra and, by the mid-2000s, we had 35 local musicians in a full orchestra with brass, woodwinds, and percussion! It amazes me how many musicians there are in a community as small as ours, and it is a continual source of joy for me to know that my efforts are bringing music back into the lives of all these people.

How to create a teaching studio

For those of you who want to try to teach in a small town, here are some suggestions about how to make your studio a success. Of course, these ideas are valid no matter where you live!

·      Connect with local music organizations and churches. Join their board and network. In a small town, personal connections are essential.

·      Perform often, even if it means doing it for free. In my town, there are frequent fundraisers for everything from Kiwanis to the swim team. People need to see and hear you. It’s interesting how many people behave as if they know me because they have seen me on stage. 

·      Connect with the schools and see if you can either be hired directly, or if you can offer a before-, during, or after-school program as enrichment.

·      Get to know other music teachers in the area to play with and perform.

·      Join an ensemble. There’s bound to be a band, orchestra, or choir that will welcome your input. If not, start one! 

•     Get your students performing in public as soon as possible: farmers’ markets, school events, senior centers, or just busking on the sidewalk in town.

·      Organize practice buddies within the studio, where the older, more experienced students practice with your beginners. Often, these partnerships result in more public performances where you are not even involved, but as the teacher, you still get credit for them!

·      Never say “No” to a prospective student. Truly, Every Child Can – and every adult. 

·      Be flexible with your parents. I have made many adjustments to my expectations of the parents’ roles because those same people are my doctor, grocer, ski coach, snowplow driver, etc. You want to keep good relations with your clients because word travels fast in a small town.

·      Be flexible with your tuition. Offer a sliding scale or barter for lessons. A lot of rural families don’t have supplementary income for “luxuries” like music lessons. We have traded firewood, house cleaning, carpentry, and even printer cartridges for lessons. Ask the local music organization, church, or groups like Kiwanis about offering scholarships. They have helped me find members of the community who will sponsor a child’s music lessons. 

·      Notify the local newspaper whenever you or your students are giving a public performance. Small-town newspapers love to print photos of local children doing cool stuff. This is free advertising! I have never had to pay for advertising.

·      Organize summer activities such as performances on July 4, students playing the national anthem at swim meets, and even a summer camp for your students. We started our camp with one string quartet of teenagers. The next year, we had about 18 campers on strings and guitar. The following year, people came from around the region and, in 2019, we had close to 30, with some students coming from Seattle. This past summer, due to the coronavirus restrictions, I held our camp completely outdoors in a local park, with string quartets only. Throughout the day, townspeople came to listen, eat lunch, and read. 

Most of the Suzuki teachers that I meet at institutes and workshops have their studios in cities, large or small. They might teach at a music school or in their homes, but they are part of a larger network of teachers that offers support and camaraderie. Thanks to the internet, Suzuki teachers all over the world are connected. And especially now, with coronavirus restrictions, so many workshops and continued training courses are offered online. We don’t need to be physically in the same town anymore. Just as the Suzuki Method works for everyone, I also believe that it works everywhere. 

Over the years, I have found success more than I had ever dreamed possible. I truly believe that our mission as music teachers is to bring the joy of music to everyone, whether it’s children or adults who want to learn to play or our communities who love to listen.