Beginner Music Lessons | What to Expect at a $1 Lesson
This content was created for Curtis Music Academy
Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Curtis Music Academy podcast. I hope you’re all having a wonderful day. Today I wanted to dive a little deeper into what goes on during a $1 beginner music lessons here at Curtis Music Academy. It’s something we talk about a lot, just because we think it’s a great opportunity for a musician to come in and see what the Curtis Music Academy is all about, and the baseline of what to expect from lessons moving forward. We make it just $1 so there is no sort of commitment or major investment on the part of the potential student. If they absolutely hate their lesson, they are not required to ever set foot near our building again.
Of course, I say this sarcastically, at the conclusion of their $1 beginner music lesson most students are incredibly excited to continue on their musical journey with us. There are a couple of reasons we as a company offer the $1 lessons. First of all, we truly do want to invest in each and every musician we have the opportunity to encounter, whether or not they choose to continue taking lessons from us. In that thirty minute lesson, if nothing else, we hope to help that person become a better musician and put them in a place to better progress in their musical journey. Additionally, we want the student (and their parents) to have an opportunity to see if Curtis Music Academy is the right fit for them.
Ideally, we would be able to provide for the exact needs and wants of each student. But realistically this isn’t the case, and in those few instances where it isn’t, we don’t want to have trapped a student in a contract or a large payment for beginner music lessons they ultimately are not even enjoying. We want each student to absolutely love their lessons and Curtis Music Academy, we don’t want to be making them miserable. Plus, if they are forced to take lessons they hate, this could greatly dampen their desire to further pursue their instrument at all, which we definitely do not want to cause ever.
Plus, that first initial lesson also helps us as an academy feel out where a student is at and what they may need moving forward to be as successful as possible. Perhaps they are more or less advanced than the form they filled out to take their first beginner music lessons indicated and they need to have a different set of materials to work with. Maybe the student’s particular learning style would be better suited to a different instructor. Maybe the student needs their lessons to be a different length than the standard thirty-minute block.
Now I’m going to speak a bit about what to expect on your first lesson at Curtis Music Academy, hopefully to alleviate some worries or concerns you may have going to an unknown studio. We are located in Tulsa right next to Cherry Street and a couple of blocks from Riverside. Our studio is actually an old house from the early twentieth century that has been renovated to suit our needs. The driveway leads to a parking lot at the back of the building, and that is where we prefer our students to park whenever possible.
There is a side door used by staff and a few other people, but for your first beginner music lessons, there will be someone waiting to greet you at the front door, up the front steps and past the big open front porch (which is one of my favorite areas of the studio, it’s so nice to be out on when it’s warm and sunny). You will now be in our lobby where you will be greeted by either Ron Curtis himself, your instructor, or our administrative assistant (during this time of the COVID-19 outbreak they will give you hand sanitizer upon your entry). You will then be shown to one of our several studio spaces, depending on what type of lessons you have come to Curtis Music Academy for.
Your instructor will start off the lesson with getting to know you, your musical experience, and your individual goals a bit better. This is a very important step because we make an individual, personalized plan for each of our students depending on where they are starting and where they want to go with their instrument(s). That is another reason we offer the $1 beginner music lessons; it helps us to better prepare a plan for our new students before they begin their weekly lesson schedule. Based on what your instructor and you talk about for that first few minutes, they will then have some warm ups, exercises, and if you are a more advanced student, some pieces for you to work on during the lesson, and they will help you through all of these, making corrections and suggestions as you go.
All of our instructors are wonderful and are good at offering feedback without being overly harsh or critical. We want our students to both learn and enjoy learning, and if they are living in fear of the reprimands of their instructor, they are accomplishing neither of those things. Once your allotted time for your beginner music lessons is drawing to a close, your instructor will recap what you learned and worked on, and will give you some materials to take home to practice (that’s another great thing about Curtis Music Academy, there is never an additional charge for any of the books or sheet music you will use).
After that, either Ron or the administrative assistant will take over and discuss how your lesson went, your thoughts on your instructor, Curtis Music Academy, and where you see yourself going with our instruction. We will then take the time to find a schedule slot that works for you (many of our students stay with the time they booked their $1 for because it is a free time in their schedule, but some students do want to change their time). After this we will just talk a bit more about Curtis Music Academy and your individual musical goals and beginner music lessons, and then you will be walked to the door and free to go about your day!