Today we’d like to introduce you to Laura Bush.
Laura, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I started singing as soon as I could talk. I always dreamed of playing the piano. I used to push a chair against the ledge at the bottom of the picture window in my family’s living room and pretended to play the “piano”. My parents didn’t have a lot of money and didn’t want to invest in musical instruments only to have us lose interest. Eventually my cousin said to my dad, “Would you buy her a piano already!!” I started lessons in high school and have never stopped playing. My piano professor in college urged me to start teaching piano lessons at a music store. I was hesitant and felt that since I started late – then maybe I wasn’t good enough to teach. I listened to her advice and started teaching neighbors of my best friend – a mom and her 2 sons. I discovered I had an aptitude for teaching and fell in love with sharing my knowledge and passion for music. I have been teaching both piano and voice since then.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Teaching music lessons full-time has its challenges. Students come and go and you must build up your student base enough to handle the fluctuations in the amount of students you have at any given time. Also, the location of where you are going to house your lessons is also an issue. Ideally the perfect situation is to teach from your own home – you have control of your teaching environment without paying rent. I am not able to have my lessons out of where I live because I live in a condo – you cannot run a business from your unit. It is not always easy to find an affordable place to rent. Traveling to student’s homes for lessons has its own set of issues – I have been attacked by large dogs, had interference from siblings, strong disagreeable cooking smells, too much noise from TVs or talking. Also, you must charge more for going to student’s homes because you lose the lesson time before and after a lesson due to the driving time. I like to find a “win-win” situation such as renting space from a church – they need money and I can have a place to teach at an affordable price.
Please tell us about Laura’s Music Lessons.
I teach private applied piano and voice lessons. I am known for being able to use a variety of teaching techniques to allow for the different learning styles of my students.
My students actually learn to read music and their playing and ability to read music improves. I have acquired new piano students that have come from other teachers with 16 years of lessons, or 11 years of lessons – they still cannot read music. My students learn something every lesson and they improve. In my mind, the goal of piano lessons is to be able to read music – to be able to get a piece of music they like and to be able to play it or know how to practice it to be able to play it well.
I am set apart from the other piano teachers in my area because I am able to advance an intermediate or higher-level student. I remember when I was trying to find a teacher that could help me advance – I had to travel downtown, pay the cost of a known teacher, while dealing with the time involved traveling and trying to find a parking space. I always say to my prospective students that they will receive downtown quality instruction at an affordable suburban price.
I prepare my vocal students for competitions or college entrance musical theater auditions or for a musical at their school. My students learn and practice breathing and vocal exercises to help them improve their sound. I have great knowledge and understanding of the mechanics of producing correct vocal sound and am aware that the voice is a delicate instrument that can be damaged.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
No, I can’t say that I would do anything differently. Over time you learn the pros and cons of your business and after research and trial and error, you learn how you can improve things for yourself and your students. In order to keep growing, you must continue to strive to improve and make changes.
Pricing:
- The lessons are $23.00 per half hour lesson and $46.00 per hour lesson for both piano and voice lessons.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.musiclessonswithlaura.com
- Phone: (708) 687-9337
- Email: lbush26@hotmail.com
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