Today we’d like to introduce you to Molly Lehr.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Molly. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I never wanted to teach. I didn’t seek out formal training and I tried to stay away from jobs that could land me in the “those who can’t do, teach” category.
Out of desperation, I landed in a PreK-8 general music teaching job in 2012. I thought for sure it would be a temporary gig until I could meet people and get my “real music career” off the ground.
I’m still shocked by the fact that I love teaching. Of course, I had no idea what I was doing and proverbially fell on my face a thousand times. Still do. But I find teaching to be the natural counterpart to the artist side of my music identity. My teaching partner at the studio, Anna, put it this way: teaching music is sharing music, just on a different stage. Apart from what it gives to me, I’m not sure there’s anything quite as fulfilling as watching what music gives my students. It’s magic.
A small art gallery space became available and I decided to open a private teaching studio called “Red Cloud Studio” in the summer of 2016.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I could write a novel of everything I didn’t know about how to run a business. Just because I had a good service to provide and loved my work didn’t mean I could successfully run a company. But something inside told me to keep putting one foot in front of the other and the rest would become clear.
Personally, this experience humbled me more than I ever realized something could. I opened Red Cloud Studio on the heels of the most trying year of my life and there were many moments that I was paralyzed by loneliness, fear, and depression. I worked alone for almost a year. And I think that was the hardest part of this whole thing. Having to shoulder the responsibility all by myself really got to me. No matter how realistic my expectations were, I didn’t know it was going to be this hard.
There were days when all I could do was show up to teach. I hoped my students couldn’t tell how exhausted I was or how many boxes of Kleenex I went through that morning. But music saved the day, like it always does, and proved that this work and this studio is important. Watching my students go through the process of learning to play and sing didn’t just distract me, it elevated me. I was lifted up out of the dark feelings and experienced a more profound sense of peace somehow.
I wasn’t the only one who felt like this. One of my adult voice students commented after a breakthrough lesson, “this isn’t a voice lesson, this is a self-acceptance lesson!” The mother of one of my junior high students sent me an email with of smile emojis explaining that that his grades, behavior, and mood had changed since he started lessons. Her jaw was to the floor after his first performance and she said, “He’s driven in a way we’ve not seen him before.”
Come on! That is so good.
I’m collecting a heap of stories like this and it’s helping to cut away the extra distractions of starting a business and clarify the core reason for Red Cloud Studio to exist.
Please tell us about Red Cloud Studio.
Here’s the point: learning to play or sing makes you better! Music improves everything from mood to social skills to test scores. Red Cloud Studio serves as the headquarters where we equip students with all the tools they need so they can go back out into an otherwise busy and disconnected world more confident and joyful than when they walked in.
There are lots of things happening at our growing studio, but I’m going to give you three of my favorites:
1. Private voice and piano lessons top the list of Red Cloud Studio’s most-loved classes. From age 4 to 80, each unique student is met right where they are and given a plan that allows them to win. You should see parent’s faces at the recitals like “my kid can do that?!”
2. Sing School is our group singing class for students in 1st – 8th grade to let ‘er rip. The best part of this class (other than being blown away by the power of young voices) is watching how close these groups get and how much they trust each other by the end of the class.
3. The newest big thing is Red Cloud Summer Camp! We are hosting a week-long songwriting camp in August where students ages 8-14 will write an original song and make a music video. Watch out, this one’s going to be incredible.
Oh, I have a 4th. Be on the lookout this fall. We’re launching some adult keyboarding nights. We’ll get together, have a drink, and learn how to play [insert favorite pop song here].
Contact Info:
- Address: 2506 N California Ave
- Website: www.redcloudchicago.com
- Phone: 5152403349
- Email: molly@redcloudchicago.com
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