This is my latest thing to try - putting my music "out there" in the marketplace. Now, I'm nowhere near "signing a label contract" - nor am I interested in that. For that matter, a label wouldn't be interested in what I do anyway, so it all works out!
I've put tracks from the two tom&co albums into snocap - so anyone can purchase and download tracks from both albums.
Seasons has been available since 2003 at cdbaby. I placed Brethren - our first album from 1999 - on cdbaby in the fall of 07, but didn't want to make it available digitally because two of the tunes are covers. The amount of paperwork to keep track of when selling covers online is more trouble than its worth fro may particular project. However, using Snocap means I can pick and choose which tracks are available, which is nice.
So this is yet another experiment in using technology in music. It has the added benefit of being able to tell the tale to my music classes, and makes things interesting.
You can never tell what I'll put up in my Snocap store. As of this writing it's only tom&co stuff, but there will be different things down the road.
This might sound like a stupid entry for a blog, but I had a conversation with a piano teacher who was wondering just what use a website is for a piano teacher. After all, the reasoning went, we're teaching PIANO - not technology.
That type of thinking misses the point. Technology isn't a reason to exist, or a career, or a hobby (at least in this instance) - it is a tool. A tool primarily for communication.
So here are some (admittedly quick and off-the-top-of-my-head) benefits of a website for a piano teacher:
Marketing - use it as an online brochure. "Hey, I exist, and I teach piano in (your locale here)." You do have to do some search engine stuff - or you can pay an outfit to do that for you (I wouldn't).... or you can just put it on your business card. The card acts as an intro, and then the site gives more detailed information.
Studio policies - put your studio policies online (mine are here. They aren't very formal, but they are functional.)
Take payments for piano lessons online - using Paypal. It's decently inexpensive, and CAN make it easier for your parents. Yes, there's a charge (the expense runs about 3% - but that's tax deductible if your are running your studio like a business.) See my payment page here for an example.
Sniff out cool online music training sites and share them with your students - ear-training, music quizzes, etc. are ALL available online.
Share music with your students. I have a version of Chopsticks I use that does NOT use standard notation. It's great for new kids who don't read yet.
Here is a slideshow featuring pix and music from the Joey Stuckey band trip to the Boston area to perform on Emerging Artist TV. It was a lot of fun to do - the EA guys are a good group./
This is a performance of "I Surrender All" that I did at Vineville North in July, 2007. This was a jazz improv version - inspired by the thought that this traditional church tune sounds kinda mournful - but the idea of surrendering to Someone who is perfect is pretty cool, and should be cause for celebration!
Now that it has been a couple of months, what have I learned? What would I do differently?
1) This was definitely worth the time involved. not so much from a monetary viewpoint, but from a PR (the parents really appreciated it) and from a "cool" aspect (the kids thought it was cool I knew how to do this. Greater cool factor = greater opportunity to teach them)
2) It really brought home the fact that having equipment does no good by itself. You have to take the time to learn how to use it. I had all this stuff (that I use for other purposes), yet it took some thinking to figure out how to make the CD happen.
3) There are easier ways to accomplish this same thing. There are direct - to - CD recording decks out there (or even the Alesis Masterlink). In that case you can record the performance straight to a CD, and even hand the student the CD right there. It's the CD equivalent of sticking the cassette recorder in front of the piano and pressing "Record". You could even get a set of preprinted blank CDs (Diskmakers sells them) that have your studio's logo on them with room to write the student's name on them.
You lose the ability to edit, though.
I'd love to hear from other teachers who have attempted this same thing.
