What I do has value

I just read this article http://esswellness.com/news/newsitem.aspx?newsid=868&newsitemid=4615
and was impressed by how easily I could substitute my teaching every time he refers to healing. For starters, although the primary goals of voice lessons is not healing, I think anyone that really invests themselves in the art eventually finds healing.

The author, Timothy Cope, addresses several issues that people making their livings as healers have to deal with. He talks about how difficult it is to find that perfect rate for our services where we are not asking too much and exploiting our clients, or asking too little and exploiting ourselves. This is tricky. In some ways I am glad that the school sets my fees. Since the students at school are the majority of my students, I just charge my non-school students the same amount. Based on my education and experience, I would be comfortable charging more, but I don't need to. What does get tricky though is every few years when I approach the vocal music staff about raising our rates. I understand that we want to keep things affordable, but the parents and the salaried staff need to understand that we don't get a cost of living increase each year. The good news is, I think our rates are fine for at least a couple more years. Now I just need to make sure I have enough students.

Which brings me to one of Cope's other points. We are dependent on our clients (or students). We need them so we can pay the rent. I love this sentence, or maybe hate it, or perhaps it just scares me because it is true: "Further thoughts, barely audible to our own awareness, may whisper suggestions on how to encourage our clients coming back, perhaps not so much because it is in their best interests, but because it seems to be in ours."

As a young teacher with a ton of debt, every student that wanted to change teachers or take a break was not just a blow to my ego, but a severe stress on my financial situation as well. On the outside, I think I handled things quite professionally, but on the inside I was desperately trying to come up with ways to make it work for them to keep taking lessons, even when I knew that staying with me was not in their best interest or in mine in any way other than financially.

I'm proud to report that I'm growing up. I think I am better able to help students make the decision that is best for them. Here us an example. I have a young student that is also a dancer. This fall, she will be doing dance team at school, studio dance, and her choir at church which basically means that Monday through Friday she will be on the go from 7am to 9pm. Her mother emailed to ask if she could take a break from lessons until dance team is over in a couple of months. My brain first thought of how much money I would lose if she took 2 months off. Then the smarter, more mature, more caring teacher took over (thank goodness). If I say no and insist that she continue studying, I will be adding incredible stress to a young student's life. If she is stressed out and sleep deprived, she will not sing well. It is in her best interest to take this break. What I can do is make these next few lessons the kind of experience that makes her want to come back. I can also give her some little things she can do during the break to help maintain the skills she has already developed. I made a choice based on what is best for her, and I know in the long run, that it will also be the best choice for me.

Cope also talks about sacred exchange saying, "vendor and healer, client and customer, are all sacred beings and what passes between them is sacred too". I truly view my "job" not just as a way to make money, but my true calling, what I was brought here to do. Though we don't often discuss religion, or even things of a spiritual nature in lessons, I believe that what I do is sacred. Singing is so very personal and vulnerable, that if I fail to see to true worth of that person standing in front of me, I cannot truly be the teacher they need. Seeing my part of the exchange as sacred is not new to me. Seeing that check I receive as sacred is a new idea that I think I like.

Finally, Cope has this to say about our businesses, "Perhaps we need to devote as much time to understanding the subtleties and complexities of business as we do our healing disiplines and modalities". I've spent a lot of time and an obscene amount of money this year attending conferences and learning more about the voice and teaching singing. What would my business be like if I invested the same time, money, and energy in learning about business? Personally, I would just like to show up in the studio and teach and have someone else deal with all the other stuff. But that won't be a reality anytime soon, so I need to find ways to make this sacred service that I give also be a profitable business.

-- Posted from my iPhone