Keep the country happy play guitar
At the RGT conference recently I was talking to a number of
teachers and the question that seemed to keep coming up was how much work
everyone had and to everyone’s surprise the pupil numbers had actually gone up
for most which considering the economic climate was not what you would expected.
I had written about this a while ago after having a
discussion with someone high up in a teaching organisation who was of the
opinion that we were going to hell in a hand cart and my point was that even in
the war people were learning musical instruments and therefore there is
something else happening inspiring the public to learn.
There is often a self-fulfilling prophecy at work when the
economy is ‘talked down’ by the experts and, as a friend of mine calls them
‘sheeple’, follow the instructions to the letter. However some arrive at the
point of thinking ‘what the hell I want to do something interesting like learn
an instrument’ and therefore problem times can throw up anomalies in human
behaviour some of which are very positive for music teachers.
The more we focus on the positive outcome the more chance it
has to manifest because you begin to notice opportunity around you that is how
the mind is wired; to see things that match and confirm your thoughts.
In NLP there is a term for people who do the opposite to the
expected reaction, the term ‘polarity responder’ would apply to the character
who will change direction simply to be different from the crowd. These people
are good for rock guitar because ALL of the early guitar greats where polarity
responders because the guitar was the instrument for the social subversive and
even though there is an abundance of college courses it is still looked upon as
socially different to be a working musician.
So the best advice for you in these times if the numbers are
not stable or going up look at how you can attract new customers by offering
group lessons and get them involved having fun playing. Focus on the enjoyment aspect
of playing an instrument and make customers feel good about themselves. As there
is scant little about to make anyone full of cheer making your music happiness enhancing
will create a good USP for the business whether you are teaching or playing
gigs.
Vic
