In case you haven’t seen the news on other social media, I have my first student! Interestingly, she’s not a guitar student, but rather a young woman who seems very intent on learning the ukulele.
Now as you may know from previous posts (I don’t recall how much I’ve gone into this), my current living situation really isn’t a good set-up for teaching. My room is a bedroom as well as a living space, so that obviously won’t work; the only common space that would work would inevitably encroach on one of my friends who does a lot of work from home. So for the purposes of Portland Craigslist, I’m a guitar & uke teacher “to go!” I travel to them.
Obviously, this presents challenges, but I think I can make it work. I have limited my travel range to the inner southeast & northeast quadrants of Portland (tho my current student actually lives in Milwaukie—essentially indistinguishable from the Southeast, but still a bit of a haul.) I had to turn a student down yesterday because he lived in a far southwestern suburb: Tri-Met, the local transit authority, estimated a 78 minute trip to a central location in that suburb (this is not door to door, mind you), so given a 40 minute lesson, it would be about a 4-hour round trip: not doable! But I thanked him for his interest, wished him the best, & felt good that I’d received yet another response.
I’ve also been putting posters up around the Southeast, & this has been an interesting exercise. On the positive side, it’s given me an opportunity to explore quite a bit more; on the less positive side, I can report to you that the physical bulletin board is on the verge of extinction, at least here in Portland. Only a handful of supermarkets & coffee shops seem to display them anymore. So, I’m headed to the Northeast area today with a handful (a small handful!) of remaining posters, & I’m calling this the last hurrah of poster distribution, as these outings tend to take quite a bit of time & I’m questioning the ultimate “bang for the buck” as it were.
For your listening pleasure, I’m including a song I wrote & performed on my Beltona resonator tenor uke back in 06. Eberle & I were commissioned to write a soundtrack for a dramatic production of Carl Sandburg’s wonderful, wonderful Rootabaga Stories, & this song was for the character “Blixie Bimber." If you’ve never read the Rootabaga Stories, I give them a high & heartfelt recommendation!
Hope you enjoy the music & your Thursday!
I don't suppose Tri-Met have any buses that go as far as Yorkshire. Pity as if anyone could teach me to play a musical instrument, I suspect it would be you. Good luck with the teaching my friend.
ReplyDeleteHi Alan: What a nice thing to say! Thank you. I wish that Tri-Met ran to Yorkshire too! Thanks again.
ReplyDeletealways good to hear how you're doing honey. good luck with everything!
ReplyDeleteHi Mar: Thanks for your good wishes! Always happy to have you swing by :)
ReplyDeleteI like how in the photo my eye was drawn to where I would expect to see the top of a guitar case, and at first glance I didn't notice the ukulele.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that word is spreading about your teaching.