Short REVIEW
I…read moreaccidentally took lessons from 3 different instructors at Guitar Center (GC), which is the educational equivalent of testing the same restaurant by ordering three different entrées. Surprisingly, they were all good. Even more surprising, I discovered that the GC Lessons department is more interested in helping someone become a musician than reminding everyone they are already one. Apparently, those places still exist.
EPIC REVIEW:
I've now taken lessons with three different instructors at Guitar Center (GC) in Oklahoma City (OKC). The changes in instructors were simply due to scheduling conflicts on my end. And although I haven't studied with every instructor there, I have, as I said, spent time with THREE different teachers! Therefore, I find myself inadvertently well qualified to observe and comment on the music department as a whole.
To start with, the music department is all men.
Stay with me...
Ordinarily, I would have to brace myself for an unnecessary display of peacocking.
In fact, history has shown that whenever enough men gather in one place, a spirited competition to determine who possesses the greatest expertise has an uncanny habit of appearing, usually accompanied by the occasional performance of confidence disguised as wisdom.
Keep staying with me... I do have a point....
I also think it's fair to say that male-dominated workplaces can sometimes become boys' clubs. On more than one occasion, I've found those same places resemble mean girls' clubs--only with deeper voices.
But not GC!!!!!!
These young men are refreshingly uninterested in proving who is the cleverest person in the room. The atmosphere is one of encouragement rather than one of comparison.
I also found something increasingly uncommon among the instructors at GC......gentlemen.
Not the Victorian kind who faint if they see an ankle.
I mean the rare modern kind who are patient, kind, respectful, and somehow manage to teach without making you feel like you've just failed at being a human.
GC's instructors don't just understand music. They understand that brains don't all arrive from the factory with the same operating manual.
One thing I think you should know is that I process slow. When I mean slow I mean like a sloth who took an edible slow. Some lessons require a second explanation. Others a third. Sometimes we go over it so much that I fear my instructors might feel I've trapped them in a time loop. Like it's Groundhog Day all over again.
A lesser teacher might mistake my slow processing for inability.
Mine never have.
If one explanation doesn't work, they simply try another. They don't rush me. They don't judge me. They simply keep teaching until something clicks.
Which sounds obvious.
It isn't.
GC has quality musicians who absolutely can teach. I only say that because a lot of musicians can play, but that doesn't mean they can teach, or they can teach, but that doesn't mean they can reach.
These instructors are gifted with all three.
Now to make a long review even longer, I want to leave you with one final observation.
The older I get, the more convinced I become that culture is often a reflection of leadership.
Jason, the GC Lessons manager, seems to have created an environment where kindness and professionalism aren't special occasions, they're just Tuesdays.
An accident? I think not. A rarity, absolutely.
I also want to mention that there is a Guitar Center much closer to where I live.
I don't go there.
Instead, I willingly drive over the hills and through the woods to get to my teachers because I know that when I arrive I'll learn something, laugh at least once, and leave a little better than when I walked in.
Oh, let me not forget to tell you that there are also quarterly recitals! It's one thing to practice in a room by yourself. It's another to stand up, play in front of people, and discover that courage is apparently a learnable skill. The best part is that they are included in your monthly fee.
In closing, I simply want to say that I feel honored to have learned--and to continue learning--from these instructors.
I'm not entirely sure what I did to deserve this quality of instruction or the quality of human beings, but I'm most certainly grateful.
More importantly, I hope everyone looking for a place to learn music finds teachers who make them feel the way my instructors have made me feel.
So thank you to my three instructors--Joe, Tim, and Keegan--and, last but certainly not least, to Jason, whose leadership seems to echo throughout the entire department.
