Hello! My name is Amber and I am a private music teacher in the South West Florida area. I am originally from New York, no, not the city, but upstate in the Adirondacks. I went to school in the Capital Region at the College of Saint Rose getting my BS in Music Education and Music Industry with a minor in Psychology and Special Ed. I then actually stayed at Saint Rose and Continued to get my Master’s of Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis in, yep, music. The schooling was intense especially in the performing department, although we were being groomed to sit in a classroom in a circle with plastic instruments and sing some songs, or to conduct concert band, orchestra, choir… you get the idea. I am grateful for that aspect as it helped me grow into a great musician and teacher as well. I learned most of my teaching skills out in the field and continue to learn today. I did leave NY schools and decided to venture off on my own, but thats a story for another blog.
I am now working running my own business and working to grow it. My current business right now is Music with Amber LLC. I opened this business thinking I will just do this short term while I look for a school teaching job… to be honest, I never even looked. Not seriously anyways. I got my first student one month after opening for business, aka a small corner of the living room. The shortly after a family with three kids signed up. After that i steadily got students and taught individual lessons. As I taught, I learned. I learned what works, what doesn’t, how to solve issues and help every kid learn in their own way. When I saw how much better I am at individual teaching, i decided… to hell with schools, I can do better work here. I just need to put myself out there.
4 years later, I am here having taught over 200 students of all ages, instruments and voices. Its time for me to give back to people who are too busy or have too much homework to come in for a lesson or are just not local.
Here you’ve found the short version of my story, subscribe so you don’t miss out on the much more interesting stories to come and the weird things people and kids say in lessons. Next up, will be why I left NY schools and will never look back.
