MUSIC FEATURE THE BOLD AND THE VIRTUAL Local company keeps the music alive online
Pg. 12 JUNE 3 - JUNE 16, 2020 - QCNERVE.COM
BY PAT MORAN
In the opening of a Facebook video for Junior Jammers, a virtual preschool music program conducted via Zoom, Bold Music Lessons instructor Tracey Bengough strums a ukulele and encourages the class to warm up their voices. Fellow teacher Catherine Sentigar joins in as the children prepare to sing solo verses of “Let It Go,” the break-out hit from Disney’s 2013 animated feature Frozen. A little blondhaired boy holds a maraca like a microphone as he sings: “Let it go, let it go Can’t hold it back anymore” A brown-haired girl repeats the chorus. Despite sporting a wide smile, the next little girl freezes and can’t get the words out. The teacher assures her that it’s okay. “It’s very brave to do a solo,” Bengough says. A free virtual class held every Thursday at 11 a.m., Junior Jammers is designed to jump-start each student’s musical journey at an early age, introducing children to age-appropriate skills that they will benefit from throughout lives, according to Bold Music Lessons’ website. It’s just one of several programs -- including open mics, gig nights, summer camps and home collaborations -- offered by the music instruction company Dean Williams and George Ramsay launched in 2013. The two were both Davidson College students giving lessons at a local music store. Both had notes on how the business could run better. Namely, they agreed on the notion that a music school doesn’t need a physical space; teachers could go to people’s houses to give lessons. “The main idea was to bring convenience to people rather than have another thing to drive yourself or your kid to,” Ramsay says, adding that the idea is far from revolutionary. What is innovative is Bold Music Lessons’ total commitment to the idea, he feels. Although the music academy without a campus has recently pivoted from in-home lessons to virtual sessions in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Bold
Music Lessons’ focus has not changed, says Ramsay, a 29-year-old guitarist, bassist, cellist and classically trained pianist who majored in music at Davidson College. “Everything that we do, even after going virtual for the time being, is very hands-on [and] high-touch,” he offers. “[Classes] are equal parts learning music and expressing your creativity with your teacher.” In a community living in the shadow of the novel coronavirus, Ramsay sees the company as providing a service for both clients and instructors. With most gigs gone, Bold Music Lessons is one of the few lifelines offered to Charlottearea musicians. Ramsay hopes to provide a memorable experience for instructors as well as their students. It’s interesting work, and high-paying too, he maintains. “Compared to other teaching studios, our pay rate is significantly higher -- often double -- for our teachers,” Ramsay says. “Paying our staff as much as we possibly can has always been a priority, and our entire business model has been set up to achieve this.” Ramsay estimates that the company’s clientele is 80% kids and 20% adults. Prior to the pandemic and the resulting stay-at-home orders, teachers traveled to their students’ homes. The one-on-one aspect of the lessons has been a big draw for musicians like Payton Harkins, a University of North Carolina School of the Arts Winston-Salem graduate who teaches guitar, piano and bass for the company. “It’s the thing that makes them different from competitors,” Harkins asserts. “[In-home lessons] are more personal. They attract a more dedicated student who practices more regularly, [and] who takes more lessons for a longer period of time.” Instructor Matthew Johnson graduated from Winthrop University with a degree in guitar performance. He was drawn to Bold Music Lessons because of the company’s empathy for their teachers. As a musician, Ramsay gets other musicians, Johnson believes.
“They really seem to be for the teachers and George is such an easy guy to work with,” Johnson offers. “He’s 100% got our backs.” For their part, Bold Music Lessons has applied painstaking criteria to acquiring teachers. “There’s not one background we’re looking for in a teacher, because every student learns differently and every musician has come into their own and become an expert in a different way,” Ramsay says. While
GEORGE RAMSAY POSES WITH A STUDENT.
instructors like Harkins hold impressive degrees, other teachers are seasoned pros with no technical education, just experience as players who started gigging fresh out of high school and have gone on to tour and score record deals. The ability to teach and connect with students is just as important as mastery of an instrument, Ramsay adds. On the other side of the equation, prospective students are interviewed to determine the best way they learn, their level of experience and their musical interests.
“[We provide] a matchmaking service for musicians and students,” Ramsay maintains. “It’s definitely not something like Uber where you just sign up on an app.” The result has been a diverse roster of music instructors with a broad array of specialties and experience, ranging from jazz- and lullaby-inflected singer songwriter Emily Sage to classically trained Colombian pianist and singer Andres David Cruz Gomez. Providing quality instruction for students and plenty of work for musicians has paid off. The song the Junior Jammers sang could just as well have been titled “Let It Grow.” In Charlotte, Bold Music Lessons boasts a roster of 25 teachers serving 350 students. Last March, the company expanded, adding a Raleigh branch that has signed up five teachers. Unfortunately, the expansion came right on the cusp of North Carolina’s shut down. While a Raleigh branch is still on the company’s radar, opening in the state’s capital city has been placed on the back burner. Other than that, Bold Music Lessons’ transition to a music market still under quarantine has been remarkably smooth. “It was simply luck,” Ramsay says. Prior to the COVID-induced shut-down, business was booming, he recalls. Instructors were getting all the clients they could handle and more says instructor Jason Jones, who performs and records as R&B artist Jason Jet. “At one point they were able to get me up to 25 clients at one time,” he says. But a generous number of students also meant a great deal of driving, with Jones hitting the road to meet with people in Matthews, Waxhaw and beyond. Though Jones decided to scale back on his course load to devote more time to working on a studio he’s planning to open this summer, he still maintains a roster of virtual students — a mix of his own longtime clients and those he connects with through Bold Music Lessons. Johnson’s clientele was also in the double digits. “I had 21 students,” Johnson remembers. “It was pretty full, especially because I had to drive to their
