| A Personal Note... A Creation Story
The story I'm about to tell you is as much a story about a
personal journey as it is about this business. When I first came
here, my semi-formed plan was to teach public school (partly because
I knew they got summers off, compose and perform music. I began
here as an instructor in 1979 while I was still attending the university.
My private guitar instructor at school got a notice about an opening
at what was then called Yamaha Music School of Alameda and encouraged
me to apply. I'd had some teaching experience in the public schools
as an instructional aide but had never actually taught music professionally.
My instructor thought I would be great at it and that was enough
to get me to apply. Before I applying for the job I put together
a "system" for teaching and made my presentation to the
then owners. My system was on paper only as I'd never actually tried
it out but they must have been impressed because within a few days
they called me and told me I got the job. I started with only a
few students, but within a year I was teaching pretty much full
time along with my studies.
In 1981 I received some shocking news from a friend of mine.
He was a real estate agent and told me that Yamaha Music School
was listed as up for sale. I went to the owners - Pat and Roni -
to find out what was going on. They told me that they had financial
difficulties and hated working together. They just couldn't make
it work and wanted out. Roni suggested I buy the business. After
a lot of discussion, thought and encouragement from Roni and my
father, I decided to use this as an opportunity to get some real
life experience before going back to school. I thought at the time
that I would give it 3 years.
Getting down to business
During the first year I began to discover what was really going
on. They had actually been losing money consistently. After making
some changes in 1983 I decided to open up the retail side of the
business to help supplement the school which was still losing money.
It started slowly with items customers were requesting and rentals.
I also went back to college to study business - accounting, marketing,
etc.
After getting the basics I enrolled in a private business development
program offered by the Michael Thomas Corporation. This combined
education and system development which is the foundation for many
of our marketing and management systems today. Both the lessons
and retail continued to expand throughout this period and I obtained
some valuable dealerships, among them Peavey, which is considered
one of the most sought after dealerships by music retailers. The
name of the business was changed to Starland Music Center at this
time to better account for the variety of products that we offered.
In 1986, a little over 10 years ago, both myself and Starland went
through and a significant transition precipitated by the dissolution
of my marriage partnership. At this time the business was put up
for sale and all business growth was put on hold. This period of
about 3 years, which felt like kind of a limbo for me, was a time
for me to look within and think about what was really important.
Up to this time I had not really committed myself to being in business
and wasn't sure that's what I wanted to do. In fact, I enrolled
back in college to prepare myself for when the business sold.
What's really important here?
I thought about what my goals and values really were and what meaningful
employment meant to me. During this time I realized, after much
soul searching, that I didn't want to commit to being in business
unless I felt that the business could be a life enhancing experience
for whoever was involved. This experience would need to include
the customers and all those that worked in the business including
myself. I would be willing to commit to creating an organization
that would help people express themselves through music and through
this process become happier and more fulfilled people. I would also
be willing to commit to working with a group of people that was
committed to studying, practicing and creating music themselves.
People that would be willing to teach music in a loving and self-esteem
building fashion using the best methods currently known. People
that valued working together and creating together an atmosphere
that would empower all of us to continue to grow in the direction
of being fulfilled and expressive human beings.
Following my heart
And so that's what I did. In 1989 I bought out my partner and began
to create a new business based on specific principles starting with
a mission statement. As I began to share this vision I found some
people very much interested in being a part of this and others went
in other directions. We've developed a Guitar and Bass teaching
system based on these principles and now have trained instructors
using this system. We currently teach approximately 350 students,
ranging in ages from 4 through 74. We offer a variety of lessons
including the Yamaha Educational System for young children ages
4 to 6, the Starland Guitar and Bass Systems and private lessons
in piano, keyboard, voice, and most band instruments. It's been
a long and not always easy process but we currently have a staff
of hard working, disciplined and dedicated professionals that take
pride in being the best at what we do.
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