Back to Academia!
Five years ago, I posted, “Why I’m taking a break from academia to open Musicologie Lewis Center.” Within that post, I dropped many truth-bombs about the landscape of the harsh realities many face teaching within the academy as adjunct faculty. Low pay, tremendous amounts of work compared to their full-time counterparts, and less than ideal working conditions plague many who teach on a year-to-year contract as adjunct faculty. I know, because I’ve lived those truths, partially.
After opening the Lewis Center location of Musicologie, we were on an upward trajectory to quickly grow into one of the largest music schools in the area. That was June of 2019. We hosted a grand opening in September of 2019, and were growing exponentially. Six months later, the pandemic hit. In quite literally two days I saw our enrollment numbers plummet as parents and adult students alike were withdrawing due to the uncertainties of the pandemic. If you’re reading this, you know just how devastating COVID-19 was on the global economy, and like myself, are likely still feeling its effects.
During the summer of 2021, an opportunity was presented to me, “I’d love to learn more about you and potentially bring you on to teach at OHIO University.” After speaking with my best friend and partner of nearly ten years at the time, and successfully making the cut, I joined the adjunct faculty at OU teaching musical theater voice to a student roster of twenty 1st, 2nd, and 3rd year students. Operating the studio in Lewis Center was a breeze, as things significantly slowed down, and I had assembled a teaching staff that were capable of operating autonomously.
Over the next year I was privileged to work with a new caliber of students – people who would eventually go out in the world and join me as colleagues within the performance sector. I was hooked.
After the first year, I was approached by the full-time voice faculty to take on additional responsibilities, and what was initially only meant to be a part-time position quickly became nearly thirty hours of teaching a week. I taught over 40 applied students per semester, became a faculty advisor for an acapella group on campus, became the professor of lyric diction, started teaching commercial and classical voice majors, taught an independent study and the first year voice seminar class, and even performed a cabaret and hour-long faculty voice recital.
Early in the Autumn semester, I made the very tough decision to give up my responsibilities at the studio I had worked tirelessly for three years to build, and turned it back over to Musicologie. I still taught there on weekends and whenever I could, doing whatever I could to continue to support the teaching staff I’d hired. Over time, as my students graduated and moved on to doing other things with their lives, I came to the decision to also make my departure as well to focus on my own recruitment efforts for our program at OHIO University.
My first year at OU, I had a fairly small office with a brand new upright Yamaha console piano and a window! I quickly beautified it (those who know me know that I do my best work in spaces that reflect my style and creativity) and after my first year, was offered to take over a significantly larger studio space on the third floor (which I also updated with the help of my partner and students). The faculty worked tirelessly to advocate for a full-time position to support our ever-growing commercial and musical theater voice programs, and after a national search (and losing nearly ten pounds worrying over whether I would win the position over a three-month period), I was successfully offered the position of Assistant Professor of Instruction in Voice & Lyric Diction.
Now entering the third week of my third year, now full-time, at OHIO, I’m reminded just how fortunate I am to do the work I get to do on a daily basis. I concentrate my efforts on a studio of twenty voice students, still teach diction, as well as serve as a faculty fellow. While I have many more responsibilities, things are much more manageable.
Academia isn’t perfect. It just isn’t. But OHIO gets a lot of things right. I’m genuinely grateful to teach at an institution where I have colleagues who all trust and respect one another’s teaching, who, despite my being the youngest member in the room most of the time, respect what I bring to the table.
I do sometimes miss owning/operating a studio. I miss seeing the joy in children’s faces as they excitedly leave their lessons, gleaming with pride to show their guardians what they accomplished during their time with their teacher. I miss seeing young educators grow in their craft. I miss holding studio events, decorating and leaving treats for those who lent their talents to help build a dream. But, in the words of Meg in Mark Adamo’s Little Women, “Things change, Jo..”
Now 35, as I compose this blog post in my cozy office in Athens, OH, listening to a studying playlist on YouTube and sip my PSL cold brew, typing away on my golden iMac, and gaze up at a wall of diplomas and certificates that signify the many years (and nearly $100,000 in student loan debt..) of hard work, I can proudly say that, I did it. I made it. This was my dream, and I’m one of the lucky few who not only get to put their four degrees in music to use, but I also get to help shape the landscape of the performing arts industry as an emerging leader within the academy. I am so incredibly fortunate.
As one chapter closes, so too does another begin, and with this new adventure I take with me the invaluable knowledge gained having owned/operated a successful business, the experience (though short) of being an adjunct professor, and a decade of education and experience.
I will always be grateful to Kay and Joseph Barker, the founder and CEO of Musicologie. They took a chance hiring me as a first-year Master’s student, bringing me on at the top of the pay scale at the time. It is because of them I was able to teach well over 10,000 hours of lessons during my seven years working for their company. It is because of them that I was able to develop and hone my craft. It was because of them that I have been able to accomplish the things I’ve been able to do. They entrusted me to build their fourth studio from scratch, and provided me the means to do so. They made my success possible. In my eyes, they still operate the best music school in Columbus, and continue to pave the way for other music educators to build sustainable careers for themselves. I hope to be able to give back to the music community in such a meaningful way as they have for thousands of students and well over a hundred teachers over the past decade.
This is my New Game+, and I know the best is yet to come.
