You really want your children to learn an instrument but are hard pressed to find the time to fit lessons into your schedule. With homework and other extracurricular activities, it seems impossible. The nearest music store is 20 minutes away and you just don’t have the time to get the kids ready and make a 40 minute round trip. Plus, the instructor is usually running 10 to 15 minutes late. Wouldn’t it be so much easier if the instructor could just come to your house?
It is this kind of scenario that led to the formation of RS Music Company, a local business that provides in home music lessons. Owner and instructor Richard Sanger has been teaching guitar and working with special needs children in the Central Jersey area for the past 15 years.
In his work with children, Richard has noticed a few barriers that prevent children from participating in recreational activities. “Every kid”, he points out, “wants to do something, whether its music lessons, sports, art, or what have you. What keeps them from participating is transportation, scheduling, and having the money to pay for it.” To make learning an instrument easier, Richard started RS Music as a way to bring music lessons to families who experience these challenges.
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Richard has taken several ideas from his work in social services and brought them over to RS Music. One of these ideas is the free pre-lesson consultation. This allows them to be sure that they are meeting the student’s needs. RS Music matches the student to the instructor based on this interview. Which Richard says is the opposite of what most music academies do. “If you walk into most music academies and ask for lessons”, Richard says “they will ask you ‘what day and time would you like to come in?’ If they do any kind of interview, you are billed a registration fee. We are more concerned with what the student wants to learn, what their personality is like, and what kind of instructor they would respond well to than fitting them into our schedule.”
In order to meet children’s musical needs, RS Music has enlisted the help of several prominent local instructors. “We have some very talented instructors teaching for us”, says Richard. “All of our teachers, have gotten nothing but rave reviews from their students.” He states that the instructors are all college educated and work as professional musicians. RS Music currently offers instruction on guitar, voice, piano, drums, bass, saxophone, clarinet, flute, and the accordion.
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RS Music is focused on building relationships with the local community as evidenced by their presence at several events in Central Jersey this summer. Richard shares that “we met so many awesome people interested in music. We had free musical arts and crafts at our table for the kids. We also gave away a free month of music lessons. We do this because we want people to be excited about music and learning an instrument. Next year, we will be taking it a few steps further, so be sure to look for us!”
Overall, RS Music is succeeding at operating according to its underlying philosophy, ‘no directions needed…we bring the lessons to you’. Richard exclaims, “I am thrilled that RS Music is doing what it set out to do, which is to bring lessons to people of all ages who otherwise wouldn’t be able to take them. I hope that it gets other people as excited as I am that they can now learn to play an instrument!”
Richard Sanger, M.A. is a guitar instructor and owner of RS Music Company. RS Music provides in home music lessons on a wide variety of instruments in the Central Jersey area. For lessons, please call 732-320-5980. You can find more information at www.rsmusiccompany.com.
