Today we’d like to introduce you to Haley Vick.
Hi Haley, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
My story involves a lot of travel. I was born in Wisconsin, where I performed in my first musical at age nine. I went to college in Chicago, traveled with my mentor to Italy and Switzerland, sang with The Rolling Stones, performed in regional opera companies in New York, and then returned to Chicago where I performed a cappella music at Six Flags Great America and started teaching music lessons, traveling from house to house in the northern suburbs. When the pandemic hit, lessons were moved online. I had been teaching through an existing music school but had known for a while that I wanted a music school of my own. In August of 2020, I started creating Birchwood Music and we officially opened on October 1st. Shortly after that, my boyfriend, Curtis, and I decided to move to Austin, Texas and bring Birchwood Music to the Austin area.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
I cackled when I read this question! A broken engagement made it impossible for me to remain in New York to chase my dreams of singing at the Metropolitan Opera. When I returned to Chicago, I had to start from scratch, working in a shoe store for a while. I found my first job teaching music accidentally while scrolling through a Chicago singers’ forum on Facebook. That’s where my love of teaching started and branched into Birchwood Music. Starting a business during a pandemic is definitely not the easiest thing I have done. However, the pandemic has offered both challenges and opportunities. For instance, lots of students and parents of our younger students love the convenience of being able to just log into Zoom and take their lessons from wherever they are at. We have students that take lessons while on vacation, or at their grandparents’ house, or even while at a sporting event for their siblings! On the other hand, some parents have expressed an interest in having lessons at a brick-and-mortar location as things have begun to open up again, and that is an enormous expense for an entrepreneur. We did actually open up a small office for in-person lessons! However, because rent is such a big expense, we had to make the decision to shut down that location. Fortunately the person we’re renting from ended up giving us the opportunity to stay at our location rent free for the next several months while we continue to gain in-person students! That was such a huge blessing that we didn’t expect and will always be grateful to him for allowing us the opportunity to continue building our clientele in-person!
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Birchwood Music Company?
Birchwood Music Company provides customized piano, voice, and acting private lessons to ages six through adult! We also have Mini Musicians semi-private lessons for the little one’s ages 3-5. We specialize in meeting our students where they are at and building up their confidence so that they can always perform their absolute best. Birchwood is a boutique music school, which means that we offer very personalized services. This starts at the very beginning of your lesson journey when you book a 30 minute complimentary Zoom call. I will personally be the one on the call getting to know you or your child, asking questions like “why is now the right time for you to start lessons with us,” “what do you hope to get out of lessons,” and then more random questions like “what’s your favorite animal,” or “If you could vacation anywhere in the world, where would you go and why.” I ask these because I want to know who you are as a person so that I can really hone in on helping you to achieve your goals. From there, we go over all of the nitty-gritty lesson details and I answer all of your questions.
Finally, I’ll screen share the registration form and fill it out for you so that we get you into the system and scheduled for your first lessons on our calendar. Once we end our call, I’ll give your instructor (that could be me or one of my other teachers) any relevant background information that you’ve given me and they’ll create a customized video to send you prior to your first lesson! You will also receive a fun swag bag with some Birchwood merchandise and helpful tools for lessons. As you go through your lesson journey, I will personally be checking in to make sure that everything is going well. The lines of communication are always open and I want to hear about the good and the bad so that we can continue to help you on your journey to success. I think the fact that everything is so personal sets us apart from other multi-teacher music schools. I always want to get to know each and every one of our students and their families so that I can support your journey. I also believe that everyone should be able to take music lessons, whether they have the finances to afford it or not. This is why we’ve opened up a scholarship fund. Students who are unable to afford lessons can apply for a scholarship and as we continue to raise funds for this, we are able to afford full and partial scholarships for a certain amount of months. I firmly believe that music is such an important part of life and that everyone should have the opportunity to take lessons if it’s something that resonates with them.
How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
Several ways! You can connect with us on Instagram – @birchwoodmusicco, Facebook – Birchwood Music Company, our website – www.birchwoodmusic.com, or my email address – haley@birchwoodmusic.com. If you’d like to donate to our scholarship fund to sponsor a student in music lessons, you can donate at www.birchwoodmusic.com/scholarship. If you are interested in signing up for lessons, you can book a complimentary call on our website as well!
Pricing:
- Weekly 30 minute Mini Musicians – $114/month
- Weekly 30 minute lessons – $199/month
- Weekly 45 minute lessons – $249/month
- Weekly 45 minute premier lessons – $467/month
- Weekly 60 minute premier lessons – $527/month
Contact Info:
- Email: haley@birchwoodmusic.com
- Website: www.birchwoodmusic.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/birchwoodmusicco/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/birchwoodmusicco
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/birchwood-music-company-austin?utm_campaign=www_business_share_popup&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=(direct)
Image Credits
Curtis Szajkovics Dave Cross
