We recently connected with Kristi Stice and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Kristi thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?
I currently earn a full-time living from my music teaching business. I grew up in the Denver area, writing poetry and then recording little melodies that I would sing using the words from my poems starting when I was eight years-old. I began teaching myself to read music on the piano when I was eight-years-old by borrowing sheet music from a friend of mine who was taking lessons. My parents had divorced and I didn’t have access to take private music lessons because my father who had custody of us was unable to take us to after school activities. He was able to take me to private guitar lessons after he remarried when I was fourteen-years-old. I wanted to study music when I headed to college when I was seventeen, but feared I didn’t have a solid enough education due to my lack of early studies. I earned a different degree in college and moved to Florida where worked odd jobs. Eventually I found myself in a dead-end job at age twenty-seven, and I began teaching guitar and piano to children at the Florida Conservatory or Music in the evenings after work. I loved teaching kids, but I didn’t like that this business advertised to their families that their teachers were University educated, because many of us didn’t have degrees. I had worked in some management jobs during my previous years and I offered to manage the business and I was turned down. I decided that I wanted to open my own music teaching business that had educated instructors. I needed the credentials, so I went back to school to study music and business. Meanwhile I began teaching privately to support myself to pay for my education. After attaining my degree in jazz vocal performance, including guitar, piano, and composition studies, I opened up the first version of my teaching business in Jacksonville, Florida. I started by simply printing a business card that said I was a private music instructor and my imposter syndrome was enormous when handing out to my first client (my primary care doctor). I ended up teaching his children for years and becoming great friends with his family. I opened up a physical location above his practice in a historic building in a quaint downtown neighborhood in Jacksonville. My business quickly filled with students and I didn’t have room to expand or hire more teachers. I decided to move back to my home town, Denver, and restart my business with the intension of expanding. In 2010 I moved back to Denver, and I rebuilt my business over the first year by volunteering at after school music programs to connect with families. I also started donating music lesson packages to school fundraisers, which is still a great way for my business to find new students. Due to the inability to afford a physical location in Denver, my business model shifted to teaching in-home lessons to busy families, so we commute to them. Within two years, my studio was full and I hired my first contract teacher. My business has grown to having six teachers, including myself. We teach throughout the central and south central Denver neighborhoods.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
My main motivation for getting into the private music teaching business was because I wanted to share my love of music with children and families. Due to being unable to take lessons when I was a young child because I was from a single parent home, I wanted to give the gift of private music study to children, who have the desire to learn. Originally, I did not plan on a having only an in-home only business, but this aspect of my business has solved the problem for parents that are unable to get their children to activities. I also wanted to teach adults and foster their desire to play music, because I am true believer that you can learn to play music even if you don’t start studying until you are an adult. Besides solving this dilemma for busy families and students, I have been creating music all along my journey. I have been writing songs since I was eight-years-old and have been recording and performing music since age fourteen. I recorded a number of albums with the following bands: Tabula Rasa, Gypsy Whistle, Sarah’s Daydream, Eve’s Drop, Gypsy Swing Revue (I Love Paris), and I recorded an album of my own songs under my name. You can find recordings from Eve’s Drop, Gypsy Swing Revue, and under my name on all streaming platforms. I am primarily a songwriter, vocalist, and guitarist, and I enjoy composing music on the piano. My most well-known project was with the Parisian Gypsy Jazz band, Gypsy Swing Revue that was performing in the Denver area and at jazz festivals from 2010 – 2020. I continue to write, record, and release songs under my name, and I will be releasing a total of three songs before the end of 2025. I hold a song share once a month for newly written songs with other songwriters in the Denver area. I taught voice and songwriting as a lecturer at Metropolitan State University through D.I.M.E. Denver, and I taught performance and songwriting at the University of Colorado Denver. I have chosen to leave academia to focus on my business, and to teach privately. I think something that sets my business apart is the requirement that our teachers are University educated in music and that they have to either be in the midst of their program or have graduated from a music program. I also think our teachers are unique in that we cater to our student’s desires to learn particular genres of music and we try to incorporate their interests in our lessons. Our teachers are all active performers themselves and we play live with many various groups and as soloists in the central Denver area.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
In general, music has saved my life in many ways, because it is a form of emotional expression that has helped me as a highly sensitive person, to process the trials and tribulations of life from childhood to now. I want to spread my love of music and it’s transformational abilities to children and adults alike, so they might find how music can nourish them, whether they are composing their own music or learning to play music written by others. I ultimately would like to provide the ability to study music privately to underserved populations, especially children and adolescents, who are unable to attend after school activities or are unable to access to private music study due to financial reasons. I haven’t figured out how to do this as a privately owned company, since I do not have non-profit status, but I haven’t lost hope that it is something that could be manifested in the future.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
I think the most rewarding aspect of being a creative is how I have carved out an authentic life in a discipline that I love. I feel honored to teach children and adults how to play music, and I feel so lucky to have a team of teachers by my side that share my passion. It has been amazing to offer fair wages to University educated musicians, so that they have a steady way to make a living as a musical artist. Ultimately, I feel at the end of my journey, that I will have lived an authentic life.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.musiclessoncafe.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/musiclessoncafe/, https://www.instagram.com/krististicemusic/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100028284026880
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristi-stice/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgJVkC6pQIs&list=RDlgJVkC6pQIs&start_radio=1, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-DTUCemVwg, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UilV58diO30&list=RDUilV58diO30&start_radio=1
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/music-lesson-cafe-denver-2?osq=music+lesson+cafe
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/krististice
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3wfWvI50G9yHJCOf02mbCQ?si=u8GMNrx7TV24UHl3-onobA
https://open.spotify.com/album/7v1Oyox9Lu1LT2RtpDDE1M?si=MOB0Vi83TDSHZlnuzAcp3A
Image Credits
Art Heffron Photography