We recently connected with Lisa Emmick and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Lisa, thanks for joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

I grew up in an environment where music was an every day part of life because my mother was a piano teacher and had her own studio! As a teenager, I started teaching lessons myself under her guidance while I pursued goals related to my own music education and opportunities to perform. Over the years, I developed a very large private studio, and usually had a lengthy waiting list. I heard from so many parents that they wished they had a piano teacher like me when they were growing up, because their own children loved their lessons so much and it was quite a contrast to the music lessons they experienced. I wanted to share my vision of nurturing, fun and quality music education with as many students as possible, so decided to expand by offering lessons provided by carefully chosen teachers. Music is such an important creative outlet for everyone, and lessons can be enjoyed by young and old alike!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’ve been teaching music lessons for most of my life! In addition to teaching my main instruments of piano and flute, I’ve been a band director, taught classroom music and directed musical theatre. I love performing, and I love helping students grow musically so that they look forward to performing themselves.

Dallas Piano Academy provides much more than piano lessons. We also provide instruction in singing, guitar, flute and music theory. We’re adding more instruments as there is demand. Our lessons start with children as young as 5, and we have a large adult division as well. We provide optional performance opportunities throughout the year, as well as incentive programs so that we can frequently celebrate milestones in a student’s musical journey.

I’m proud that many of our new clients come from referrals from our students and their families. That means we’re doing something right! The relationship with our students and their families is one that we take very seriously as we partner together to provide the best learning environment and instruction possible.

Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.

For many years, teaching music lessons was a side job. It was something convenient to do, one or two afternoons or evenings a week. As my children grew older and it was time to re-enter the work force, I decided to try expanding my teaching hours. My home studio quickly grew, and before long I was teaching full-time!

Not all side-jobs have the demand to turn into full-time careers, but when the demand for your service is there, it is a wonderful opportunity to pursue your passion!

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I think anyone who has owned a business in the last two years has a lot of resilience. Covid presented a crisis for business owners, and we quickly learned to adapt so that our businesses could continue to operate. In the music education sector, that involved moving all lessons online.

Prior to covid, online lessons were something that we already offered. They were a convenient option when a student wasn’t able to come to their music lesson in person because of transportation or health issues. We were able to quickly move all lessons online and students continued to learn and progress. Having that one on one connection with a student works whether you are “in person” or “online” and I am glad that our students were able to have that creative outlet during the weeks of shutdown.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.dallaspianoacademy.com
• Instagram: @dallaspianoacademy
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DallasPianoAcademy/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/dallas-piano-academy
• Youtube: Dallas Piano Academy
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/dallas-piano-academy-dallas