We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Reesa Myers. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Reesa below.

Reesa, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

My name is Reesa Myers and I created the Musician’s Addition Music School. This music school offers affordable music courses and lessons for kids and adults who have a desire to play an instrument. My mission and passion are to share the joy of music and for it to be accessible to all.

Music education extends far more than just learning how to play an instrument, its effects go much deeper: Music is a form of personal expression and helps gain confidence. Students also learn to be part of a team, to be held accountable, and learn how to take leadership. Most importantly, music fosters joy and fun. Musician’s Addition Music School gives the opportunities for growth, expression, and for some, a time-out from problems and worries.

When playing music, you are not thinking about any of your problems or worries outside of the band room. It was a time to just be me, be happy, and in a way, free.

As a child, I played the flute in a concert band in middle school. The school was located in a small mountain town; music opportunities were slim. It was difficult learning music in a band: too many kids and too many different instruments. Taking private lessons wasn’t an option, as there was only one person in town who offered lessons —it was the band teacher. He was overbooked and his lessons were costly.

During middle school, I was shy and quiet. Not realizing at the time, that being in the band was teaching me more than music.

As my confidence grew, I gained the courage questions to the teacher, be a team player, be held accountable for my practice, and developed leadership skills. Especially, when I became the band section leader in high school.

Today, these skills helped me create my Musician’s Addition Music School and fulfilled my passion to provide the opportunity for this kind of growth to anyone who wants to learn music, both kids and adults—At affordable prices and to fit different schedules.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

When I was younger, music class was my safe haven. It was a place I could leave my worries behind: relax, have fun, and be myself. In high school, I had a strong desire to become a music teacher and share the joy music gave to me and pass it on to children. And I thought, why not combine my two loves? My love for music and my love for kids.

My journey started like any other aspiring music teacher. I worked hard to reach my goal, I competed, joined honor bands, and participated in band camps. I earned scholarships for music education and attended Colorado State University of Pueblo. After completing my first year, many public schools were cutting the music programs. This was a great concern for me, fearing there would be no jobs when I graduate. I had to change my life plans. I switched my major to video production; this journey included working at Public Broadcasting System (PBS) and the Professional Bull Riders (PBR), making videos. I had a good career in this area for 13 years. However, I still had a strong desire nudging me to teach music.

In 2020, I decided it’s time to go back to the music—on my terms. I created a music school called Musician’s Addition Music School. It was originally written as a TV show for PBS back in 2012. At that time, I did not feel confident to turn in the proposal. Since then, I altered it and turned it into a YouTube Channel instead! I believe every person should have the opportunity to learn music, if they so desire. Not everyone can afford lessons or have the availability to take private lessons or join an orchestra or band. Musician’s Addition YouTube Channel is a wonderful platform for one to learn an instrument, and most importantly, have fun.

Musician’s Addition Music School keeps in mind students of all ages, with different schedules, and different incomes. The YouTube Channel (https://www.youtube.com/c/musiciansaddition) has been running for 3 years now. This allows anyone to learn at any time with no cost to them. We are still growing. As of today, the YouTube Channel covers flute, alto saxophone, cello, piano, drums, music theory, and aural skills. We plan on adding other instruments as well.

The music school and its instructors have been working really hard on bringing online music courses. We created our own method books and video courses covering the different instruments, starting from absolute beginner, and going through all the way to the advanced. This will allow students to learn at their own pace and at their own time. We’ve included a few extra fun things too, such as games to help students learn music theory and advance their hearing skills. Our video courses feel like a one-on-one lesson, and certain exercises feel like you are playing along with an ensemble or group of musicians. Later, we will have courses that are ensembled featured and the students can learn to play with a jazz band, orchestra, rock band, or any other kind of band.

And for those who have a little more of a flexible schedule, we offer online one-on-one lessons. In the future, we’ll have group classes, and the goal is to be able to offer these in person as well.

What sets us apart from other music schools is we offer more than just one-on-one personalized instruction with rock band instruments, we also offer woodwinds, strings, percussion, piano, and eventually we’ll add brass and vocals.

Musician’s Addition Music School genuinely cares about every student’s growth, both as a musician and a person. We do everything in our power to make sure questions are answered and information is clear to enhance the knowledge, joy, and fun of music.

How’d you think through whether to sell directly on your own site or through a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc.

Musician’s Addition Music School sells products as well, but we only sell items through our website. We wanted to be a one-stop-shop for musicians. We sell items such as t-shirts, instrument cleaning supplies, cases, our method books, and more.

Our items are all in house, as it keeps costs down. We do not have to share the income with a third-party platform. This enables quick access to our products and pass on the savings to our students and music teachers.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

One lesson I had to unlearn was to think outside the box on how to become a music teacher and fulfill my dream. I realized I did not have to work for the public school system to be a music teacher. I was taught to go to college, work hard, and get a job. And there were no other options or alternative ways. Working for somebody else was the only way presented to me.

Since I had changed my major in college and had been working in video production, I would have to go back to school, add more student loans on top of my old loans to teach for a small paycheck. Teaching is not all about the money, but to pile loans on top of loans would not be a good idea for me.

For several years, I kept asking myself, how can I teach music without having to go back to school? When I worked at PBS, my first thought was to create a show to teach music. I wrote out the proposal for a music show for young kids, and as a mentioned earlier, I was not confident enough to turn it in to the producers.

To be honest, I couldn’t figure out how to teach music without having to go back to college. I even thought about becoming a technician to fix instruments and donate them to children. But that too, would still require going back to school.

It wasn’t until 2019, my inspiration sparked by having a conversation with my fiancé. He asked me, “What is your true passion?” knowing I wasn’t really interested in video production anymore.
I replied, “I want to teach music, but I don’t know how to do it.”
“Why not start up your own YouTube Channel?” He said with a smile.

Well… I would be teaching without going back to school. And I do have the expertise of making videos along with music knowledge. Yes! I decided to give it a shot. Ideas flowed from this point on about creating my own curriculum, my own courses, how to add other instruments, and new teachers. My dream was starting to manifest.

I had to unlearn that I don’t need to work for “the man”, and I can build my own career. It hasn’t been a fast or an easy journey. And sometimes things can be overwhelming. But what keeps me going is remembering the mission of the Musician’s Addition Music School of helping more than just me. It has a greater purpose by providing better opportunities to share the joy of music with teachers and students.

The sky is the limit for Musician’s Additions Music School.

Contact Info:

• Website: musiciansaddition.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/musiciansaddition/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/musiciansaddition
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/MA_MusicSchool
• Youtube: youtube.com/c/musiciansaddition
• Other: For further questions, you can email us at admin@musiciansaddition.com.