Guitar Lessons and a Small Way to Help

Like a lot of other professional musicians, all of my work was canceled when the pandemic hit. All my teaching and gigs evaporated almost immediately. Fortunately for my family, my wife is our primary breadwinner and she has continued to work. I am fortunate and grateful.

The first few weeks staying home had me feeling helpless as I watched all that was happening. It is important to me that I contribute something positive to my community. When a few friends asked me about online lessons I found a small way to help.

Over the last few months I've been teaching some guitar lessons using Facetime. The lessons have been a highlight of my week. Even though the contact is across the internet, it is still a sort of human contact. I've needed that! More importantly, together we have been able to donate all the money I charge for the lessons to some good organizations. As of today, we've given a total of $1490. Oregon Food Bank has so far received $650, and we have sent Portland's Neighborhood House $840. It is a modest amount of money, but something is a lot better than nothing.

I want to thank my students Roger, Henry, Kayla, F.X., and Jess for making these donations possible and for giving me a bit more purpose each week.

With my family supportive of this plan, I am going to continue donating money from some of the online lessons I teach – probably the first four lessons each week. Beginning in July, I am going to pick some different organizations that focus on various causes where we can help.

I would like the next donations to be in spirit of the Black Lives Matter movement. Oregon Public Broadcasting recently did an article Racism in the Great Outdoors that really hit close to home for me, and I think I might use that as a guide. 

Let's stick together and support each other and our communities. Wear a mask, social distance, give if you can, and check in on people who need a "hello". Black lives matter. We all need to help fix things.