Teen Work Study Program

The Teen Work Study Program is one of the many ways MindaMusic supports music education. The program gives teens an opportunity to receive music lessons at no out-of-pocket expense. The student helps with tasks around  MindaMusic Store in exchange for music lessons.

Weekly Blog of Student Currently in the Teen Work Study Program

April 19th, 2010

My name is Benito, I’m 16 and I am currently attending high school. I am also the oldest of four siblings.

Ever since I was little I always found the piano fascinating. The way you can close your eyes when you are playing and imagine yourself in a fairytale land dancing around to the music. It seemed so simple. Like one can just sit down and hit any key to make a beautiful sound. In the past weeks I realized that it’s not that simple, it takes time and effort. This became easy with the help of Minda at MindaMusic.

  Minda has an amazing program in which you can work in her music store for three hours and that will pay for each of your lessons. Or if you don’t want to work, you can pay $20. Which I would say isn’t that bad, but for times when money is scarce I would rather work for three hours. The program also helps if you can’t pay for your supplies. I needed a keyboard. You can work and pay for one.

When working at MindaMusic Store, you can help restock items, sweep the floor, and ready orders for shipment. So when you start the program you not only learn how to play the piano, you also learn about many different types of music, how to locate stuff in the store, and most importantly responsibility!

With the help of Minda and her program I now have a sense of accomplishment. Sure I’m not the best at the piano, but with Minda’s help I can come close.

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April 25, 2010

Today I helped Minda organize and sort different types of music books, pulled out products, and even cleaned the store. I not only do this when I work at Minda’s store, but I also learn numerous things about music. For example, I never knew what a concerto was until Minda told me. She told me that a concerto was a composition for orchestra and a soloist. So not only do I learn to be helpful I also learn how to speak music!

Although I've been working in Minda's store for a couple of days, I still get lost when pulling out products. For example, I have to remember where all the Alfred, Hal Leonard, and Kjos books are. But as days go by it becomes easier to locate them. One of the best things about working with Minda is that she's the type of person that you can ask various questions and she always answers you with a smile.

Today I also practiced a little on Minda’s piano and finally accomplished "Jingle Bells", chords and all! What made me feel better is that Minda even applauded showing her astonishment of my progress.

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May 9th, 2010

Today in MindaMusic Store I did the basics (reorganized books, filled orders, and restocked merchandise). With today's orders I found out where more things are in the store, like the toys and DVDs. One of the things that I like about MindaMusic Store is that you learn new things every day! After doing that, I swept a little and finished early, and then I was able to practice the piano. Even I was impressed with the progress that I'd made in the past weeks.

Also when you have Minda as a teacher she often lends you CDs of musicians. This time she gave me Beethoven. I was impressed with how much I liked it, even though it has different instruments. It reminded me of a fairytale world, with every one dancing around. Another thing I liked about Beethoven was that I could distinguish the mood of the music piece.

My goal in MindaMusic Store is to earn $450 for my keyboard... so far I've earned $121.40; I have $328.60 to go!!