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Georgia's Music Teachers In Jeopardy Amidst Coronavirus Outbreak
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Jeanne Carere isn't sure how her music store will stay in business. She owns Carere Music in Peachtree Corners and though she'd been thinking about moving lessons online anyway, the speed of the coronavirus outbreak rushed the decision.
Carere started planning for virtual music lessons even before students began to cancel over the weekend as part of health officials' recommendations for social distancing.
When people gather in groups, they could unintentionally spread COVID-19 and not know it, so best practice recommends staying home.
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"In the past few days, the situation has definitely changed," Carere said. "I suspect it's going to continue to get worse that way until we're doing all online."
In spite of Carere's early preparation, she's still worried about how coronavirus could affect her business because it's tough, even under normal circumstances, to get students to stay committed to music study.
"Music lessons are the kind of thing that people will let go. We don't need another excuse for them to," she said. "I mean, small music stores are a dying breed as it is."
That worry extends to the contracted teachers at her store, who are feeling the stress as much as she is. She said she's doing everything she can to support them by giving them resources to teach online, and giving those who don't have online access the space to continue teaching.
"I'll do whatever I can for them. I'll have a few stations here in the store that they can just go into a studio by themselves and do the teaching," she said. "I think that's the best thing I can offer them."
The worry is similar for Carmen Guinto and his Alpharetta music school Bach to Rock. He's been trying to keep his business clean and follow health guidelines while they struggle to stay open.
"We've been adapting stringent social separation," Guinto said. "We've taken on new cleaning measures, including sanitizing between every lesson. No one shares instruments."
Many students are canceling lessons, but Guinto said the school plans to stay open. Teachers are paid hourly and full-time employees have health insurance, which is a luxury many music instructors around the state don't have.
Guinto said he and his coworkers weren't braced for how quickly the situation around the state changed.
"Two weeks ago, we were full steam ahead," he said. "It's so crazy how all of this happened in a matter of days."
Chamblee resident Tyler Cardinal is a music instructor who teaches private lessons in his house and also at Fulton County schools through Fine Arts Matter, a contracted music education group. When schools canceled classes, Cardinal's first source of income went dry. He then began to see his private lessons cancel.
"So far this month, I've definitely lost close to $2,000," Cardinal said. "I've been trying to make it up with Skype lessons."
For Carere, she hopes the dire situation she and other music instructors are in will shine a light on the important of music education in the state.
"I think people admire musicians on their abilities to kind of create stories without saying any words," she said. "I hope all of this will make people remember that."
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