Buhh-buh-buhhhhh, buh-buhhh-buh-buhhhhh. That may sound like nothing to you, but that is the song that has been haunting me every day. Smoke On the Water. Listen, whoever is reading this journal, if you are a 'boomer' (I'm talking to you Mom!) and that statement gives you a nostalgic canker sore, imagine how it feels to teach it to 10 different students, 4 days a week, and not one of them practice. NOT ONE. I don't know if this job is 'me' anymore.
I put down the journal and toss it haphazardly towards a pile of clothes in the corner of my room. I was 'half hoping' it was going to land perfectly on its back, but I refrained from yelling "Kobe!" Instead, it bounced back off the wall behind the pile and slid under my bed. Calculated.
The house is soft and the sun has already set outside. Sounds like my parents are still at work. Without looking at the time, I can tell that my virtual guitar lessons are starting soon. I work for a company called Main Street Music in my hometown of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. I started taking guitar lessons there when I was 13. I have been teaching there for 4 years now and I am 29. Teaching here really isn't that great of a job, even though I am doing what I love. I love teaching creative people how to express themselves on the guitar. I am also working at a nostalgic place where my love for music was born. The thing that drives me crazy is mostly the students...and the pay...but mostly the students.
I have about 20 different students I see Monday-Thursday. Each student gets 45 minute lessons and the staff at Main Street Music have a strict curriculum to teach. I like to 'buck' the system during my lessons and teach the students cool songs instead of scales and theory from Main Street Music's coursebooks. Cover bands are a huge thing in this area. I got to play in a dozen different cover bands, so my song bank of great music is always full! My boss, Jacques Martin, doesn't like my approach.
"Ey Flunt, course buk, course buk, petit salaud!" Jacques would yell in a slurred French accent when a student's parents would catch them not practicing from their 'coursebook'.
Jacques hit it big in Bethlehem with the music scene when he immigrated from Leon, France, 20 years ago. There wasn't a formal music school within 15 miles. Jacques' classical way of teaching really went over well with the parents. All the, ironically, 'rock-n-roll' loving parents want their kids to play all proper, and sit up straight, and read sheet mu--
*BZZZZ BZZZ BZZZZ BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ....BZZZ BZZZ BZZ BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ*
Speak of the devil, Beethoven's, the 5th! This is my phone, silently, alerting me that my boss, Jacques, is now trying to call me. Above his name on my display read the time: 5:45pm. I have 15 minutes until my lessons start, what the fuck does Jacques want now? Was it the Sweet Child O' Mine I taught to Aiden last night? I slide my finger on the screen and give a nice, warm, "Hello!"
"Flunt, listen, you first stu-dent, you get new stu-dent. Eh, adult stu-dent. She guitarist now 3 years. Parente very excited, convince her full lesson, hmm?" Jacques was barely understandable. He is basically slurring and choking on his accent..."stu-dent". If he isn't holding a Tenor Saxophone, he is holding a glass of wine. Also, how can anyone mess up saying my name?
"Wait, you are saying she is just doing a trial lesson? Okay...well, I will do my best to show her why everyone comes to Main Street Music, Jacques!" I said, trying to sound cheery, but that notion went right over Jacques' thick skull.
All I heard in response was a loud grunt and then the line hung up. Fucking dick head. I head over to my desk and sit down. I turn on the computer, put on my headphones, grab my guitar and tune it, then plug it into my audio interface. I do this because I live at home with my parents. I know, a 29 year old musician, who lives at home with his parents never gets matches on OkCupid, or Bumble...big surprise. Anyways, the noise of a guitar through an amp would be too loud, so I have to do it directly into the computer. I have a microphone from my band days, which I now use solely for my lessons. The headphones are for cancelling feedback loops in the audio...blah blah blah, do you really care?
I really care about, one might even say love, playing and teaching guitar. Although, sometimes the thing you dream of doing is only topical and aesthetic. The core of that dream has struggles and hardships. These tensions are tests to see if what we are doing is really our dream, or just a 'dream' we tolerate in our favor. We come to usually find this out once we finally get a hold of that 'dream'. Just look at famous celebrities who now can't get privacy, or they have overspent their money, etc. They even admit that it wasn't what they thought it'd be. But there are those who can handle it, and they are the ones that make their dreams reality. I used to have that type of reality, but it all went away...
As I sat there imagining to myself, sadly, a reality of where I was getting paid above minimum wage, getting laid, living in my own place, playing in bands again, getting laid...wait did I say getting laid? Yikes, being single and 'out-of-the-business' for almost a year has really been a struggle for me mentally. Porn does it sometimes, but just like playing in a band, you can't fully express yourself, by yourself.
I come back to reality and quickly load up Zoom. The reason why I am giving lessons in Zoom and not in person is because COVID has really been bad in my area. We are still in quarantine, a year later, so lessons have been done remotely. It has been a huge blessing because I am an insufferable introvert, and now all these new students are taking lessons because of being home alone all the time. The downside is the lack of human contact, lack of dates, lack of matches on OkCupid and Bumble, lack of getting lai--wait a second...did Jacques say 'adult student'?
An adult student is classified as anyone over the age of 18 getting lessons. Since cover bands are big with the boomers in my area, I get a lot of old guys coming in with fancy guitars wanting to learn how to play, Smoke On the Water. Didn't Jacques also say the student is a 'she'? I look at my computer's clock and it says 6:01pm, shit! I click on the username box and type in my employee email address, "fmoore92-at-mainstreetmusic-dot-com". My autosaved password comes up and I click it. I continue into the "Meetings" tab and start a new private meeting.
My display opens up and I see myself with a guitar in hand, a messy room backdrop, and a big hole in my pants. Wait what!? I forgot to change into my jeans and I am wearing my crappy pajama pants with a huge hole by my crotch (don't ask). As I fumbled with the camera and the positioning of the guitar to cover my crotch area better, a notification displayed reading, "Mia Walker is requesting to join the meeting." Mia huh? I checked my video display one more time for any 'inappropriate' skin showing, but I was well hidden. I clicked the accept button under Mia's name and waited for her video to load in.
As the display finally loaded up, I was greeted with a soft, almost sing-songy, "Hello."
I didn't respond at first because my first sight of Mia caught me off guard. Here sat a petite, big brown eyed girl with shoulder length curly dark brown hair, big lips that cradled her nice teeth, and a voice that was softer, and more intimidating than silence. God she is gorgeous! Mia catches me off-guard because I am used to adult students being deadhead oldies, but here sat a beautiful girl wanting to learn guitar...from me! Well maybe not me, but from where I work!
"Uh, hi Mia, I'm Flunt, I-I mean Flint!" I said, stumbling through my words because Mia started turning her head slightly and smiled innocently.She has a look on her face like she is genuinely interested to hear my voice and words. I haven't had someone do that for me for a long time. I am so awkward right now.
"Ha ha, hey Flint! It's all cool," she said warmly, but confidently, "I really like the name Flint, it fits for a rockstar guitarist!" Mia giggles and tilts her head to the other direction.