Teaching is good for the soul. I've become more and more convinced of that after the hardships of this year. There isn't one formula for everyone. Some do well in classrooms, others one on one, others informally. Let me tell you about my journey leading into creating a massive educational video project that should benefit new violin teachers for years to come!

In early 2024, I was getting burned out from the same routine. Maybe it had to do with my young children's needs or my inherent love for variety in life. At any rate, I was inwardly losing patience with some students, which was a red flag to me, as I'm generally pretty patient. I decided I needed a break and gave six months notice to all my students that I would be taking a hiatus from teaching to focus more on performing. Six months later, two weeks after giving my final lessons, my husband lost his job. And just like that, we went from two incomes to NO regular income. Luckily, we had some extensive savings, but the worry began to set in.

The psychological impact from losing a job is worse, in my opinion, in many ways, than the financial burden. Both my husband and I started applying for jobs, but success did not come right away. After a month of intense searching without reward, I started to doubt my talents and wonder if I was actually good at ANYTHING.

Then, luckily, someone gave me an unwelcome suggestion. I shouldn't say unwelcome--it just wasn't my thing. Or so I imagined. This man, after looking at my resume where I had briefly mentioned 25 years of private violin teaching, suggested I create subscription-based videos on playing the violin. I wasn't interested. However, one day, at the end of last year, I thought of his suggestion again and thought of a twist on the same concept. I Googled "videos on teaching how to TEACH the violin" and NOTHING came up--a few articles, but NO VIDEOS--NOT ON TWO PAGES OF SEARCH RESULTS! I figured I was onto something. And my project, Mentoring with Miss Cami, was born.

I recruited a young adult former student as my teacher-in-training and showed her how to start a beginning violin student in front of the rolling cameras. I also thought of doing a series of interviews with professionals in many types of music careers, to help inspire the younger generation with all you can do in a professional sense with music. Interestingly enough, all the jobs tie into teaching in at least some small way.

I rented professional cameras, a light, and nice ribbon microphone, and enlisted the collaborative help of a professional editor, saving up all my gig money to pay him. I also solicited donors and started a public GoFundMe campaign to help. After five weeks of intense filming, I was left with about 30 hours of raw video footage. I went through it all and narrowed it down to 27 half-hour videos: ten studio planning and instruction videos, one on classroom teaching, and sixteen professional interviews. Last week, I published the entire series online!

Throughout this year, I've taken introductory online courses in filmmaking (including video editing), marketing, and content creation. And the finished product, with the help of my editor friend, looks great! I was able to add b-roll, sound effects, subtitles, and even record some of my own background music!

Hopefully I'll be able to break even to cover the expenses that went into producing this. But my main goal is to make a difference in others' lives, starting with instilling confidence in just five brand new music teachers who believe in what I'm doing and choose to invest in themselves. And honestly, this entire project has kept me going emotionally during this challenging time. Suddenly, I was using ALL my talents--for instance, in addition to performing on the violin, I'm detail-oriented, project-focused, and I have interest and experience in journalism and business--and pushing myself BEYOND them, stretching in new areas through a type of crusade to help the world. I was able to get out of my own self-deprecating thoughts and find purpose in doing something useful. And I learned new skills like video editing in the process.

Another benefit was that, in personally reviewing these videos, and seeing for myself the enthusiasm that I really do exhibit when I'm teaching, they inspired ME to continue teaching at least a few students and continue making a difference in that way. This Fall, I started to teach in my studio again.

I encourage you to check out my video site when you get a chance. And find ways to make a difference to others in your spheres of influence. Life is beautiful! Hard, but beautiful!