Today we’d like to introduce you to Regina Noel Downing.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Oh goodness, where to start! I’m primarily a music teacher, in my own private music studio, the Regina Noel Music Studio… At least, that’s how I started out. My BA is in both music and P.E. Later I went off for my MA in elementary education. While I was working on my MA, I taught piano lessons “on the side.” I’d have to travel to students’ homes because I didn’t have a piano of my own. After receiving my MA, I got married and started a family. I stopped teaching briefly and didn’t really have plans to start again. Not that I didn’t love it, I just – was busy with a new baby, and shortly after pregnant with baby #2. When my oldest was just about a year old, people started asking me about lessons again. We weren’t the best off financially at the time, a young family, my husband had gone back to school and came down with type 1 diabetes around the same time. It seemed like something I could do and bring in a little money – while having the baby with me. I would tell people, “Sure! But I’ll have to travel to you for lessons – with the baby.” So, that’s what I did. And then I was pregnant with Baby #2, and then the 3 of us would travel to people’s homes for lessons. There were many times I’d be nursing a baby and teaching at the same time! The other would be running around doing goodness-knows-what. Eventually, a friend gifted me a keyboard, and so students began coming to our home. Still with babes under toe! Usually, the littlest was on my back in the backpack, and the oldest would be “helping” me teach. I would try to get them to nap during teaching hours…desperately. It seldom worked. To my surprise, people kept calling me for lessons. I worried having the kids underfoot would deter people. But it didn’t. It just kept growing! Then my husband’s family’s storage unit closed down, and they needed a place for the family piano. So, the piano got moved to the house, and my son’s bedroom turned into the studio. The kids grew, the studio grew, I added voice lessons and ukulele lessons to the mix… I even had the opportunity to study with the New York Vocal Coaching Company while doing all that! I received their Vocal Teacher Training Certification in 2015.
Today, the studio has its own room off the side of our house, with its own entrance. I average between 20 and 30 students at any given time, ages 4 through 60s, including a handful of special needs students. Students book anywhere from an hour to 3 hours with me weekly, and I even have students nationwide and worldwide via Zoom! My kids are now 11 and 12, and nothing else has changed. I’m still here at home, with and for them. Some days are crazier than others, but we all manage, and really know nothing different. Since the beginning of it all, I’ve added health and life coaching to the mix, and authoring! In 2021 I published my first 2 books with Fox Pointe Publishing: Give a Little Snuggle, and The Bedtime Rhyme. They are story songbooks designed to help families connect when connecting seems impossible. My 3rd book is scheduled for a November 2022 release date, and I’m constantly scheduling book events and presentations for children and educators alike (in addition to studio recitals and performances!). What I love most about writing these books, is that it really is the perfect marriage of all the things I’m passionate about: music, teaching, coaching, children, and family.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Heavens no. Like I said, I built my business(es) raising my 2 children. Pretty much by myself. We didn’t have family nearby, we couldn’t afford daycare (nor did I want to put my kids in daycare), and my husband has his own business to run. We also had our own personal struggles to overcome that made it challenging. I had PTSD from a series of traumatic events in my 20s, my husband came down with diabetes, we were poor… Man we were poor. All that has an effect on productivity, for sure. I just – never gave up. It wasn’t an option for me. I didn’t want to work for someone else, that had a bit to do with my PTSD. But also, I wanted to live a life that had space for the things I valued (mostly family, and being true to myself). When I was working on my MA, I found out I really didn’t want to teach in a public school. So, for me, “failure” was not an option. If I wanted to live a life I loved, I had to make the studio go. I just didn’t want a job I wasn’t passionate about. And I didn’t want to have to teach according to someone else’s “rules.” I wanted work that made me feel touched, moved and inspired, as much as it left my clients feeling the same. I worried a LOT about “pleasing” people along the way. I’ve gotten a lot better about that these days, and have really sort of, grown into myself. I’m pleasantly surprised that that seems to be bringing the most success across the board – not just in my life, but my students’ and clients’ as well!
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’m a teacher first and foremost. I own my own music studio, the Regina Noel Music Studio, where I teach private piano, voice, and ukulele lessons to students ages 4 and up, including special needs individuals. I’m also a health and life coach, and children’s author. I think what I’m most known for is my ability to connect with my students. I tend to get results where other teachers may not…one because my technical skills are honed after years of performing and studying myself as well as teaching. But two, because I have an uncanny ability to connect with pretty much anyone. I help people feel safe, supported, and respected. I don’t judge people for their choices – whatever they may be. I take time to learn what is really important to EACH individual student, and I use that as a motivator and a way to connect. When my students/clients feel safe and supported, they are in the perfect mental space to explore and try new things. They will take the risk of learning something new, because they know I respect them, and that if they make a mistake, I won’t judge them for it, or they won’t be “in trouble.” I think that right there is really what makes me unique. I specialize in people first. Music just seems to be the vehicle I use to reach the people. I would say THAT, is what I am most proud of. I am proud of the person I have become – someone who can truly hold space for another individual so that they feel so safe and supported, that they aren’t afraid to try for their dreams.
We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?
Well really, that anything is possible. I had MORE students than ever during the first year of Covid. And we had ALL switched over to online lessons! So, all of a sudden, I had students worldwide as well as in my own community and neighboring states. I also managed to write and publish not one, but two books that same year, AND homeschool both my kids AND have 3 liters of puppies. Oh yeah – I even had a handful of coaching clients! Plus, I still managed to keep up with my daily workouts. And the house wasn’t a huge disaster. I mean – really – anything is possible if you put your mind to it. And be sure it’s a positive mind! Using unhappiness as a motivator NEVER works.
Pricing:
- $65/one-hour lesson
- $75/45-min coaching session
Contact Info:
- Email: regina.liveyourdream@gmail.com
- Website: www.linktr.ee/AuthorRND
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reginanoelmusicstudio/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/reginanoelmusicstudio
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNX6jW7J5aLK_fyQO3Q_JDQ
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgL3g_15aELl7l5Z34DnPQg
