The Story Behind Why McCoy Music Made the Transition to Online Lessons and Why We Moved to Delta Colorado

For several years before before making the transition to doing Internet based lessons, (the transition was made the last few months of 2010), we had from time to time thought of the possibility of teaching with webcams.  The idea was appealing in that neither the student nor the teacher would have to commute to lessons which would save time, gas, and make it easier to schedule lessons at more convenient times to accommodate student needs.  Also, one of the benefits would be the freedom for the teacher and students to have the ability to move about the country, (or the world for that matter), and still carry on the study of guitar, flute, bass, theory, arranging, and composition anywhere there is a high speed Internet connection.  All of this has come to fruition wonderfully, but through a lot of hard work behind the scene to take full advantage of what new technologies can offer.  So, after a few years of kicking the Skype lessons idea around we decided to take a poll with our students to see how many students already had webcams and then to see how many students would be interested in the new teaching format.  Amazingly 85% of our students already had webcams.  There were a few students with webcams that were not interested in Internet lessons, but there were just as many students that did not have webcams that said they'd get one to continue lessons with us.  The answer was clear that this was the time to just do it!  We had been teaching full time for 30 years in the Denver/Parker Co. area, and most of the time teaching in music store studios that were rather distracting with other lessons going on in the next cubical, or in our home when stores went out of business, (five different stores went out of business over this time period necessitating home teaching).  (Note:  As of 2019 our Skype lessons format has been a wonderful succsess--no more wasted time commuting and much more convenient for teacher and students alike.)

 

One of the main benefits of doing Internet lessons was that location is no longer important and that is what lead us to settling in Delta Colorado.  My wife's family lives in this area and with repeated visits to the Western Slope, (Western Colorado), over the years I fell in love with the area.  The thought of moving to the Delta area with a smaller population of only 15,000 people, only 25% of the snow that the Denver metro area gets, working from home, slowing down the pace of life, being close to family, and less driving was very appealing.  So that's the story of getting to Delta Colorado through being able to do Internet lessons.  Not only did it allow us to change locations and continue teaching, but it has allowed our students much more freedom in their location such as graduating seniors that go off to college and do not have to quit studying with us.  Many of our students travel a fair amount and schedule lessons on the road since wifi Internet connections are everywhere.  We've taught lessons throughout the United States, Mexico, Canada, Kuopio Finland, Rome Italy, Trujillo Peru, and Paris France!  It's almost like on the TV show "Star Trek" where people could talk to each other on different planets using Skype and webcams!!!  Pretty Awesome:-)



 

THE SLIDESHOW BELOW WILL GIVE YOU A FEEL FOR THE WESTERN PART OF COLORADO WHERE WE LIVE AND TEACH AT    (MCCOY MUSIC LLC)