History
Francis Music Studio began in 2007 in Lincoln, Nebraska. It was named for Linda Francis' late husband, Jason Francis, who was a graduate student at University of Nebraska working on his MFA in Acting and Directing.
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Jason passed in 2010 after a fierce but short battle with cancer. Jason loved music and children and he was a highly-gifted teacher. He had a way of working with students that brought out their best, but he did it with an abundance of humor, grace and positive energy.
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Jason's love and passion for students, teaching and the Arts remains the heartbeat of Francis Music Studio today.
Philosophy
Some thoughts on learning and practicing a musical instrument.
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“I believe that students will enjoy learning their instrument if they see themselves accomplishing something every week. Small successes will inspire and motivate them to continue on into more difficult levels of music where they can then learn to play the kind of music they enjoy most. In each lesson, I work to create moments of success that will hopefully add up to large accomplishments in the future.”
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“When we take lessons on a particular instrument we must remember that we are not just learning to play the instrument— we are also learning how to read music. This is HUGE! Learning to read can then be translated to any instrument including the voice.”
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“I often hear people try to ‘sell’ piano lessons to their student as being ‘fun’. You can definitely have fun playing music!! But what about all that time in between when you are learning to make music? If a school teacher told you that your child only needed to practice reading one time a week to learn to read, we would call that teacher ridiculous! How then can anyone learn to read music by attending lesson once a week?”
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I would say that learning a musical instrument is not like the ‘fun’ of riding carnival rides or having a pizza party with friends and we should not try to persuade children this way. That kind of fun takes no effort and is focused on entertainment and leisure.
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Let’s be honest here. Learning to play an instrument and to read music takes hard work, practice and dedication. I believe the ‘fun’ is the feeling of joy at a job well done and the pride of accomplishing something difficult and beautiful. This is something much deeper and long lasting compared to a party or easy entertainment.