On Oct. 24, junior Diana Unruh began offering free music lessons to anyone interested, and plans on continuing giving lessons during the A and B blocks of seminar.

“[I offer the music lessons] in the choir room, room 4-120,” Unruh said.

Unruh has many years of experience playing a number of instruments, so she will be offering a wide variety of music lessons.
“[I am giving lessons for] viola, piano, guitar, cello, violin, and voice. I also plan to do music theory tutoring as well,” Unruh said. “We are allowed to use the piano, and I would have to ask, but our fine arts department owns multiple cellos that students could use. Beyond that, it would be good for students to bring their own instrument. However, I own a guitar, violin, and viola that I’m willing to let students learn to play on.”

Unruh had pondered the idea of offering lessons for quite some time, and has finally decided to act on this idea because of the support she received from her peers.

“I really wanted to give students a chance to learn to play without having to worry about paying for it,” Unruh said. “I have also had multiple students ask me within the past month if I would teach them to play guitar and I thought this would be a good way to do so.”

In addition to requests she has received from other students, Unruh has found something else that helped to motivate her decision to begin giving lessons.

“My dream is to become a music teacher and I really wanted to get some experience teaching music. I also know how difficult it is to learn a new instrument, let alone pay anywhere from $15-45 per week for lessons,” Unruh said.

Sophomore Emma Roseberry, who has taken piano lessons from Unruh, is familiar with the high cost of professional music lessons.

“I’ve taken piano lessons for 11 years and they are $70 a month. I’ve also taken violin lessons for 5 years, and they are $80 a month,” Roseberry said.

While Unruh’s lessons are far less expensive than professional lessons, Unruh also has specific character traits that separate her from professional teachers.

“She was very kind and encouraging even when I messed up, which is one of the best qualities to have in a music teacher,” Roseberry said.

With Unruh’s patient characteristics, Roseberry was able to make a moderate amount of progress in her lesson, and left the session feeling much more confident than she had previously.

“The lesson helped give me another perspective on her style of playing. It helped me expand my knowledge on different styles of playing, and I feel like that is very beneficial to me.”

Roseberry notcied her own improvement, and suggests that other students also sign up for lessons.

“It gives kids an opportunity to hear feedback on what they can work on. Diana was very helpful and gave me many tips on how to improve my playing,” Roseberry said.

Roseberry is very happy with the progress she has made through Unruh’s music lessons.

“I would say Diana’s lessons are very beneficial and professional. Diana has great potential and I would love to see her continue on this musical pathway.” Roseberry said.