Piano & More students performing with live band at 10-year celebration
Nicole Kovar knew she wanted to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of her business, Piano & More, this year but she just didn’t know how. “Maybe a small dinner for teachers?”
But then Randy Goode, one of her teachers in the program, suggested they could have a live performance by some of the students accompanied by his band Twin Brooks.
“I thought this would be a lot of work and it would be risky,” Kovar says. “It would take three things that I wasn’t sure we could do. You have to know how to play with a band, how to perform and how to accompany the player.”
“When Randy first told me about his idea, I loved it but our players aren’t advanced, and I didn’t know if we could do it.” Kovar said she really had to trust her teachers because there was no way they could rehearse ahead of time with a seven-piece band since the lessons are given in individual homes. So she had to rely on her teachers to prepare the students. “But Randy felt we could do it with no rehearsals.
“I was a nervous wreck. But it was amazing. I did ask the teachers to come and accompany the student on stage for support so in case the student froze, the teacher could jump in. And Randy worked with the band to signal the band when to slow down or speed up to stay with the performer.” The performers included keyboard, drummer, singers and guitar.
“The parents loved it. They couldn’t believe their little 8-year-old could be playing with these cool dudes.”
The event was a ticketed program held at the Shirlington location of Busboys and Poets on April 17 and included a full three-course meal plus a raffle of donations by local businesses. “We had a surprise appearance by a Taylor Swift impersonator who ran the raffle.”
Taylor Swift impersonator surprises crowd at the raffle
Kovar started Piano and More in 2016 with two teachers and herself. “With the three of us combined we had about 90 students in the beginning. We were full up so I went out and hired more teachers, and we grew pretty fast to over 150 students.” She says they discovered that students wanted something more than just drilling students on technique. Kovar tries to make it fun, and discovered that happy students make happy performers. She believes that music has the power to provide lifetime benefits of strengthening the mind and offers an emotional outlet.
Then when Covid hit, the business took a dip in the beginning. People were cancelling until they discovered “stay at home” was here to stay. “Then we had a boom.”
She says her biggest struggle was in year seven when she realized she had been doing it all — teaching, managing, hiring and all the paperwork, and she needed help. “I started looking for administrative help but everything was in my head. I had to put it all on paper, train a person. It was overwhelming.”
Now she manages 13 teachers who give premium in-home lessons in the Arlington, McLean and Falls Church areas. “Since this is a part time gig after school, my biggest challenge is finding amazing teachers who are great teachers and musicians and know how to work with young children. They don’t usually make it a career but we pay teachers competitive rates, and I would like to see them view it as a career and be able to offer health insurance and benefits.”
Kovar says this 10-year celebration was one of the coolest things she has experienced since she started Piano & More. “We rocketed it out of the park. It was so amazing. The parents were so thrilled and asking if we could do it again. We had so much fun; maybe we will.”