A free or paid teacher ?

One day, a friend Barman taught me a simple thing that has always been written in religious books: giving without counting. Of course, I extrapolate the situation because the context is not at all the same today.

He told me :

  • Do you want to drink free drinks ?
  • Well yes you think !!!
  • So pay him a shot first at the Barman… and you’ll see !
  • Are you serious ?
  • Yes !
  • But he doesn’t need it since he’s at the bar… so he can drink whenever he wants !
  • Yes it’s true, but it’s always a pleasure to be offered a drink, you know ! Even when you’re a bartender…
  • Indeed, the bartender liked me and I offered him a coffee, a beer… whatever he wanted… and his face lit up ! Just before leaving, the bartender said to me, « Wait, wait, Raf… take something please, it’s for me ! « 

The proof was obvious from that day on… because we are simply human. And when the energy of the person we are talking to is beautiful, well we naturally want to give or share something with him … right ?

  • Is it possible today to get the free services of a teacher ?

Yes it is possible, but with logical and simple conditions. Let me explain :

A music teacher gives a large intellectual and physical part for the instrument he plays and teaches. If you have decided to take lessons with him, it is because his teaching seems appropriate to the development you would like to have. Now you have to understand that thanks to the lessons he gives you, he fills his fridge. So it makes sense to understand that the gesture must first come from you, before getting a return at some point. I remind you that this return is not at all compulsory, since it gave you the education for which you paid… and that it is not worth going back on the price, because a deal remains a deal… especially if you are a bit stingy, your teacher will feel it and he will not discuss the subject of money with you, so as not to upset you.

On the other hand, if one day your teacher offers you an additional and free improvement, whether it is a live or video lesson by SKYPE, this means that your relationship is going pretty well and that is the proof that it can happen… in a different form of course, but it does happen !

  • So it’s all about attitude ?

Exactly ! Understanding that attitude goes through codes of intrinsics in language and gestures … this is often what takes years to get into our head. Not everything happens only in a project and its content.

« A little impatience can ruin a big project !  »  – CONFUCIUS proverb –

I often have musicians, composers or organizers who offer me interesting projects. But when I gave my answer, especially a few days later to have time to « feel » my feelings about the proposal, I try to remember how I felt when I observed the person, his expressions.

I know it’s a bit too « Profiler » when I say that, but I remember well the discussion I had with the famous French singer ARTHUR H the day I offered to come and put his beautiful deep voice on my album ARTHUR RIMBAUD. And I also remember his gaze which supported mine when I explained my personal story, until I met our poet RIMBAUD. This means that when we share a project with friends or others, people trust the feeling, our internal radar that says « yes » or « no ».

When I was 22 and 25 years, 1000 years ago…Zany Face on Samsung One UI 1.5, I went many times in the United States to follow sales training by developing commercial relationships, and therefore human in all logic. During these internships, I learned a few communication rules under which the Human Being functions in spite of himself. Including the one who says that « the first look at a person you meet for the first time can last at least 10 years ». That is to say that the first thought or judgment that we had on this person will remain anchored in us for 10 years !

What is most impressive is to understand that to bring down this 1st thought, we will have to fight against ourselves to erase all this and finally pass to another healthier judgment, if necessary.

  • The DVD : « ESSENTIAL OF DIDGERIDOO » for free, is it possible ?

Yes, I decided to record it in English during my trip to Australia in 2019 because indeed I had a lot of foreign requests for the English version. Then, I decided to put it online for free on my YOUTUBE channel (http://bit.ly/2BGO1Ay) a few months ago. For the simple reason that I think it has had its commercial history… and that it is time to move on… Indeed, I was also tired of fighting with distributors and stores that you pay sales when they want. Even the label of the TRIBAL ZIK RECORDS label has not prevented distribution scams… too bad !

Basic courses are now available for free viewing ! Cool right ?! This also allows me to talk more freely about VOLUME 2 of this DVD only in french for now… which I am putting the lessons on my YOUTUBE channel as and when this CORONAVIRUS confinement. Which is, for me, my way of making the players wait…

  • Why give a job that required such self-investment and financial ?

I realized that over time, people were no longer buying DVDs, which is a proven fact, and were no longer taking on-demand VOD lessons. But the average consumer goes to YOUTUBE to find the information they need. At the shortest and fastest at any cost !!!

But the problem with YOUTUBE is that there are people who think of becoming a teacher because they know how to align 2 sounds and allow themselves to leave videos on circular breathing recorded in a puppy or in a room with very cheap stuff ! And then I tell myself that there is a bug in the matrix, necessarily ! The worst part is that it encourages other people to do the same !!! So suddenly, we lose the sense of all reality !

And some people who saw that, called me to haggle over the prices of my lessons saying that they could learn on the internet … and for free! It was from there that I told myself that I should put videos with serious teaching available. And without deluding yourself, YOUTUBE also makes it possible to make my work known more quickly, for sure ! So it suits me.

For me, the deal is clean : free lessons in exchange for a broader view on my work as a teacher, manufacturer and artist of didgeridoo… clean !

And today, the feedback from this decision is already there, with new students as well as projects and magical meetings with other more or less known artists.

  • A teacher and free internet lessons… that’s it ?!

Let’s say that for the moment it’s not too bad for someone looking to play without taking lessons and who has never put a copeck on my table. With these videos of basic and more advanced lessons, I make visual proposals in order to make people understand how it works with the didgeridoo… then, home work is essential, inevitably!

Then, when the students come home, they can see very clearly that my generosity does not stop there but much beyond what is visible on the computer screen. But for that, you have to come and meet me…Smiling Face with Smiling Eyes on Samsung One UI 1.5

  • CONCLUSION

In the French world of didgeridoo, I know exactly the position I occupy and what I have brought to it, whether positive or negative. Because let’s not forget that when I started developing didgeridoo manufacturing and lessons between the years 95-2000, I was only between 27 and 32 years old… a kind of dreamer who took himself for a big one… Face with Tears of Joy on Samsung One UI 1.5

Today with hindsight, I realize that I was very ambitious… maybe too much… which must have made me sometimes unbearable and self-absorbed I am sure. It has earned me wars, some of which endure. Personally, the gift of my art allows me to make a kind of redemption and to see more clearly what is happening today in the world of didgeridoo, and to be fully aware of the people around me. and which make me want to exchange with them, and to give at the same time !

So yes, it is possible to get a free teacher with free lessons … now the question is whether it will be of good quality ?  Up to you…Hushed Face on Samsung One UI 1.5