Summary
An Interview with Ken Thompson about the business of music lessons in San Antonio.
MACSA CEO and Founder Ken Thompson is doing his part to save classical music.
In this podcast, Ken speaks about how MACSA got to where it is today. Today the Musical Arts Center of San Antonio music school is 21 years old with a student body of over 1100 students and 39 music teachers > A place where successful music students are willing to travel from outside of San Antonio to take music lessons at one of his two locations.
The podcast explores a bit more of the business side of the musical operation, but you can get an idea about the why and how of MACSA. Whether you are a prospective student, parent, aspiring music teacher, or business owner it is definitely worth a listen.
Despite the immense joy classical musical art brings to people of all walks of life all over the world, Ken noticed a downward spiral. This cause of this downtrend could be narrowed down to just a couple of factors. First, there were not enough good jobs for well-qualified teachers. Second, the lack of opportunity was a common concern for parents. This meant that parents would be less encouraging of a child who wanted to pursue a career in the musical arts. What if there was a place that provided good jobs to music teachers? What if there were more opportunities for those who wanted to pursue teaching music as a career? What if this caught on and reversed the downward trend of classical musical arts? Somebody had to go out and try to make this happen, and Ken found it in himself to be the one to do it.
In order to make MACSA work, Ken needed to deliver a quality product and develop processes to make his own success repeatable while meeting and exceeding the expectations of his clients. This means balancing the cost of operating with having competitive pricing while not shortchanging the business, teachers, or himself for the value they are worth. Business owners will appreciate his take on the 21-year “experiment” that is his business model but anybody can appreciate the process and his approach to making things work. He always is working to improve his processes and communication. Ken himself is an advanced piano teacher but has successfully expanded MACSA to include violin lessons, singing lessons, guitar lessons, and percussion lessons. Ken is also actively involved in music teacher selection and their professional development.
All in all, you will find that Ken has built MACSA to be the best place for music lessons in San Antonio and the surrounding areas, for music teachers to teach and music students to learn. The musical arts have a place to not only survive but to thrive.
This podcast was recorded and originally distributed as an interview by Andrea Miller of the Musical Studio Startup. Here is a link to the episode.