Charlie Batten - My First Real Student: Family Support Story #17

I had been teaching to some degree since I was about 15 years old. I found that other kids in the neighborhood were willing to pay me to teach them some guitar, and I even got a few students locally via referrals. Up until then I was mostly super locally teaching.

That would change when I was referred to The Batten Family by my friend Susie. She was in the same dance program with the Batten’s daughter, and as it turned out, their son, Charlie, was interested in learning guitar.

I reached out to them and we set up the class and from there I was officially expanding out into a wider market with my offerings. This was a huge step in my career. I also had only recently gotten my license and so this would be the farthest I will have driven to work.

We set the classes up around February or March. I remember because it was snowy out and I was TERRIFIED about driving down major highways in the snow by myself.

Charlie lived in a Society Hill living complex, which is basically a maze of apartments.. Even as a pizza guy, these types of complexes were (and still are) nightmares to maneuver. This first lesson was no different, and so I think I showed up 20 minutes late for the first class. Fortunately, being terribly late is not something that I kept repeating.. (most of the time).

When I got inside the house Charlie and I went up to his room and got to work. I can’t currently remember the name of the song we deciphered,.. But if it comes to me, I’ll surely edit the blog or make a note of it. We sat down with a cd player and I figured out the song he wanted to learn, all by ear (pre-smartphones), and then I showed him how to play it. We covered all the normal ground; power chords, open chords, riffs, tabs.. And we learned the song after a few sessions. I do remember that it was a pop-punk, or emo song and that it had these big heavy verses and likely a half-time power chorus. I can hear the song tune in my head, and I can sense how it felt, but I just can’t put my finger on the track. All in all I think Charlie and I only did lessons for a few months, but it really was my first major jumpstart.

I think I worked with Charlie until he either graduated, or till he went off to college. I can’t recall how we ended our sessions together. I think it was a peaceful parting. I tried to look Charlie up on social media a few times and never successfully found a profile of his, so it’s possible he’s either not on social media or that he has a username that I am not aware of. I would be curious to see if he is still playing, and of course, how he is doing in life. I liked working with him, I distinctly remember that. It was exciting, and sort of “dangerous” in that i was traveling far and really exploring the regions beyond my comfort zone regionally as a new driver. But in the end, it was totally worth it.

My Take-Away From This Story

This was the first time I really had a gig like this, where I was driving a distance weekly and asking a fair wage for the service. I think at the time I was probably charging like 25$ an hour, which was pretty decent for a kid basically fresh out of high school. It really set the tone for the years to come, as it happens that I am still here happily doing the same job all these years later. I truly love what I do, and I’m glad that I do it for myself, and on my terms. This first real “client”, and I can say that I learned a lot from the experience. At the time I was living this experience I had no idea that it would blossom into a lifelong career.