MI Pro

This month, to the eternal surprise of nearly everyone involved and the monetary gain of one very happy local pizza place, the entire staff of my much-loved emporium of musical delights discovered the benefits of in-house training. And they weren’t entirely pizza related.

It had been on the cards for a while. Mutterings in dark corners and the constant rumble of rumour turned into real-life, unalterable fact when the announcement was made that yes, monthly meetings would be taking place and that training would be of prime importance in said meetings.

To us mere musos, cowering behind our re-stringing prowess and ability to impress shop newcomers with a bit of the old razzle dazzle, training has rarely been top of the priority list. Trainers, perhaps, but training? Certainly not.

The problem in our little slice of MI nirvana lies in the fact that we are all, bar none, strictly guitarists. Acoustic, electric, bass, classical – all the different types of player are ticked off on our staff rota, but of course that somewhat limits us when it comes to selling an oboe, for example. Or, in fact, anything from outside the realms of a working four (or at a stretch five) piece rock and roll band. That’s what we all play in, that’s what we know, and that, unfortunately, was beginning to have an effect on the shop.

Customers searching for a bit of viola advice or a friendly ear to discuss saxophone purchasing choices were met with at best a bemused smile and frankly the time had come to pull our collective head out of our rock n roll oriented backsides and open our minds to the wider world. It’s scary at first, but let me tell you that it really is very much worth the time investment.

Right from the first night’s training, which covered PA and classical strings, things have been looking up. Suddenly, we all know what to do when someone asks about the intricacies of the humble violin. We know the tunings, can name the parts – hell, all that’s left is to learn how to play the damn things and then we’re really motoring.

The confidence in store, that invaluable feeling that comes with the sure knowledge that you will be able to deal with anyone who walks through the door, has rocketed and all for the price of a few large pizzas and an extra night in the shop every month. Who’d have thought it?