The Kipi Chick

Penny Rushing, Servant Musician

Yes, you can.

Meet The Kipi Chick, aka Penny Rushing of Montague, Michigan. Penny was told in the 7th grade that she wasn’t good enough to be in the school choir. At the age of 40 her husband took her to the music store and told her to pick out whichever ukulele she wanted. Seven years of struggles and successes later, Penny performed at her first open mic night event.

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Unfortunately, negative school music experiences are not uncommon. I hear the personal stories of difficult school music experiences from friends and acquaintances outside of the music world, from students in my music classes, and from responses to surveys that I administered to college education students. Every new story makes me cringe and question some of our processes and approaches in school music education. While these negative music education experiences have the potential to deter students from continuing music in school and later into adulthood, Penny sought out to live a musical life without the support of a public school music program. This led her to experiencing and sharing music in ways that perhaps we can all learn from.

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A message from Penny:

Don’t give up. The motivation to keep trying for me was … maybe, just MAYBE … THIS TIME I WOULD GET IT!!! THIS TIME I would figure it out!! Maybe. Then there is the excitement when I realize that I can do this, like I can make music! Yeah. And when I learn a new song, and then the first time I make it through playing that song in public without screwing it up, it feels good.

To read the full article on Substack: Click Here

https://themusiciancoach.substack.com/p/the-kipi-chick-on-becoming-a-professional