Today we’d like to introduce you to Arman Jon.
Arman, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
It all started when I saw the Johnny B. Goode scene in Back to the Future. At the age of eight, I knew I wanted to be skipping across the stage with a cherry red guitar in my hand. This turned into taking private lessons that would get me one step closer to my Marty McFly moment. In high school, my interest in music exploded when I heard “Yellow” by Coldplay for the first time. I knew that I wanted to start writing songs and play in a band. While playing in many bands throughout high schools and still pursuing a dream like Marty Mcfly; I started writing songs and finding that writing with friends fueled my passion.
After spending many years studying with great teachers in guitar, bass, piano, and voice. I started studying music at Mira Costa College, studying everything from music theory, musicianship, and orchestral scoring. I knew that I was hungry to learn as much as I could and being involved in the music scene at Cal State San Marcos contributed. At Miracosta, I found my passion for tutoring friends and classmates. In my final semester at MiraCosta, I got a teaching position at a music school.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
My biggest obstacle I’ve faced this year was adapting to teaching solely online. With in-person lessons, I was able to move my student’s hands and guide them with their instruments making it much easier to teach. Also, it’s always fun to be able to jam with them. I took the leap to start my own business and left my music studio teaching job. Becoming completely self-employed during the pandemic was a blessing and I thank God I was able to make the transition successfully.
Can you give our readers some background on your music?
My business Arman’s Awesome Music Lessons like many others, has struggled throughout the pandemic. Fortunately, I’m able to work from home now and I’ve made the switch to teaching completely via Zoom/Facetime calls from in-person private lessons. Now that I’ve had time to adapt to the new medium, I feel I’ve benefited from this because I have to work harder to make the lessons fun, and once I can go back to teaching in-person, I believe it will be even better than before. My business offers private music lessons for guitar, piano, ukulele, bass, and voice lessons. I like to believe I embody fun as a teacher and to do that, I make sure the client is enjoying themselves instead of struggling through the sometimes difficult process.
Each and every lesson is centered around learning as much we can while keeping it light and enjoyable. Teaching students from ages 5 to 65, I’m most proud to offer an outlet for everyone to learn how to play their favorite songs. Over the past five years of teaching, I have seen children and adults turn into musicians who independently play and create music. Each lesson is personalized to the student, pushing them just enough to keep them learning efficiently at their respective levels. It’s important to give them enough to practice on their own time so they can learn to teach themselves when I’m not with them. As a teacher, I believe it to be important for my students to see that I also have music online so that they can see what I love to do and how far anyone can come.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
This year I was able to release three original songs, which has been a dream of mine since I was 14 years old. Man with No Name, Skies, and Won’t You Stay. Man With No Name is a song about a secret agent. Skies is a song featuring a friend, Julius Witherspoon. This song is very special to me. It’s a story about a boy who loses his father and brother and runs away. Trying to cope with the loss, he realizes God has been there for him all along. “Won’t you Stay” is streaming on all streaming platforms. Two more songs to be released by the end of the year.
My first Recital I’ll never forget. Having all my student’s play was a rewarding experience. Seeing a student playing a song from start to finish was the highlight. One of my favorite moments preforming was durning an audition. My band and I were performing and we were called back by the audience to do an encore out of every other preforming artist there.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.armanjonmusic.com
- Email: planetarman@gmail.com
- Instagram: the_last_arman
Image Credit:
The Professional picture is by Elissa Voss
Suggest a story: SDVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
