Donna Kirk Interview |Part 3

After getting the building, most of Donna’s vocal coaching students are still online. However, the fact that Legacy has a building means that they have extra confidence in the business, because they can see it is growing. Initially, there was some apprehensiveness about transitioning to technical methods, but when they realised that it didn’t affect their learning. During lockdown, If it was not for the internet, Donna would have had to close down the business. 
Before lockdown, Donna already had a number of online students who were located abroad - one in Los Angeles, USA, Romania, Kuwait, and Singapore. One student has been able to continue lessons through two moves across the country thanks to online learning. 
“I was able to retain all my students, apart from one who contracted COVID, and is still currently ill, and cannot continue due to continuing respiratory problems.

“One of my students is seventy, and he has not been able to go anywhere. During lockdown, his mother sadly passed away, but every week, he attends his lessons without fail. He has had problems with his voice and speech, but  his voice improves at the end of each lesson because of the technical exercises I do with him. He says he feels better on a physical and mental level after lessons. Sometimes if he feels low he doesn’t want to do it, but he does it anyway. Singing releases endorphins - happy chemicals - in the brain, and stimulates the vagus nerve, which in turn stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system, calming you down if you are stressed - this is because of the vibrations and the breathing techniques that come with singing.

“Some people come out of lessons feeling like they have just done a yoga class! They feel pumped, but relaxed at the same time. It’s like the tree pose but for the voice! Even though it's not the same as being in person, at least it's the same face and the same voice - someone said, “I sing and I feel better - I forget for an hour that everything’s rubbish”. Even though they were not able to come physically to the house, they were coming to the screen. Maybe what motivated me was that these people were relying on me to bring a bit of light to their week. Even when I didn’t want to, I had to turn on the positive. I’d be exhausted at the end, because teaching and working online is significantly more tiring, because you are not able to read a person’s face, and body language and actions in the same way. It’s harder for them to see what I want them to do, so I have to pull mad faces to demonstrate. Then sometimes they are too far away from the screen and I can’t see them properly. I often end up shouting at the screen - you really have to project your voice more. Teaching online is harder, but it's worth it. 

Donna knows that in these strange times, we all need as much normality as we can get. As well as helping her clients, running the business benefits her on a personal level in so many ways. It helps her feel like she still has a job to do during the day. As she was already working from home before lockdown, the adjustment wasn’t a big one for her. In some ways, it is as if the opposite has happened - she now goes out to work at the building, while her clients are having to work from home.
​
“I feel a responsibility to keep going for these people so that they can keep going with the amazing progress they are making. I want to make money so I can afford to keep going, but that’s a means to an end. The building is an investment in the future, because these restrictions may not last for, say, the next three years. If we knew that it was, we would not have gotten the building as it would have been a waste of time and money, for a lot of effort and hard work. I have to move forward as though it’s not forever, and if it turns out that it is, then that is what it is. But if I don’t and then everything returns to normal, well then I have to live with the regret of not having taken that opportunity while it was there. Is I just have to go forward and do the next right thing.

Lockdown has created more reasons for Donna to keep moving forward with her business goals. She is eager to create and build new relationships with the surrounding businesses and her local community. For example, there is a music shop down the road, that has an upper floor full of tiered seating, and a stage area, which she discovered completely by accident - or not. She went in to buy a keyboard stand, and the shop owner suggested that she bring in a load of vocal coaching fliers for them to stick on their notice board. They offered to tell their customers about Legacy. Unfortunately that could not happen, as the music shop had to shut due to lockdown. But this is an encouraging sign for Donna, as it shows what could be possible in the future. When lockdown eases, she has that positive relationship that she can build on. 

There are more possibilities that she has been keeping track of. Nearby, there is a dance school, which may be full of young people who would love to learn to sing alongside their dancing skills. She also met a woman who works with a youth homelessness charity which puts on an annual benefit concert every November. Domma reached out to see if there was anyway she could help. This is something else for her to follow up. 

“I want to get into the community and start forming these relationships with businesses so. That people know about us and who we are. We new planning on putting together courses so that people can buy them from us as a resource. This is not going to happen overnight, and we need to find the time. We are trying to get more online students - people who are sitting at home, who may be on furlough and have a bit of spare money. Not everyone is in the same boat though…so many are struggling and I am not ignoring those people. I have given a student lessons for £20 an hour even though I am supposed to charge £36. This is meant to be temporary, but I just cannot turn her away, because I have the space and time for her”. 

After getting the building, most of Donna’s vocal coaching students are still online. However, the fact that Legacy has a building means that they have extra confidence in the business, because they can see it is growing. Initially, there was some apprehensiveness about transitioning to technical methods, but when they realised that it didn’t affect their learning. During lockdown, If it was not for the internet, Donna would have had to close down the business. 

Before lockdown, Donna already had a number of online students who were located abroad - one in Los Angeles, USA, Romania, Kuwait, and Singapore. One student has been able to continue lessons through two moves across the country thanks to online learning. 
“I was able to retain all my students, apart from one who contracted COVID, and is still currently ill, and cannot continue due to continuing respiratory problems.

“One of my students is seventy, and he has not been able to go anywhere. During lockdown, his mother sadly passed away, but every week, he attends his lessons without fail. He has had problems with his voice and speech, but  his voice improves at the end of each lesson because of the technical exercises I do with him. He says he feels better on a physical and mental level after lessons. Sometimes if he feels low he doesn’t want to do it, but he does it anyway. Singing releases endorphins - happy chemicals - in the brain, and stimulates the vagus nerve, which in turn stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system, calming you down if you are stressed - this is because of the vibrations and the breathing techniques that come with singing.

“Some people come out of lessons feeling like they have just done a yoga class! They feel pumped, but relaxed at the same time. It’s like the tree pose but for the voice! Even though its not the same as being in person, at least its the same face and the same voice - someone said, “I sing and I feel better - I forget for an hour that everything’s rubbish”. Even though they were not able to come physically to the house, they were coming to the screen. Maybe what motivated me was that these people were relying on me to bring a bit of light to their week. Even when I didn’t want to, I had to turn on the positive. I’d be exhausted at the end, because teaching and working online is significantly more tiring, because you are not able to read a person’s face, and body language and actions in the same way. It’s harder for them to see what I want them to do, so I have to pull mad faces to demonstrate. Then sometimes they are too far away from the screen and I can’t see them properly. I often end up shouting at the screen - you really have to project your voice more. Teaching online is harder, but its worth it. 


Donna knows that in these strange times, we all need as much normality as we can get. As well as helping her clients, running the business benefits her on a personal level in so many ways. It helps her feel like she still has a job to do during the day. As she was already working from home before lockdown, the adjustment wasn’t a big one for her. In some ways, it is as if the opposite has happened - she now goes out to work at the building, while her clients are having to work from home.

“I feel a responsibility to keep going for these people so that they can keep going with the amazing progress they are making. I want to make money so I can afford to keep going, but that’s a means to an end. The building is an investment in the future, because these restrictions may not last for, say, the next three years. If we knew that it was, we would not have gotten the building as it would have been a waste of time and money, for a lot of effort and hard work. I have to move forward as though it’s not forever, and if it turns out that it is, then that is what it is. But if I don’t and then everything returns to normal, well then I have to live with the regret of not having taken that opportunity while it was there. Is I just have to go forward and do the next right thing. 

Lockdown has created more reasons for Donna to keep moving forward with her business goals. She is eager to create and build new relationships with the surrounding businesses and her local community. For example, there is a music shop down the road, that has an upper floor full of tiered seating, and a stage area, which she discovered completely by accident - or not. She went in to buy a keyboard stand, and the shop owner suggested that she bring in a load of vocal coaching fliers for them to stick on their notice board. They offered to tell their customers about Legacy. Unfortunately that could not happen, as the music shop had to shut due to lockdown. But this is an encouraging sign for Donna, as it shows what could be possible in the future. When lockdown eases, she has that positive relationship that she can build on. 

There are more possibilities that she has been keeping track of. Nearby, there is a dance school, which may be full of young people who would love to learn to sing alongside their dancing skills. She also met a woman who works with a youth homelessness charity which puts on an annual benefit concert every November. Domma reached out to see if there was anyway she could help. This is something else for her to follow up. 

“I want to get into the community and start forming these relationships with businesses so. That people know about us and who we are. We new planning on putting together courses so that people can buy them from us as a resource. This is not going to happen overnight, and we need to find the time. We are trying to get more online students - people who are sitting at home, who may be on furlough and have a bit of spare money. Not everyone is in the same boat though…so many are struggling and I am not ignoring those people. I have given a student lessons for £20 an hour even though I am supposed to charge £36. This is meant to be temporary, but I just cannot turn her away, because I have the space and time for her”. 

Alongside her business, Donna has recently taken up horseriding. This is something she had been wanting to do for a long time, but never had the spare time. 
“Like my clients, I wanted another goal to work towards, to be doing something that I am getting better at. Riding is so thrilling. I used to ride when I was a teenager. It’s outdoors, it gets me moving. Even when the weather is horrible, it’s good to be outdoors. Plus, I am allowed to hug the horses. (I love their squishy noses). I get the same horse every week to avoid cross-contamination, and I have to clean the saddles afterwards”. 

Donna does her horse riding for the same reasons that her clients come to her for singing lessons - to challenge herself, and to have goals to work towards achieving.