Intro
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I completed my internship at a small music store called Acme House of Music, located at the top of Piedmont Avenue in Oakland. I heard of this opportunity through a past learner, Fletcher Smith, who had also done his internship at Acme music a few years back. I have been playing electric guitar for years, and interning at a music store is a good fit for me. I work from 1:30pm - 6:30pm, sometimes I work till closing at 7pm. I do this to discipline myself to prepare to work longer work hours in the future. With these hours, I was able to complete the internship requirement quickly.
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Day 1
2/13/19 1:30pm-6:30pm
I started off the day picking up ukuleles and bought them to Ups to get an estimate on the shipping prices. Then I helped to rewire the record players and stereos to working speakers. Afterwards, I did some heavy lifting and organized all of the violins, drum kits, pianos, amps to create more of a movable space. Then I wiped down all the guitars and made sure they were in tune. I also vacuumed the front of the shop. Towards the end of the day, my boss shows me how to setup and adjust parts of the guitar
Day 2
2/15/19 1:30pm-6:30pm
I started off today with heavy lifting and reorganizing, I had to move all the dj cases and amps, mixers to free up space. With the space I had freed up, I helped to arrange a piano section of the shop. I also rearrange the upstairs storage space so that there was easier access to guitar cases. After the reorganizing, my boss showed me more about fixing guitars
Day 3
2/20/19 1:30pm-6:30pm
Once again, I was assigned to organize the back to clear out as much space as possible for the students to go to their classrooms easier and have a less cluttered shopping area for customers. I also reorganized the strings and labeled them; Acoustic guitar, Electric guitar, Ukulele, etc.
Day 4
2/22/19 1:30pm-6:30pm
Today was tiring, the work was extremely repetitive and time consuming, so I focused on fewer tasks today. I was assigned to fold all the tape up boxes and store them away. I had to clear out a closet to all items that are not music-related to the very back of the upstairs. After reorganizing the items, I had vacuumed the floor and wiped down the guitars.
Day 5
2/27/19 2:00pm-7:00pm
Today, I am completing my required hours for school. My first task of the day was to connect receivers to monitors to make sure that they were functional and in condition to be sold. I also helped to fix a pedal that had loose wiring. Then, I wrapped and tidied up the cables in the PA section. I organized the back for the ukulele class. Afterwards, my boss showed me more about fixing the electronics of the guitar.
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Conclusion
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This internship had a lot to offer to me, I was able to learn something new about my own instrument as well as other ones almost everyday. Not only was I able to learn about the mechanics and setup of instruments, I also utilized and developed my skills in communication with my boss, customers. Although my time to complete my internship went by fast, I realized that I had already learnt to become more patient, improved work ethic, and organization skills.
I have been given many different tasks everyday and was able to learn something new about music instruments as well as sound systems. I learnt how to check for problems in receivers, how to setup sound systems, and troubleshoot systems. Although, learning all this had taken time, the most challenging part to this internship was organization. The shop is not small, but it has a lot of guitars and instruments and made it difficult to navigate and walk around at times. The difficult part was for me to figure out a solution to free up space in the store. Although I work two days a week, I was able to organize a piano section, clean up the PA area, clear the upstairs storage to make it walkable as well as designing some areas to make the instruments more presentable.
I feel lucky to have such a friendly and easy-going boss. It was easy to bring up any concerns or questions that I may have to him. In fact all of my co-workers were friendly and easy-going as well. It is a comfortable work environment and I feel welcomed working there. Not only was I able to gain the experience of working. I had also learnt the mechanics of the guitar through lessons with my boss. My time there has been fun and the experiences I gained at Acme Music are valuable to me and will benefit me both as a musician as well as putting this on my resumé. Having a relationship with my co-workers and this local music store will benefit me in the future.