Gabriel De David and the New World Music School

 The New World Music School is a bilingual institution that teaches music to children and adults in Orlando, Florida. The school is located in a small building on University Boulevard, near Forsyth Rd; it was founded seven years ago by its current owner and president Gabriel De David. Mr. De David is an American musician of Puerto Rican descent who graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from the Inter American University of Puerto Rico, and with a Master’s Degree in Music Education from Florida State University.

He is a nice, smiley guy who is passionate about teaching music. He told me during our interview that his dream had always been to have his own music school, and that his only regret was that it took him so long to do so. He is retired from the Florida Public School System where he taught elementary school music for 20 years, give or take.

Most of the negotiations that Mr. De David does in his work involve his students, and their parents when the students are children. It is quite difficult sometimes, to find common ground when you are working with kids. Parents are very protective of their children and a lot of times they want other people to accommodate to their needs, especially with extracurricular activities they see as a hobby. Gabriel tells me that the most difficult situation to negotiate is when there are 2 or more kids from the same family who want to take lessons of different instruments during the same time slot, since this implies coordinating the schedule for the children and the teachers. Usually what he would do is ask the customer what day works better for them and then accommodate the schedule with the available hours his teachers have. However, it not always works.

Whenever there is a situation where an agreement cannot be reached, he uses objective criteria. Industry standards of how most music schools work around this area helps him make his customers understand that there is a reason behind the apparent madness, and that he is not being unreasonable, but merely looking out for the good operation of his school. He also told me that being upfront from the beginning about the school policy has helped him avoid any ugly confrontations. Thinking about the customer service he wants to offer at his school is the method he uses to separate people from the problem and always keep his cool. Nevertheless if an agreement cannot be reached after further negotiation, the school’s Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement is to offer the customer the opportunity to find another school that meets his needs better.

He also told me his students sometimes use dirty tricks to try and cancel a lesson, by faking to be ill (which is the only excusable reason to reschedule a lesson). If it is a one-time occurrence, he will let it slide because there is no way he can actually confirm if the student is sick or not. However, if he finds a pattern from a student, he told me he would talk to the student and confront him about this repetitive behavior he has noticed.

These are some examples of the kind of negotiations I will have to deal with in my career. Hopefully I will get to fulfill my dream as Mr. De David; I will already have a better understanding of the various ways to deal with some of the difficult situations I will be faced with.