Summer Lessons and Curriculum

May 5, 2021
by Amy
6 Comments

This post is part of a series called Your Questions Answered that highlights questions from readers just like you. If you have a question you would like to submit, you can do so here.

What curriculum do you teach in the summer?  Do you keep the student going in their regular curriculum or do you use something different to give them a break?

I love your idea of 6 lessons in 7 weeks and I would love more info on how you set it up.

Thanks,

PM

Dear P,

Those are some great questions and I would be happy to share a little more info!

I don’t have a set curriculum I teach in the Summer. For the most part, I just keep going with whatever students are working on but it’s always quite relaxed and there is no Classical repertoire involved unless the student specifically wants it.

Usually, I try to do a lot of pop tunes, Disney, chord charts, really anything the student is interested in. For several years I held a studio-wide outdoor picnic performance and it was fun to play that kind of music in that environment.

The 6 lessons in 7 weeks have worked perfectly for me ever since I’ve opened my studio. Depending on how my late July looks, I’ve even done 6 lessons over 8 weeks or 7 lessons over 8 weeks.

It’s nice to give flexibility to families in the Summer and I prefer to have a lighter schedule myself. Because of my preference for a light summer, I also do not require students to take summer lessons. I strongly recommend it for the first 3 years but don’t require it.

If they opt not to take summer lessons, however, I have a $30 non-refundable holding fee to keep their spot for fall lessons. I can’t replace my income for those two months if they don’t take lessons because I can’t take on new students for which I don’t have space in the fall. This is a great way to still have a little extra income while maintaining a lighter summer schedule.

The summer tuition fee is paid for in one payment (due by the first lesson) however, on occasion, if a family requests, I will let them make it in two payments. My fee is the same “per lesson” rate as the school term although I don’t advertise “per lesson” rates – that’s just how I calculate my fees.

My rates are listed as an annual tuition rate. More specifically, a school year rate and then a separate summer rate. From there, they have payment options of annual, semester, or monthly. I think it’s good to keep the focus on the big picture fee rather than on a per month (and especially not a per lesson) fee.

I hope this helps and let me know if you have any more questions!

 

~Amy

 

Friday Finds #217: Best of April

April 30, 2021
by Amy
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Friday Finds Blog Post

Happy end-of-April!

Here are my favorite fun finds from all over the web this past month for you, my dear peeps.

~Amy

 

 

1

The Real Book (Episode #438) from 99% Invisible podcast

The absolutely fascinating story of how the popular “Real Book” evolved into fruition.

 

2

My Hunt for the Original McDonald’s French Fry Recipe (Atlas Obscura)

How interesting! Do you remember the original McDonald’s french fries (prior to 1990?) Even though I was a kid in the ’80s, I don’t.

They were apparently fried in beef tallow rather than vegetable/soybean oils as they are today and in turn were much crispier.

Of course, I’ve already put beef tallow in my Amazon shopping cart. We’re not McDonald’s eaters, but like a good American, enjoy eating a good french fry now and then.

 

3

 

Have you heard of CeraVe? If you have any kind of skin sensitivities, it’s a product developed by Dermatologists that’s available in your local drugstore or grocery.

I found out about it when I had a crazy heat rash on my legs a couple of summers ago that wouldn’t go away. After going to the dermatologist, their simple recommendation was the CeraVe Itch Relief Moisturizing Cream and a mild antibiotic.

 

4

Do you hold year-end evaluation meetings with parents and students? Here are some resources to help.

Friday Finds #214 – Year-End Evaluations (Piano Pantry)

Friday Finds #215 – Parent/Student Questionnaires (Piano Pantry)

Maybe Measuring Progress is Really Measuring Something More Important? (Key Ideas podcast)

 

5

8 Solo Piano Collections for Worship (Ashley Danyew)

Ashley has a podcast called Field New on Music Teaching and Learning I’ve been enjoying recently thanks to a recommendation by Joy Morin.

 

6

A fun virtual tour of Leila Viss’s piano studio.

 

7

My highly recommended recipes from what I made in the past four weeks:

Chicken Fajita Stuffed Poblano Peppers (Simply Recipes); For a little healthier side, serve alongside quinoa rather than rice.

High Protein Oat Waffles (Skinny Taste); I already shared these several weeks ago but they are too good to not bring up again!

Rhubarb Dream Bars (Baking You Happier)

Southwestern Apple and Radish Salad (Cook’s Country); Add some shredded rotisserie chicken to make it a meal.

White Bean and Tuna Salad (Simply Recipes); Add some extra salad greens for a more robust salad.

 

8

The Ultimate Music Education Book List (Mrs. Stouffer’s Music Room)

Wow, an incredibly comprehensive list!!

 

9

In case you missed them and they are just what you need at this time:

Friday Finds #213 – Recital Prep

Friday Finds #216 – New Student Interviews and Registrations

 

10

12 Facebook Settings and Notifications You Can Turn Off Immediately (Real Simple)

 

11

How Music Teachers Can Sell Digital Products (Piano with Lauren)

 

12

Music Publishing 101 (Chrissy Ricker)

 

 

Update: MTNA Music Study Award fillable form fixed!

April 27, 2021
by Amy
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Just a quick update!

Two weeks ago I published a post with a printable template to help you print your MTNA Music Study Awards.

The form had always been fillable but this year when I downloaded it, it was not. I have to admit, I convinced myself I was mistaken that it was in the past and just went right ahead and made a printable template so you didn’t have to write in the student’s names by hand.

Thanks to fellow colleague/reader Jan Fulford who was a little more proactive than I was! She contacted me on Facebook and pointed out that yes, they had been fillable in the past but were also not working for her this year either. So, she contacted MTNA and found out it was flux and it was supposed to be fillable.

It has been fixed now – YEA!

Don’t worry, it doesn’t print the fillable area in purple. 🙂

Plus, we noticed that the centering of the words “present the” was off so they fixed that as well!

Thanks to Jan for her help in getting this all fixed!

P.S. Even though it’s basically not necessary anymore, I’m going to leave the printable template post active just in case since I’ve already put the work into it. 

Friday Finds #216: New Student Interviews and Registrations

April 23, 2021
by Amy
2 Comments

Friday Finds Blog Post

You may not be mentally ready for it, but this is the time of year to be thinking not only about Summer lessons but about your student load/list for the Fall term.

Along with that comes the work of meeting with/interviewing and registering new students. Take some time to think about the process you use. The way we run our student interview meetings, and the process set up for registering students is the first peek families will have into the quality of your studio.

Do you like what you see? Is it the kind of onboarding process you would feel good about if you were the one signing up? Is everything streamlined, easy to understand, and smooth and painless?

Here are some resources for you today as you consider your own interview and registration process.

 

1

How to Plan a New Piano Student Interview or Meeting (Colourful Keys)

 

2

3 Printables for Interviewing Students (Color in my Piano)

Interview Evaluation Forms (Music Educator Resources)

 

3

 

One activity I find great to do with students during your first meeting is to decorate the piano. It gives you a chance to engage with the student and shows parents you work to make lessons fun. (Piano Safari)

 

4

New Piano Student Interviews – How to Seal the Deal (Compose Create)

 

5

How and When to Say No to Prospective Students (Teach with Diane)

 

6

One Registration Question Not-to-be-Missed! (Piano Pantry)

Here are 5 Questions Ask Every Piano Parent (Teach Piano Today)

 

7

 

If you’re looking to book interview meetings and/or do your registration forms online, there are all kinds of tools out there to make it easier. Some favorites I’ve heard of from other teachers over the years:

Google Forms

Typeform: People-Friendly Forms and Surveys

JotForm: A Typeform Alternative

Doodle: Free online meeting scheduling tool

Simplify This: Online Appointment Scheduling & Booking Software

 

8

Would you like to obtain signatures on your policy documents but want to keep it all digital still? Check out Sign Easy, an electronic signature app.

 

9

Supercharge Your Piano Studio Organisation with Google Gadgetry (Top Music Co)

 

10

Why You Need a Piano Studio Child Protection Policy and Plan (Rebekah Maxner)

 

11

The Email Every Piano Teacher Should Send Home at the Start of the Term (Teach Piano Today)

 

 

Help Your Students Perform Their Best with these Piano Performance Checklists

April 20, 2021
by Amy
3 Comments

As we move into the Spring festival and recital season, consider taking time to talk to your students about good performance practices.

It’s easy to get tied up working on students’ skills with their repertoire and forget that there’s much more to it when it comes time for them to actually perform their music!

I sometimes find myself forgetting that students don’t just automatically KNOW these things, we have to take time to talk to them about (and practice) things like…

  • If you make a mistake, do your best to continue in an inconspicuous manner without pauses, facial expressions, physical reactions (such as flinching), or sounds.
  • If the performance situation has them announcing themself and/or their piece), speak slowly, and clearly, with well-articulated words and confidence.
  • The Day of the Performance…At least once during the day (and preferably about an hour prior to the performance), take a moment to close your eyes and visualize your performance including walking in, talking to the judges (if applicable), adjusting the bench, and warming up.
  • The Day of the Performance…Make sure you have practiced what you will use to warm up when you first sit down at the piano. Every piano feels different so don’t be afraid to ask if you can try it out before you begin your piece. A brief scale/warm-up or opening 4 measures of your piece will suffice.
  • The Day of the Performance…Take a celebratory photo after the performance somewhere that is memorable of what the event was and send it to your teacher!

This free download includes TWO CHECKLISTS:

The first is a “Piano Performance Checklist”. This page is great to use with students either individually or during a group performance class. It’s not an adjudication sheet, just a nice list of things that make up a solid performance.

The second is a list of helpful points for students to remember “The Day-of Your Piano Performance.”

I’m sure there are a whole plethora of other items that could be added to each but the goal was to keep it fairly concise and keep it to one page each. You don’t want to overwhelm students with TOO many do’s and don’ts.

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Friday Finds #215: Parent/Student Questionnaires

April 16, 2021
by Amy
2 Comments

Friday Finds Blog Post

Last week we looked at resources for writing end-of-year evaluations. That is, teachers assessing student’s progress, skills, and future goals.

At the same time, it’s good to ask students and parents to reflect on the past year, including things such as dedication, implementation, efforts, and progress. Not only that, but it’s good to obtain feedback on your own teaching and business from families for your own growth and reflection.

Here are a small handful of resources to get you started.

 

1

When I crafted my first questionnaire 10 years ago, I was super thankful for Natalie Weber’s example to get me started! She has two forms available, one for parents and one for students.

 

2

Curious what my forms look like? Download them here: Crafting Year-End Parent / Student Questionnaires (Piano Pantry)

 

3

Here are two fun examples of simple feedback forms for young children to fill out:

A Report Card for Piano Teachers – How to Get Honest Feedback from Piano Students (Teach Piano Today)

Here is a great self-evaluation form for younger students that uses smiley faces for measuring from Nicola Cantan

 

4

The Mind-Reading Music Teacher: How to Impress Your Customers (Daniel Patterson | Grow Your Music Studio)

My favorite snipped from this post:

It would be better to use an online survey tool like Polldaddy, Google Forms, or Typeform. These tools are free to use. Give people the chance to anonymously answer these questions on their own time. You will receive longer, more honest answers.

Ask non-threatening questions. Ask open-ended questions and give parents a chance to elaborate. Here are some ideas:

  • Why did the families in your Studio pick music lessons? (as opposed to dance, soccer, karate, etc.)
  • Why did the families in your studio pick you over everyone else?
  • What did the families think lessons would be like?
  • What concerns and fears did your families have with starting lessons?
  • What general goals do your families have for their child? (not related to music)
  • What do families not like about being in music lessons?

 

 

MTNA Music Study Award Printable Template

April 13, 2021
by Amy
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Every year at our Spring Recital, students are given a “Music Study Award” celebrating the milestones of their years of study and dedication to ongoing music lessons.

Made available by MTNA, (only members have access to this award), they have a free certificate available for download signed by the current MTNA President and the Executive Director/C.E.O.

For more details on how to find the award on the MTNA website, see this post: Studio Awards Policies and Procedures.

There is space for the teacher to fill in the student name, years of music study, and for the teacher’s signature and date given.

This form is usually fillable but for some reason this year it is not.

I have terrible handwriting and while it’s one thing to sign my name and write the date, it’s another to write out the student’s name and years of study and make it look nice.

So, I created a printable template I’m sharing with you today for free.

4/27/2021 Update: Thanks to fellow colleague/reader Jan Fulford for pointing out to me that her fillable form WAS working. We contacted MTNA and found out it was flux and it was supposed to be fillable. It has been fixed now so YEA!

I’m going to leave this template available anyway just in case since I’ve already put the work into it.

First, you will want to print the certificate.

P.S. If you are using a certificate paper that has a large border on it, you will need to scale down the print area. Here’s a 2-minute tutorial to show you how.

Next, return the printed page to the printer tray (be sure and put it in the correct direction).

Then, print the template on top of it. (You will, of course, have written in the student’s name and years of study. 🙂 )

P.S.S. If you had to scale your document based on the type of certificate paper you’re using as per above, remember to scale the template as well. 🙂

It’s a little tedious because you have to do it one by one for each student, but it is a project that can be knocked out quickly with a good rhythm.

I would print as many awards as you need then put the full stack in your printer and print the names out one by one.

 

How to Access and Use the Template

The template is available in Google Docs.

Click here to access it.

The document is viewable only which means you cannot edit it. In order to edit the document for your own use, you will need to either download it or copy it onto your Google Drive. Here’s how:

  1. Click on the link.
  2. Be sure you are signed in to your Google Account (do this in the top right corner).
  3. Click on “File” in the upper left-hand corner.
  4. Four options down, select “Make a copy.”
  5. A box will pop up asking you to name the document and choose where in your Drive you would like to save it. Make your selections and hit OK.
  6. That’s it! You should now be able to edit the document.
  7. Just be careful as you change out the text that you don’t hit too many backspaces and alter the location. If that happens, simply go back to the original link and copy the document again. 🙂

 

Click on the image below to enlarge it.

 

Friday Finds #214: Year-End Evaluations

April 9, 2021
by Amy
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This week I started thinking about end-of-year evaluations. Too soon? I
think not.

Generally, I wait until the week prior to (or the week of) our end-of-year evaluations to start writing them. It took me 10 years, but I wouldn’t recommend that! LOL

Waiting until the last minute created a lot of pressure on me and made it tempting to not be as thorough or concise as I could have been at times.

This year I was determined to start sooner.

Here are some resources to help as you start thinking about your own student evaluations.

 

1

Writing Student Evaluations Using Evernote (Piano Pantry)

 

2

Piano Safari’s Mini Essay #21 on leveling repertoire can helpful (for your own reference) if you are discussing student playing levels with parents.

 

3

 

Set Your Studio Apart with Solid Feedback (Leila Viss)

One of my first evaluation forms I developed (and talk about in the post on using Evernote to write student evaluations), was originally inspired by Leila’s 5-point progress score.

Want to hear more? Check out one of Leila’s most recent podcast episodes: Maybe Measuring Progress is Really Measuring Something More Important

 

4

Part of evaluation time should be considering not just what skills students have developed and accomplishments they’ve achieved, but what their future study will look like.

Creating & Sharing Student Growth Plans in 5 Easy Steps (Rosemarie Penner)

 

5

This year I am experimenting with a new way of giving meaningful assessments to my students at the end of the year. There are two parts to this:

First, I’m looking to create mini-videos of their playing over their time in lessons. The videos will feature clips of their playing in no more than 1-3 minutes.

Providing Piano Student End-of-Year Assessments in a Meaningful Way (Teach Piano Today)

 

6

Second, I’m working on designing a new format for my forms in Canva inspired by these posts by @mslimusic on Instagram.

It’s still a work in progress and not ready for sharing but perhaps you can also be inspired by her example to create your own!

P.S. I also like the name “Piano Progress Report” rather than “Evaluation” 🙂

(Another post example @mslimusic)

 

 

7

How to Create Student-Led Conferences (Rosemarie Penner)

I absolutely love this idea but will admit, is something I’ve yet to try out.

Have you ever tried something like this? If so, I would love to hear your ideas as well in the comments!

 

Friday Finds #213: Recital Prep

April 2, 2021
by Amy
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Most likely 75% of us are in the throes of year-end recital preparation in our studios. As you plan, here are some resources to help you along the way.

This week, I’ve grouped them into themes to make them a little easier to absorb. But first – a couple of other goodies! 🙂

 

#1  Recipe Wins of the Week

Balsamic Roast Beef (Add a Pinch)

A lovely simple roast recipe. We had it alongside Braised Green Cabbage (Nom Nom Paleo)

Put the roast in the crockpot at lunchtime and prep the cabbage dish. Put it in the fridge and pop it in the oven between lessons two hours before you finish for the day.

Maple Mustard Vinaigrette (The Flour Handprint)

I have put off making this salad dressing forever but not again! Wow. Delicious, low in sugar, and easy to make. You’ll cover 1-2 weeks of side salads with this recipe.

Use a pint-size mason jar to mix in. I used a half-pint and it was a little tight!

High Protein Oat Waffles (Skinny Taste)

My husband and I enjoyed these waffles even more than Belgian waffles! Delicious, easy, and healthy to boot! Who needs waffles for breakfast? Not us. We had them for lunch! 🙂

See my final product on Instagram 🙂

Skillet Mushroom Chicken Thighs (Damn Delicious)

Seriously yummo. If you let it simmer for a few extra minutes, it really makes the “gravy” nice and thick. Serve it with roasted green beans and a simple side salad for a well-balanced meal. (Mashed potatoes would be nice with it as well!)

 

#2 Easter Tunes

Even though I shared this last week, since it’s Easter weekend, once again here’s a playlist for Easter filled with all of my favorite worship music celebrating the resurrection.

 

 

#3 Teacher Performance

5 Reasons to Perform Alongside Your Students at Studio Recitals and What to Play at Your Students’ Recitals (Joy Morin)

 

#4 Virtual Recitals

Tutorial: Editing virtual recital videos using Canva + Adobe Premiere Rush (Joy Morin)

How to Create a Virtual Piano Recital on YouTube (Lauren Lewandowski)

Zoom Recital: 7 Tips and Strategies for Success! (Rebekah Maxner)

9 Lessons Learned from My First Zoom Recital (Amy Chaplin)

Adapting Your Recital Online (Jennifer Foxx)

 

 

#5 Recital Planning

Recital Preparation Timeline and Checklist (Amy Chaplin)

 

#6 Special Features

How to Create a Studio Recital Movie Trailer (Music Helpers Blog)

What’s a Senior Showcase and How Do You Plan One? (Leila Viss)

The Recital Compliment Exchange (Compose Create)

Compliment Exchange [free card download] (4D Piano Teaching)

 

#7 Awards

Studio Awards Policies and Procedures

Studio Awards Update (Including some awesome new trophies!)