Teaching Anniversaries: A Time for Reflection

August 24, 2021
by Amy
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This is the third post in a series about ways we can mark time by acknowledging, reflecting on, and celebrating special teaching anniversaries/milestones.

In the first post, I shared how I’ve been using social media to celebrate special moments and students of the past.

The second post was a guest post by a teacher friend of mine who really inspired me with her incredible perspective on why celebrating can be incredibly hard yet at the same time really important.

In today’s post, I will be reflecting on seven ways my teaching and studio have evolved in the past decade including what I learned along the way.

One trend that has really stuck out is having the ability (and willingness) to change and try new things. Every year I would find myself implementing little (and even sometimes big) changes as my teaching style evolved and students came and went.

I believe that the ability to adapt was key to growing my new studio to 45 students in 30 months and maintaining a waiting list ever since.

As independent teachers, we work with people, and the world changes daily. The ability to adapt is integral to a thriving studio.

As I share my specific journey, take this time to reflect on how your studio and teaching have evolved over the past years, months, or even decades.

Can you pinpoint and see changes in yourself, your teaching, and your students? How have those changes impacted you and your studio?

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Teaching Anniversaries: An Important but Hard Celebration

August 18, 2021
by Amy
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In a series of posts this month, we’re talking about marking time by acknowledging, reflecting on, and celebrating special teaching anniversaries/milestones.

In the first post, I shared how I used social media to celebrate special moments and students of the past.

Today’s post is a guest post by a teacher friend of mine who inspired me with her perspective on celebrating teaching anniversaries as well as what she did for her own celebration.

Janelle Bracken is a collaborative pianist and owner of Studio J, an independent piano studio in Indianapolis since 1991. 

She believes that music is transformative and treasures the long-term relationships she develops with her families. 

In the third post, I’ll share seven ways my teaching and studio have evolved over the past decade and encourage you to find new ways to continue evolving your own teaching and studios.

In the final and shortest post, I’ll reveal how I’m starting a new decade in my studio with new branding. That is, a new logo!

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Email Templates and Sibling Discounts

August 10, 2021
by Amy
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This post is part of a series called Your Questions Answered that highlights questions that readers like yourself have asked of me. If you have a question feel free to contact me here! 

 

Do you also have a similar letter that you use for fall and spring lessons? I’m trying to be more organized and intentional with my piano lesson information. It’s been a bit haphazard. I’d like it to be more professional.

Also, I’d like to know how you do family discounts. I teach several siblings and need to consider a discount because each sibling set has another sibling to add!!

Thanks for all your useful information and helpful ideas!!

-Patsy Mitchell

 

Hi, Patsy,

I honestly don’t have an email “template” of any kind I use each year. That would be nice, but I find every year is always a little different, so I compose information based on whatever that year holds.

That being said, I do generally follow a similar format for that initial contact email getting things going for the term

1. Greeting

Hey there! I hope you’ve had a great summer thus far.  This email is to let you know all of the details regarding the upcoming school year.

2. Specifically lay out what is in the email as well as what required actions and deadlines are needed.

Please read these 3 sections of information below, then there are two forms at the bottom of the page you need to fill out by August 1.

 

3. Outline the start date and any other details needed for the first week back to lessons.

4. What will remain the same (as far as studio offerings) and what will be slightly different this year (and why).

5. Highlight any policy changes and attach the annual studio calendar.

6. Action – again, be specific.

ACTION: by August 1 please:

Fill out your registration form.
Fill out this schedule request form.

 

Hopefully, that gives you a general idea of what to include each time!

As far as the family discounts go, I know exactly what you mean!

When I first opened my studio, I did 10% for the 2nd student but quickly found that I had way too many families with two kids in piano I couldn’t really afford to give that big of a discount. Currently, 70% of my studio is made up of siblings!

Now, there are no discounts until you reach 3 students in a family. At that point, I give 3% (which equates to the cost of approximately one lesson).

I know plenty of teachers that don’t give any discounts. The perspective behind that is that if they didn’t have multiple kids in lessons you would have a whole other family in that spot that would be paying full price.

Thanks for a great question and yea for working toward being more intentional and organized!

~Amy

 

 

Teaching Anniversaries: Celebrating on Social Media and Beyond

August 9, 2021
by Amy
2 Comments

August 2021 marks 10 years of my full-time piano studio (Studio 88), located in Bluffton, Indiana, 10 years of full-time piano teaching, and more than 20 years of teaching in general!

In a four-part series this month, we’re going to talk about marking time by acknowledging, reflecting on, and celebrating special teaching anniversaries/milestones.

In today’s post, I’ll share how I used social media to celebrate special moments and students of the past.

In the next post, you’ll hear from a teacher friend who really impacted me with her incredibly thoughtful ideas on this very topic (including a special commission) – you won’t want to miss it!

In the third post, I’ll share seven ways my teaching and studio have evolved over the past decade and encourage you to find new ways to continue evolving your own teaching and studios.

In the final and shortest post, I’ll reveal how I’m starting a new decade in my studio with new branding. That is, a new logo!

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Friday Finds #226: New Term Ideas and Organization

August 6, 2021
by Amy
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Whether you’re starting lessons up in the next week or two or at the beginning of September, now is the time to start gathering ideas for the beginning of the term and get your space in order.

 

1

Wendy Steven’s “This or That” Ice Breaker Game would be great for a first group class!

 

2

A few years ago, after my friend Christina Whitlock told me how she avoids scheduling madness by doing only group classes in August, I’ve been doing it ever since! (Well, at least the first week or two.)

Hear more about this brilliant idea in Episode 38: Cheers to a Less-Conventional August of the Beyond Measure Podcast.

 

3

The first lesson of the year – whether private lessons or group classes – are a great time to focus your entire studio on learning to play Happy Birthday.

My Happy Birthday By Ear teaching resource will give you and your students a tangible guide for learning (and remembering) how to play this popular tune!

 

 

4

Reviewing music terms and symbols would be made a lot more fun with Leila’s Piano Charades game using the Decide Now app or Melody Payne’s “I Have… Who Has? Music Symbols Game.

 

5

Antipasto Salad makes a wonderful summer meal (The Kitchn)

 

6

I finally broke down and bought myself a set of really sturdy plastic file folders.

Besides the fact that they’re sturdy, I especially love that they’re a little narrower than conventional magazine holders.

Get them on Amazon. mDesign Plastic File Folder.

I can’t tell you the relief I felt when I was able to organize a lot of items that I had in piles using these.

 

7

This matching desk organizer also made it into my Amazon cart and has been a great addition to my desk space.

mDesign Desk Organizer on Amazon.

 

 

 

How to Create an Automated Message for Your Studio’s Facebook Page Inbox

June 3, 2021
by Amy
2 Comments

Do you ever have a sudden realization that you’ve been making things much harder on yourself regarding something than needed?

Recently I had such an epiphany when it came to my studio’s Facebook page.

A lot of people like to contact me through Facebook. I really hate messaging through Facebook and much prefer email however, it’s 2021 and that’s just how a lot of people work now.

95% of the time, the message sent to me via my studio Inbox is the same.

I’m interested in piano lessons for my 6 years old. Can you tell me more about your lessons and prices?

Yada, yada, yada. You get it.

One by one I would type out a reply. Sometimes I would get smart and cut and paste from previous messages and then customize a little from there.

Today, I was suddenly DONE.

I knew it had to be easy to create a generic automated message that would direct people to my website where I really wanted them to be. It took a little research (I mean, nothing is terribly intuitive with Facebook, am I right?) but it was no big deal once I found my way.

Today I want to share a quick 2-minute video to show you how you can also do this as well as give you a copy of my message you can use as a starter to craft your own.

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Specifics on my “À La Carte-Style” Adult Lessons

May 27, 2021
by Amy
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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.

 

I’ve been a regular reader and subscriber of your blog for ages!

I’m working on a website reboot for my studio over the summer and have been browsing other teachers’ websites to get ideas.

I read your blurb about adult lessons and really liked the way you have it set up with 6 weekly lessons over 8 weeks. Would you mind if I borrow that setup and use it with my own adult students?

If you’ve got a moment to respond, I’d love to know how you handle specifics of that setup – do you have the adults come at the same time each week for their lesson, or offer flexibility on time slot as well? Any specific wording that you’ve found works well to communicate those policies?

Thanks for your help and for all the great tips over the years!

-VR

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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.

 

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.

 

Awards “Catch-up”?

March 31, 2021
by Amy
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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.

This question was posed in reaction to two posts on giving out studio awards at the end of the school year:

Studio Awards: Policies and Procedures
Studio Awards Update (including some awesome trophies!)

 

Dear Amy,

I love your awards ideas and would love to implement it in my studio but have a couple of questions.

  1. If you have a transfer student, do you count the years they studied elsewhere in your calculations?
  2. If you were to start implementing this after your studio has been running awhile, would you play catch up with all the students and their trophies or just start in the current year? I would have several on the legacy award at this point.

I am excited that the students will have something else to strive for even if they don’t compete in the Federation or state exams.

Thank you for your input and thank you for sharing your wonderful ideas with all of us.

Blessings,

-SL

 

Hi, S,

Wow, these are GREAT questions! Here’s how I would handle each scenario:

In answer to your first question:

Transfer students receive their “Music Study” award based on how long they’ve been taking lessons – it’s about commitment – not just the time with you.

That being said, the “Legacy Award” IS about time with you. So, if you were to use that particular award in your studio and you had a transfer student that has been taking for 8 years (or however long you set your legacy award for), they would not get the legacy award – just the Music Study award for 8 years.

In answer to your second question, I have a two-part answer depending on what your question is asking…

If you’re asking if I would play catch-up as in giving them “back” awards, then no, I would not. That could, however, depend on how many students you have. If you have a really small studio and it won’t cost you a lot of money to do so, then certainly you could consider it. I think if you simply announce it’s a new program and from here on out, I would be surprised if anyone complained that you didn’t give them 3 trophies as “back pay”.

If you’re asking if I would play catch-up as in starting students at whatever year they’re at even if they haven’t received awards in the previous year awards then yes, I would. If a student has been with you for 4 years then they get an award for 4 years, even if this is the first year you’ve given awards.

I hope that makes sense and good luck with creating your own studio award program!

~Amy