Music Teachers Blog

If you think about it, there are both external and internal ways of building your studio.  External ways include ads, demos, announcements, news coverage and other promotions.

Internal ways include one system you’re already using:  Music Teacher’s Helper (MTH) reassures students that they can get the information they need when they need it, including scheduling, payments, lesson notes, and upcoming events — this helps retain students.  The website and the calendar also demonstrate a professionalism and commitment on the part of the teacher — this helps you gain new students.  In my case, I also give prospective students a visitor’s username and password so they can see my available times, and become a little acquainted with the MTH system.

But another very important way of building your studio, from within, is through your curriculum offerings — what kind of progress you offer your students.  In addition to having them come to you to learn what they can, it’s helpful for them to see the lay of the land a little bit, and have an idea of where they can expect to go with their music.  This might mean a series of books, CDs, practice charts with goals, a sequence of group classes, periodic recitals, or summer events or auditions that students can prepare for.

No matter how formal or informal your teaching style is, you can always think about matching each student with an appropriate pathway for progress.  Most teachers have some kind of program in mind — a progression through repertoire, a series of books for music and technique, and this is inspiring to the student as they move through the program, and also practical and professional for the teacher.

But you can also create some of your own pathways for students, and I’ll describe a little about my own below.  You can also think about preparing students for musical groups outside of your studio, in your community, and maybe even offer a class to help them.  Such groups or activities could include a local orchestra, band, folk club, open mike, music contest, or even busking at a farmer’s market.

In my own teaching, I often work with adult beginners in a class of limited duration (8 or 16 weeks), after which most or all of them move into the next level.  Beyond that, they know there is the opportunity to join a more advanced group that learns a tune a week and plays music together.  I also offer periodic sessions that are free of charge, where everyone at all levels can come together to play music they share as well as to hear music that others have learned.  These occasions are best when there is some kind of pot luck or refreshments that makes it a fun social occasion even for those who don’t know very much music to play with the others.

By hearing and meeting players at different levels, the students get a sense of how far they can progress in a relatively short time, and they can see how much fun the others are having.

One piano teacher I know requires students to have a few group classes where she has students play for each other, and also has two students at a time collaborate on a piece of music.

A thoughtful sequence of group classes keeps students interested and making progress, as well as allowing them to make musical friends and have good experiences with their music.  You can guide them in working well together and in selecting good repertoire that they can all focus on together.

Group classes can also work as complements to private lessons, where students get some one-on-one attention to help their own technique and help them better grasp the music they are working on in the group.  The group provides more impetus for their progress in private lessons.  You just have to help them balance their time and budget considerations if they take both group classes and private lessons, so that it’s practical for both you and the students.

Coming up for me is a new monthly contra dance that I’m organizing through our Conservatory.  It’s good for the community and also gives me a chance to teach a class that prepares my more advanced students to play for part of the dance.  This can also involve former students coming back to join in, and may attract new, more advanced students.  In the end it adds another goal for my current students, a new challenge to look forward to, another step in their ladder.

The bottom line is to think of what would be most rewarding musically for your students, and help them get there.  Sometimes it might mean combining some private students into a group, and losing a little income for the sake of inspiring students musically (and socially).  In the end, with this attitude on your side, you will do better for them and for yourself.  No work is very sustaining if you just do it for a paycheck.  And when you can offer a pathway to some classes and activities that are rewarding both musically and socially, you end up building not just a slate of students but a community of students and former students that can grow from word of mouth and greater visibility.

Posted in Promoting Your Studio, Studio Management, Using Music Teacher's Helper |

About the Author

Ed Pearlman has focused on performing, teaching, and judging fiddle music for over 30 years, offering performances and workshops throughout the USA and in Canada and Scotland. His original training was with members of the Chicago and Boston Symphonies, and he played with orchestras and chamber groups at Yale and in Boston. He currently teaches privately at two music schools affiliated with music stores in Maine. Ed directed the Boston Scottish Fiddle Club in monthly workshops for 18 years, directed major concerts and festivals, and recorded 2 solo CDs and several with a fiddle orchestra and top soloists. In addition to Scottish and Cape Breton fiddle styles, Ed plays other Celtic, American, and Canadian fiddle music, classical and some jazz, klez and Hungarian. Ed created and for 11 years ran a CD distribution company to bring music to the USA from Scotland, Atlantic Canada, Ireland, Brittany and Wales. He's the music columnist for Scottish Life magazine.