Yes. By all means, YES! Here are 10 reasons why I thoroughly enjoy the opportunity to teach those who are 18 and above and even those who might be considered “chronologically challenged.”
Posing proudly after a No-Worries Workshop
1. Lesson Time: Adults are able to schedule lessons during those hours when most K-12 school students cannot attend.
2. Income: Because adults can come during “off hours” weekly income is expanded.
3. Friendship: Every time a new student enters the door a new relationship is established and inevitably a friend as well.
4. Variety: Each adult student arrives with a unique and distinct musical background and agenda. While some desire to master Mozart, others want to learn note names, while others wish to play current pop hits. Because of time limitations, I have not initiated a Recreational Music Making (RMM) class but this could be a possible option for your studio. This program, that emphasizes recreational and not traditional lessons for adults, continues to grow in popularity. For more information check out the Recreational Music Making Handbook. Read more…
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Posted in Promoting Your Studio, Studio Management, Teaching Tips, Using Music Teacher's Helper
I am completely fascinated with online networking. It’s such a fun way to interact
Are you a social media expert?
with people you know and meet people you don’t. In fact, social media is all the buzz in advertising in today’s market. It’s free, it’s fast, and you can hit a large market. Big companies are even hiring social media experts whose full time job is to tweet you, text you, and message you about hot deals and cool stuff. It’s the next big thing in marketing. But should you use it for your private music teaching studio? I do.
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Posted in Customer Support, Music & Technology, Music News, Press, Promoting Your Studio, Site Announcements, Studio Management, Uncategorized, Using Music Teacher's Helper
Do you use the invoicing in Music Teacher’s Helper? Below are some tips if you do, and a bit of encouragement to try it if you don’t. Managing a studio means running a small business, but who becomes a musician in order to run a business? MTH provides built-in guidance for the business end of a teaching studio, and invoicing can be a big help.
Tip #1: How to find the invoicing function.
Invoicing functions are found under the Billing tab, where you can select Invoicing and view Invoice History, Create Invoice(s), or work with Automatic Invoicing.
Tip #2: Preview everything.
Any time you make use of invoicing, first preview your invoice(s) by clicking the “Preview or Print” button. You need to see what the student will be seeing – does the invoice show the right dates, the right events, and does it add up to what you expect? If not, see Tip #4. Also, make sure only the invoices you want to create are showing – if there’s more than one invoice, there will be more than one page to preview.
Once you take a look at the preview, click “Go Back to Invoicing Creation” at the top of the page, so you can either revise the invoice or send/print/record it. But beware! When you go back to the Invoicing Creation Read more…
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Posted in Financial Business, Studio Management, Using Music Teacher's Helper
Especially as singers, we HAVE to think, as that’s the only way to affect our instrument. Questions I ask are: “What was the difference between that time and the time before?” “What are you going to do to try to change XX; How successful was what you tried and why?” “What did you think about that sound?” “What did you do differently?”
Overall, I have banned the words “good” and “bad” because neither tell you what to continue working with and what to try to fix. I also try to always use only positive directives. We’ll identify both what behavior we want to replace and then what we want to happen instead. Focus is then on what we WANT to happen, rather than what we don’t want.
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Posted in Practicing, Studio Management, Teaching Tips, Using Music Teacher's Helper
Many of my students are ‘first generation’ musicians, meaning that they come from families where no one learnt an instrument. Consequently, there usually isn’t a culture of concert attendance in their families. Access to live music is vital for inspiring students, reminding them of the results of countless hours of practice, teaching them performance etiquette and refreshing their interest and passion. Read more…
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Posted in Performing, Promoting Your Studio, Teaching Tips, Using Music Teacher's Helper
Based on a Novel Idea by Wendy Stevens.
In her recent website newsletter, Wendy Stevens described a holiday project she designed. She asked her piano students to learn the theme of the “Jingle Bell” chorus and create a variation. Each arranger was filmed debuting his/her arrangement and made into a lovely video.
Fortunately, Wendy shares her marvelous teaching ideas and inspirations on her unique website www.composecreate.com. Subscribing to her free newsletter provides me with numerous ideas and resources. I must give full credit to her for the subject of this blog and am so thankful to find her as a continual resource of inspiration.
The Plot
When preparing for the upcoming holiday recital, lesson time can be zapped by ironing out wrinkles in performance pieces or drilling the performance etiquette routine. Little time is left for covering new concepts or new pieces. This calls for an assignment that captures the students’ attention, challenges their creativity and that can be accomplished in a short amount of time.
The Production
The following steps were taken to prepare students:
1) A lead sheet featuring the melody and chord symbols was reviewed. Early level students were provided with a simple LH version.
2) For inspiration, students were asked to listen to Mozart’s Twelve Variations on “Ah, vous dirai-je, Maman” and follow along with the score. Next they watched the youtube video of Wendy’s students. (As I offer 30-minute lessons with a 30-minute lab time, this was assigned during the lab time and did not take away from lesson time.) Read more…
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Posted in Composing & Arranging, Music & Technology, Music Theory, Performing, Promoting Your Studio, Teaching Tips, Using Music Teacher's Helper
I have often gained new ideas from learning how others use Music Teachers Helper (MTH), regardless of how many years I’ve used MTH. This post is about various ways I use event categories and email reminders, and I hope it contains a few ideas you find intriguing. Feel free to share your perspective by adding a comment below or on Facebook so that readers can benefit from your ideas too.
My MTH day begins at 5am the previous day – that’s when my automatic email reminders go out, and when I learn which notifications have been sent to people. (Several times I’ve been asked why I was up at 5am sending those reminders out!)
No matter how long it’s been since a lesson or class, I know students will receive a notice about their appointments the day ahead of time. Not only does this avoid missed lessons and all the hassle or disputes that can go with them, it also serves to put student and teacher on the same page. There have been times when a student and I agreed to change a lesson time, but I failed to change the calendar, or times when a student proposed a change of time but did not follow up on it – in these cases, the reminder prompts the student to get in touch with me and say, “Really? Do we have a lesson scheduled then?” and I can look it up and sort out any misunderstanding before anyone misses a lesson, or before I find myself waiting for a no-show.
If you’re not using automatic reminders, you can set them up by Read more…
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Posted in Using Music Teacher's Helper
Google is practically my BFF. Anytime I want to know something
, go somewhere, or learn about someone I hit up Google. It’s fast and it’s easy. Better yet, I can Google at my leisure, whether its first thing in the morning or in the middle of the night. And, I gravitate towards businesses with a web presence because I can learn all about them before I ever set foot on their doorstep. So when I really decided to take my piano teaching studio seriously, I figured out that I needed my own studio website.
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Posted in Promoting Your Studio, Studio Management, Using Music Teacher's Helper
In July, I posted some unique features of my studio after a parent mentioned that my 
lesson notes “set my studio apart.” Below is a continuation of the list of features which concludes with (as this parent indicated) perhaps the most important element–Accountability.
VersatilitY
Personalities and learning styles vary and so must each lesson. Spontaneity seems to be key. Activities within lessons are chosen to suit individual needs.
By holding daytime Exploring Music Classes for 4-5 year olds and seeking adult students, not only do teaching hours and student numbers increase but my capacity to meet the needs of a variety of ages and levels expands as well.
Providing quarterly group lessons and workshops offers a break from the routine of weekly private lessons and time for performance opportunities.
By summer time, lesson options like Piano Olympics, Invention Camp, Composition lessons, Improvisation lessons provide everyone (me included) a fresh venue for learning. These options have attracted ‘drop-ins’ which provide extra income in the summer and expand my wait list.
FlexibilitY
As a parent, I appreciate flexibility so I have carved that into my policies. Two excused absences are offered between August and May. With one week’s notice, students may cancel a lesson and will receive credit towards the next tuition invoice. Read more…
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Posted in Practicing, Promoting Your Studio, Studio Management, Teaching Tips, Using Music Teacher's Helper
Every year at the end of summer, music teachers take stock of their returning students, interview new ones, and fit students into an ever-shrinking number of available lesson slots. The functionality of Music Teacher’s Helper allows you to divide students into headings for Waiting List, Active Students, and Former Students.
However, I’ve found that a student’s path from initial contact to full studio registration can be more complex. This year I’ve devised several more categories in order to more efficiently track students at every stage in their path through my studio.
Here are the categories you can use:
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Posted in Studio Management, Using Music Teacher's Helper
