Whether you teach out of you home studio, community conservatory, or in an after school music program, your teaching environment can become a germ magnet this flu and cold season. Here are some tips for maintaining a sanitized studio to keep your students and yourself as healthy as possible.
Perhaps the most important way teachers can reduce the spread of germs in the studio environment is through cleaning. Most public schools or conservatories have a custodial staff that will sweep or vacuum the room and do other general maintenance activities, but cleaning for health reasons should take place throughout the teaching day.
A bottle of diluted cleaning or disinfectant solution, such as Clorox spray with bleach, and paper towels are simple tools to keep available. Use the solution to spray down music stands and pianos between lessons or when students have left for a while. Wipe dry with a paper towel. Clorox also offers a convenient disinfectant wipe, which is buy-two-get-one-free here.
Keep a can of disinfectant spray available for smaller items. Doorknobs, staplers, pencil sharpeners and other frequently used handles can quickly become a source for multiplying germs.
Keep a large bottle of hand sanitizer available at the piano. Encourage students to use it after sneezing or blowing their nose, even if they sneeze into a tissue or the crook of their arm. Remind them to use an amount the size of a quarter; seems like a lot, but encourages them to spread it over the back of the hands and between fingers.
Keep a box of tissues at the piano. Encourages students to sneeze into a disposable tissue instead of over the music stand, piano and other public surfaces.
Here is a cleaning checklist for sanitizing the studio daily and weekly:
5-Minute Checklist:
- Wipe down piano keyboard
- Wipe down music stands
- Wipe light switch
- Wipe doorknobs and entrance
10-Minute checklist:
- Wipe down computer keyboards
- Wipe plastic covered books frequently used
- Wipe metronome
- Wipe all surfaces of piano and near music stand
Weekly Checklist:
- Vacuum/ mop studio flooring
- Dust surfaces
- Sanitize soft surfaces (carpeting, curtains, upholstery) with spray disinfectant
- Wash toys
- Wipe down phone receivers
Keep your students aware of your illness policy. If students are showing symptoms of flu or cold, don’t let them infect you or the studio. Remind parents in your upcoming studio newsletter of your policy, and when to cancel a lesson due to illness.
Hopefully these tips will keep you and your students healthy and proactive about your well being throughout the year. Here’s to a clean studio!
These are great ideas, that I think many of us forget to do on an ongoing basis. I was actually just thinking about all of this this past week, as I have had to start my own “sick policy” for my studio due to too many students coming each week sick to their lessons. I don’t think they (or us as teachers) realize how easy it is to spread germs in a music lesson.
Thanks for a great article!
I took my daughter to se eher doctor this last week because I was noticing she was sneezing and had very bad allergies. He put her on Flonase over the counter which has helped her tremendously. He said she was allergic to mold and that is what was causing here to get sick. Just wanted to share my story because it might now always be the flu.