The Studio is the room where you actually give the private lessons to your students. Everything I need to give the student a quality lesson is in this room.
The basics include chairs, music stands and instruments needed for the lesson. Since I teach guitar, bass guitar, piano and voice, I have two guitars, a bass and piano. Occasionally students will leave their guitar at home, as they will be coming from work or school. I keep an extra chair in the room for a parent or two student lesson.
A white board hangs on the wall in front of the student. I use the board to further instruct students in music theory. Chord charts and music charts hang on the wall next to the white board for the student’s reference.
I keep my laptop computer next to me so I can review the notes from the last lesson as well as input notes for the current lesson into Music Teacher’s Helper. A speaker system is also connected to play needed music, as well as a printer to print music for the student.
I use the laptop to access www.musictheory.net for ear training for my voice students. The site has many tools which are useful for the student and teacher alike. The training tool that I use for the voice students randomly plays two notes. The student then clicks on the appropriate interval icon. The student immediately knows if the answer is correct or wrong, and a running grade is shown as the percentage of correct answers.
On the day invoices are automatically sent by MTH, I hang a sign on the white board reminding the student that the monthly fee is due. I do this because, on many occasions, the students have the check for payment in their pocket, and forget to make the payment. The reminder sign has worked quite well.
And, of course, there is a bowl of suckers. Following the lesson, most students go to the bowl and grab a sucker. Usually siblings in the waiting room, who are potential students, are also allowed to come in for a treat following the lesson.
How do you equip your teaching room? Any suggestions or comments? We all continue to learn from each other, and modify our methods with fresh ideas.
