Studio Management

Choosing recital pieces question: I usually try to give students a choice on which piece they want to play; and also try to not have the same piece played multiple times in the same recital. With a small number of students, this hasn’t been too…

• Last updated 2 weeks ago
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This week I took the plunge and tried a different sort of class. I love teaching groups and nearly all my after school students are in group classes. During the day though, I have lots of adults that come one by one. Some are in…

• Last updated 3 months ago
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Hi Teachers, here is a conversation I had with a few Simply Music Teachers about: parent participation in class, setting up the expectations & agreements, how to help a child when his/her parents are not in attendance (but a grandparent is), do teens need a…

• Last updated 6 months ago
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Please read this post with the mindset that a student is playing too fast and you CAN’T slow them down they are great students and they totally on board for the long term relationship they don’t have any other problems other than slowing down (…

• Last updated 7 months ago
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A new adult student with a small amount of previous experience told me that it’s hard for her to watch her hands because she took a beginning piano class in college with a teacher who insisted that students never look at their hands and would…

• Last updated 8 months ago
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I have an adult student asking if there’s anyway to slow down the audio songs in order to play along with them. She’s in Level 6 and would love to play along with the Gaz, and others but esp. the Gaz. Maybe something corp. adds…

• Last updated 8 months ago
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Here is something that every one of my students have above their pianos. Obviously if your students are in the lower foundations, intervals, counting would not be needed but I find it a great tool to help remind them what boxes need to be ticked.…

• Last updated 9 months ago
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Metaphor I came up with today while coaching a student, expanding on the notion of working slowly to learn quickly. Student wasn’t speaking instructions. I reminded. Student resisted, said it’s harder. I said, you know what? You’re right. It’s harder to do two things at…

• Last updated 9 months ago
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Have you ever turned down a potential student even though they really wanted to start lessons? 😬 What were your reasons? What questions do you ask potential students either during FIS or during initial interactions in order to get a better sense of whether they…

• Last updated 9 months ago
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I wanted to share something I did in my studio this semester. I held an Apprenticeship Workshop class for upper level piano, bass, and guitar students of mine. It was designed to teach them how to play in or form their own bands. We met…

• Last updated 11 months ago
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