Studio Management
Webinar Series: 04/19/2018 – Piano – Ask Neil Anything
This webinar is driven by teacher questions. Topics range from the rationale behind some of the curriculum to supporting coaches to the future of Simply Music. Enjoy! Topics include: Intro: Funny Story About Neil (00:05) Helping Parents be ‘Requirement-Based’ (2:06) How Teachers Can Improve Their…
SHMs – help or hindrance?
I am a very new SM teacher and have not started to advertise in earnest yet. However, I started teaching one adult student who was going incredibly well, but she promptly dropped out after the first month of lessons were over (I charge on a…
Parents unwilling to attend lessons – Neil Moore
Has anyone had success teaching SM without parents in attendance? I had my second FIS today with current families, and they were all excited about it until I told them that a parent had to attend lessons. That was kind of a show stopper for…
Piano parties vs recitals
Piano parties: What do you do to keep them different from just a relaxed recital? Or is a relaxed recital okay? I had 16 students play one or two pieces each, and then we had refreshments. No games or anything. I try to keep mine…
Piano party game: Story telling
Just sharing a piano game I made up. I did it at my piano party and it was a big hit! I had everyone in the audience (students, coaches, and onlookers) come up to the front and stand in two rows to make two teams.…
Student refuses to watch SHM videos
I have a student that I’ve been teaching for just over 3 months. She practices regularly, but refuses to watch the videos. Her mom will not enforce this. It’s definitely slowing her down by not watching them, but she is still making good progress. How…
Ideas for playlist review
Hit me with some fun ideas for playlist review! I’ve been trying to set aside the last lesson of the month to really focus on hearing selections from their playlists (I still incorporate some of this each week, but take a bigger chunk of the…
Lack of support from non-attending parent
Has anyone else dealt with the issue of the second parent, the spouse of the life coach, not being behind lessons fully? They question the method and cost and cause issues at home? If so, how have you addressed this? I’m contemplating making it mandatory…
Scheduling student who observes Ramadan
I’m about to acquire a young Muslim man who delayed beginning because of driving 40 minutes to my studio on low calories during Ramadan. That’s fine with me. I’m just thinking when Ramadan comes around next year the issue will rise again. He’s a pharmacist…
Helping parents get children to practice
I would like to prepare a document to give to parents to help in getting their children to practice when they don’t want to. Please share tips that have worked for you or parents in your studio. When I have students that don’t like to…