Simpedia

Bernadette Ashby, California

Bernie (USA)  Welcome to this chat session entitled “Getting Off to a Good Start.” We’ll go ahead and get started. There may be others who will join us.

What I’d like to do is leave questions for the end and take some time to share some thoughts and experiences about what has worked and hasn’t worked for me in my studio at the beginning of this chat session.

Would you all tell me how long you have been teaching and where you are at in your studio. how many students?

simply I have been teaching a little over two years and have 75 students

Carol B  I have been teaching for many years, but just started SM in Aug. I hav 44 students.

Crystal H (CAN)  I’ve been teaching since September. I’ve had 24 – 29 students, most of them shared lessons.

Wayne  18 months. I teach part time in my home 7 students. I work full time

Bernie (usa)  great everybody – some of this stuff may be helpful to you and some you may already know.

I’m going to break this subject up into three arenas:

1. The Business
2. Managing your Studio (Parents/Student Relationships, Time Management, etc.)
3. Methods

There is a lot that can be covered so I will only highlight anything that I felt is helpful for someone to “Get Off to a Good Start”.  But before I do this, I want to premise this chat with what I call “first time” experiences.

Since I started my journey with Simply Music, there were many “first time” events for me:  The first time I…

• started playing the piano
• actually talked to a prospective parent over the phone
• did an FIS
• taught a student
• conducted a student concert
• told a child the truth…

In all of this, I have experienced such a powerful range of emotions and feelings. For example, I remember being so nervous and scared when I taught my first student… Or how disappointed I was when after my first FIS, not one single person signed up to become a student.  There were many ups and downs in my early journey with Simply Music…elation when I enrolled my first student, disappointment when things weren’t going the way I expected.

In looking back, even though there were fears and insecurities present when I first started, I have been able to move forward from my humble beginnings to build a fairly stable studio of about 30 students.

Those feelings of anxiety and fears that I experienced back then were absolutely normal, but over time and in the course of teaching Simply Music to my students, those feelings of fears have diminished. I still have my good days and bad days, my upsets and joys…but I continue to move forward in spite of fears, doubts and lack of experience that I feel regularly instead of it making me feel powerless. I’ve learned to embrace these things instead of allowing them to paralyze me.

Hope that encourages some of you who may be experiencing the array of feelings involved in running a studio, especially if you are just getting started. Or even if you’ve been in the ballgame for a while.

Okay, what would I do the same or differently?

On the business side of things, first of all I would not be shy about charging higher fees.

Elaine  Yes, I’m in my second month and have just learned to roll with the punches – I find if I am totally up front that I am new to SM (not to teaching piano) people are really understanding

Bernie  Welcome to SM, Elaine.  When I first started, I felt very insecure because of my inexperience and as a result I charged a fee that I felt was consistent with my experience. When I realized the value of the service that I was providing was significant, I felt it was appropriate to charge higher fees. But the amount I wanted to charge was definitely more than what I was charging.

How could I justify a $20 increase for shared lessons and a $26 increase for private lessons to these parents?
Prior to January 1st, I made the announcement about the increase of tuition. With the exception of one family who left my studio, no one balked or even made a fuss about it. They accepted my terms with no problems.

I now feel I am getting paid what I deserve.

Elaine  I have no problem charging higher fees–but I’m caving in on charging 1 or 2 people who missed last week due to car problems and illness. Where are you located? What are your fees–do you mind saying?

Bernie  Elaine – I have no problems sharing w/ everyone how much I charge, but keep in mind that I live in Silicon Valley – an expensive area to live in. I will also address a little about makeup.

When I first started I charged $88 for shared lessons and $110 for private. I now charge $108 for shared and $136 for private.  What you want to charge is totally up to you as teacher.

We’ll go onto another subject. In the beginning of my studio, I started out with many more private students. Quickly, I saw the value of shared lessons as well as the financial and time implications associated with shared lessons. Had I known, I would have started my studio strictly as a shared lesson studio. It is so much fun and more productive in my opinion.  It beats having to go back and trying to explain to parents why their children should be in shared lessons.

I recently put a private student into a shared lesson of 4. She had been with me privately since she was five and she is now eight. She is loving it! The observatory learning is making a difference in her ability to focus and play. Up to that point, she struggled with focus, CTE, and accountability which took more energy from me as a teacher. Now, I don’t have to constantly be on her about practice, slowing down…because her peers model it for her. Her mom says it has been a joy for her and it helps me to stay away from resenting to have her as a student.

Now, at the beginning of every year I hand out my Studio Policies which the parent and the student has to sign. In it it states that there is a Flexible Learning Environment where I have the option of moving them into shared lessons at my discretion.

By the way, that signed Studio Policy has saved me from many conflicts I could have had with parents. Things related to makeup policy, due date for tuition, any expectations that I would have re my studio. It also includes the holidays that I take off for the year. I go over that signed Studio Policy thoroughly at the initial meetings that I have with the student and parents.

Let’s talk about advertising for a moment. Initially, I had spent a good chunk of money to advertise in a local newspaper, but the result of that was not significant. Of course, I didn’t want to spend any more because I already had.

Now, my choice of advertising is word of mouth and low budget advertising as much as possible. This is what I actually built my business on. This and the reputation of my studio. I asked for referrals and created opportunities to speak to others about Simply Music.

What I found is that most people have a deep desire to want to play the piano and have a sincere interest in what you are doing. As I’ve come to believe this, my shyness of speaking to others about SM fades away and it becomes easier for me to be bold.

These are some of the considerations I have on the business side of things. Are there any questions so far?

Crystal H  I like your “Flexible Learning Environment” – I will add that to my studio policy sheet as well. Thanks!

Bernie  They know up front that I can change their situation anytime.

Bernie  I do this yearly and they sign it yearly so that if I want to make any changes to my studio policies they agree with it up front.

Elaine  Besides handing out business cards whenever possible, how do you create opportunities to discus SM?

Bernie  Opportunities to discuss SM:

• I’ve contacted schools and business to see if they would allow me to share SM w/ their staff students
• Homeschool newsletters
• Piano tuners
• Piano stores. My first FIS was at a Yamaha piano dealer
• Any personal contacts that I have with anyone – I just let them know what I am doing
• I got onto homeschool email groups
• Pass out business cards/flyers
• There is a transcript that I did a while back about low budget advertising.

Any other business related questions? Coamments?  We’ll go on…

Let’s talk about the relational side of running a Simply Music studio. What I mean by this is the ability to manage your parents and students.

If there is one area that I would strongly give attention to, it is in this area. When I first started teaching, I made a lot of mistakes in this area by being “soft” and “nice.” Of course, I wanted my students and parents to like me, and that resulted in being taken advantage of (they ended up claiming territory that was mine). It was definitely leading to joylessness of teaching and resenting parents and students.

These days, if an issue comes up that is not consistent with how I want my studio to be run, I address it right away with the parent or the student. On the spot type of thing because if it is left festering, I will have to address it anyway, and it will be a lot harder then. I have had to learn how to claim back territory and to tell children and parents the truth.

It is not easy, but because of it I believe this is one of the main reasons that my studio is stable. My parents work in concert with me and do what I ask them to do. They respect how my studio is run, and they can count on me to be truthful with them and their children.  I have had a few parents even tell me how much they have appreciated how I dealt with their children and encouraged me to become an active part in the building of their children’s character.

In short, this is what I learned over the years about managing parents and students:

• The initial meeting with the student and parent – what we would call the “set up” conversation –  is critical for establishing the expectations of you and your studio. Continually be having these conversations with parents and students. Be thorough in your presentation and they will pick up the professionalism of how you run your studio.

• Address any relational issues on the spot. Tell Children/Parents the truth. Claim Territory as needed.

• Continual communication w/the parent is important (some teachers use newsletters, emails on a regular basis)

• Stay in communication with other teachers (for support)

• Review materials that Neil provided in the teacher training program and use website for more training.

In honesty, these things have helped me through some very difficult down times in my journey with SM. I can say that my studio, as of late, has been easy to manage because I’ve worked at these things. It’s been fun to teach!

I’m sure this is generating some questions in your mind? Do you have any?

simply  What would you do with a family in which the father refuses to buy necessary electronics? Therefore they cannot/do not watch the video.

Bernie  I would say to the parent that the video is a crucial part of the program.  I still would require them to view the video in any way that they can, even if it means they go to someone’s house to view it if they don’t want to spend the money.

Crystal H  Neil had a good analogy that each part of the program is crucial to success, just like a car ….. it needs gas, oil, maintenance. Some things you can get away with for a little while but the life of the car is greatly lessened if you don’t look after it right.

Bernie  If they don’t comply, then I would question their commitment to the program.  I would even consider not including them into my studio.

Crystal H I had a happy shared lesson of 4 girls who were advancing but not watching the video.  As a new teacher, it was so frustrating. Finally I put the responsibility on the parents. Guess what? Next week, everyone had watched the video, AND the one who had “lost” hers for 6 weeks suddenly found it. I even went so far as to say I would put the video in during the lesson and what a waste that would be.  I felt almost mean but it was so frustrating! Now they watch regularly. Yeah!

Bernie  Good for you Crystal.  I have become much more alert to who it is that I include into my studio and can see up front who may be problematic because I know in the end that it will cause problems for me. The parents have a lot to do with how your studio is run.

There will be times when it seems that you can be harsh but in the long run it curtails problems that can get big. I find that even if they do it just once, I will still need to be in conversation with them for the future.

Elaine  Could you address this is or is it a different chat topic: I have a student who repeatedly writes notes because she feels if she has, for example, some fingerings written down at first, it will help her “get it in her body”. She is willing to buy into the idea of sourcing from the keyboard but wants a reminder to get started. What would you do beyond explaining the premise…..?

Bernie   Let me go into the next section Elaine…it may help.

As far as method is concerned, there are just a few things I want to point out here in this area.

Playlist, playlist , playlist. All of my students, children or adults bring me a playlist every week. The first thing they do when they walk in the door is to put their playlist up onto the piano so everybody can see it. I address any issues at that point as needed.

I take the first few minutes to review any song that I call on and often times use the evaluation form on a quarterly basis to go through all their songs.

Arrangements prepare them to become more generative as well as providing depth in their musical experience. When they get to the reading arena, and they have to break it down for themselves, they will have somewhat been prepared through the arrangement program.  I speak from personal experience on this one.

So Elaine – discuss with them the importance of being able to generate from with in-sourcing the info from themselves.  Writing notes mitigates this process. Help them to review the video as many times as needed.

Crystal H  please explain “mitigates this process”

Bernie  stops it short, Crystal.

Elaine  Yes, I do …do you have any especially powerful ways to tell them about sourcing the info from themselves? I do encourage videos very strongly.

Crystal H  would you say this applies to us as we learn in training? re: arrangements

Bernie  Let me tell you a little about myself…

I am only SM trained as an adult.  It has always been my heart’s desire to learn how to play the piano. I took lessons when I was a kid and also in college but I quit the traditional way. I am solely relying on SM and have had to completely trust the process of taking me to where I know am generative.

It is a practice of mine to learn how to memorize songs that I have wanted to learn all of my life. Over the course of teaching, I have learned how to generate, but that came with plain hard work on my part.  I learned all the arrangements, songs to level 9…, learning how to sight read… with diligence not only to teach but for myself.

When I opt out to go the easy way by writing all the notes down, I have found that it takes me longer to learn things instead of generating it and building up my muscle memory.  As a teacher, I chose to go the hard road because I want to take my students there. If you learn this up front, then it ‘s not so hard later.

Does this make sense?

Carol B yes

Sheri  Yes, and another question. When you review the playlist quarterly, as you stated above, do you have all students play the entire playlist or each person play snippets of songs?

Bernie  I take the first 5-10 minutes and record every song that they are playing every week so that over time I can check all of their songs.  This lends to a strong playlist w/out holes.

Crystal H  record? audio record, or your own list?

Sheri Do you do this every week or quarterly?

Bernie  every quarter, I try to go over their playlist

Sheri  Do you do it weekly until it is done and at least once per quarter?  I’m sorry I’m not following.

Bernie  every quarter I use the evaluation form to go over their songs. I do this weekly using the first five to 10 minutes.

Crystal H  On the learning/teaching SM, I am learning as a student, complete with my own playlist. I have had to make a couple of notes for the arrangements because I learned many of them all at once and had trouble sorting them out. Maybe I just need to slow myself down? 🙂

Bernie  Crystal, I have found that I also would like to learn as many things as I can, but it slows me down in the end. I now work on a few things and learn them well then proceed.

Bernie  One more thing about method… I would also start composition and improvisation from the very, very beginning. I am finding as I take my older students to composition and improvisation, there is more of a hesitancy on their part.  Had I started from the beginning, I think it would have just been a part of their experience.

I know I’ve covered a lot… about just getting started.  We have a few more minutes.  Does anyone else have any more questions about what it takes to have a great start?

Crystal H  The September shuffle

Bernie  Explain your situation Crystal again.  Elaine did you have a question too?

Crystal H  I am concerned about keeping my shared lesson groups intact after a summer break. I don’t want to have them dissolve into many private lessons, although the private rate would discourage that.

Elaine  I just need help convincing students that it is better in the long run not to write any notes….Thanks

Bernie  Crystal, I run a year round studio so for me there is no break, so I don’t worry about whether my shared lessons will dissolve.

Crystal H  In my traditional teaching private lessons days, I would have them commit to a time in the spring. What about them signing up for some new activity, or maybe it’s just a matter of priority.

Bernie  I maintain the stance of a flexible learning environment and will place them where they need to be when and if they sign up again.

Bernie  Do any of you veterans have anything to share with Elaine?

Crystal H   would you be willing to share your studio policy letter?  My own schedule changes in May and June because I have kids in soccer.

s1mply  Can you run a year-round studio Crystal? I found I lost students when I took even a month’s break.

Crystal H  I’m definitely starting to contemplate it, but it may mean a time shuffle so I can take my kids to soccer.

Bernie  Elaine, I would just not let them write in my classes and that is the standard. Do they go home and write?

Elaine  Yes, they go home and write and beg me to let them write in the lesson.

Bernie   Elaine, it’s interesting that they should beg.

Carol B  I think the video is a great reason NOT to write.

Sheri  Are you talking about writing for the arrangements?

Bernie  I would certainly claim this territory – you are the teacher.

Sheri  There are some valuable resources on the website that address the myriad reasons why it’s beneficial to not write. I think you have to speak them with conviction and let them know it is in their own long-term self-interest.

Bernie  Help them rely on the video as Carol suggests.

Elaine  I absolutely agree. I do confess that since I have only 9 students and these people are adults who are writing—I am clear that they are not doing pure SM and that this will NOT be in their best interest–but have not said IF YOU WRITE I WILL NOT TEACH YOU.

Bernie   Adults are the most difficult with regard to this because they have been used to writing about everything, but help them understand that they are learning a new language and building up muscle memory.

Sheri  Just keep telling them if they write what the consequences for them will be. I never miss an opportunity to talk about it if it comes up and tell my students who feel they need it about the ones who are sailing ahead that don’t write.

Elaine  It’s late and if you have to end, I understand. I will look again in the coaching conversations and ask Neil. Thanks everyone for your help.

Sheri  It’s good to give them concrete solutions (talking about how the piece is put together, cross pollinating, playing on their lap in the car before they drive off, etc.)

Carol B   I had an adult who wanted to write. I told her she could if she would feel better about it, but she would find out that it worked better if she didn’t. She quit.

Sheri  You never know what’s going to trigger someone to stop, Carol.  I hate that!

Bernie  Hope this has been somewhat helpful.

Crystal H  I had a parent after four months who pulled out her daughter because she (parent) wasn’t willing to put forth the effort required. It’s so sad because the girl was progressing fine, and loving it!! I sent her a letter saying that much, and that she was welcome back anytime.