Larger Groups
Found in: Shared Lessons, Student Management
Darla H., Kansas
I have been teaching SM for almost 6 years now in a small studio space that would only accommodate a total of 8 people: 4 students with parents. Because of the large number of inquiries I’m receiving, and a growing waiting list, and having no luck at finding anyone else in my area to become a SM teacher, we are now remodeling our house to create a larger studio space. I will be able to serve more students that way, without increasing my hours.
I think my new space will accommodate up to 8 students with parents, but being used to groups of 3 or 4, that sounds like a big change to me. I’m trying to think through the logistics and what I need to change. For example, can 8 students really gather around the piano and see adequately? I do use keypads a lot at their seats first, but just am wondering what the round robin would feel like with so many.
I don’t really have specific questions, just wondering if some of you that are teaching larger groups could give me any tips that you’ve learned along the way!
Darla H., Kansas
Thanks for your response, Terah. That is helpful! I like the idea of assigning places–you’ve got my wheels turning in my mind now. I really like to start out with more structure to begin with, it often prevents problems from developing and it’s easier to loosen up down the road, than to tighten the reins.
As for what is behind my studio doing so well…Yes, I think just being around for 5 1/2 years is a big part of it. My name is getting out into lots of circles by now. I’m in a small town with only 1 elementary school, 1 middle school and 1 high school. The elementary school music teacher allows students who play piano to perform frequently at school. My middle school students make up most of the jazz band pianists. And I run a 2-week piano camp every summer through our local recreation and community education center–which is located in the schools. So I get a free big half-page ad in the summer catalog every year. In fact, camp is next week and this (my 5th year) is the first year that the class is completely full (at 10) and 2 have been turned away.
In the larger town that is 7 miles away, my name is getting out in the Kindermusik community (even though I’ve never taught or had any association with Kindermusik, but because they’ve heard of Simply Music) and I get referrals from them. Some of it is just the fact that Simply Music itself is getting wider-known. I have people calling me from Wichita (40 miles away) and Salina (50 miles) because they are just looking for a Simply Music teacher and find me with the teacher locator.
Also it sounds great when I say I’m full, but I should qualify that. I keep my teaching hours to around 7 hours a week, because that’s all the time I can afford, with my responsibilities to my family. So I now have 28 students, and for me that is all my time slots filled up. I also have excellent retention at this point, so I just don’t have space to add many.
Thanks again for your ideas, Terah. Would love to hear more tips from others!
Jen
Hi Darla and Terah,
So encouraging to hear from both of you. I’m afraid that I don’t have any help for large groups… in fact, my largest group is 4. It is encouraging to hear your ideas for making larger groups work. Darla, your desire to offer the gift of SM to as many families as possible while maintaining balance in your own life is inspiring! Thank you!
I would love to hear more about the piano camps that you do. How do you structure those? Do you teach Foundation Songs or do an Accompaniment workshop or…??
Kym N., California
My max. is really 4 and I feel sorry that I am still not quite well in managing the class. Parents really want to see their children play in the class.
Recently I have tried out something. My 4-student class will up load their list of things I want them to play to their own Dropbox folders anytime before the day of their lesson – just like sending in homework. I view their videos and make comments regarding their “homework”. It also help me to plan the next lesson.
However, it does use up some of my private time. It builds good personal relationship with the family and students though. I can also see if they sit right at the piano at home.
Darla H., Kansas
Just thought I’d address the issue of “piano time” in class. I don’t have any parents or students complain about not getting enough time on the piano in class because I set things up from the very beginning. I make sure that everyone knows that my job is to coach them how to learn, but the real magic happens at home. Class time is to learn what to do, and I make sure everyone understands that I can do that very efficiently without them spending much time actually playing in class.
One tip I heard from another teacher a year or so ago, was to have parents sit beside their students. When I implemented this, it increased the usefulness of the keypads by leaps and bounds. Parents are right there making sure that students have their fingers doing what I’m showing up in front. So students are getting a better handle on it in their seats, and parents are more involved and understand better what students should be doing at home.
I would be very careful about adding in extra work for yourself that takes extra time outside of class. If you have as many students as you want, and you have time for this, it works. But, I speak from experience, when I added in extra things for my students and then my studio grew and I didn’t have time for it any more, it was very difficult to pull back. If you organize your time as if you had a full studio, even when it’s not full, you won’t run into problems as you grow.