Robin Keehn
Involving Coaches in Lessons
I had a conversation recently about involving coaches in the lessons and giving them instructions for what to do at home. I have a great handout that I will find and share in a follow-up email, but we are wondering how YOU engage coaches. I…
Attrition Questions and Solutions
We are concerned about reported high attrition rates and we would like to hear from experienced teachers on this issue so that we can identify patterns and issues and then develop strategies to reduce attrition. We’re referring to yearly attrition rates, not monthly. Here are…
Summer Lessons and Retention
What do you do in summer for your students? Any thoughts? I ponder this question every summer and although I usually have a full enough schedule in the summer I always wonder if I could do something differently or better. I’m with you Carrie. I’ve…
Summer Dropouts
I feel like it’s that dreaded time of year when students either take the summer off or stop entirely! It happens at the start of almost every summer, when it seems like I lose at least a quarter of my business! How do other teachers…
When Parents Want to Try Lessons
I had a request this week from a mom who would like to trial three weeks before fully committing. Have you ever had these requests? Any thoughts on how to handle? In my opinion, no one can make a real decision about taking lessons in…
Student Home Materials For Multiple Family Members
If multiple family members are taking lessons, does each person need their own set of Student Home Materials, or can one set suffice? It would seem like duplication perhaps and unnecessary expense to have three sets of the same thing? Thanks for any thoughts from…
Providing Students With Music
I would welcome feedback. During the Accompaniment program, how do you approach teaching music pieces outside of the Simply Music curriculum. 1. Do you provide the music pieces or do they bring one of their own? 2. Is this a licensing issue? If I purchase…
Children Filling Out Evaluation Forms
Here’s something interesting. I got an evaluation form back, and for “Do you willingly recommend others to your teacher?” the circle was around “No” even though most of the form was essentially positive. I inquired politely, assuring that they were not obligated to recommend me,…
Thoughts About Tuition Rates
I’ve had some interesting conversations with a number of teachers over the past several months regarding what to charge for tuition. Of course, the amount we charge varies with what part of the country and which country you live in but there are some things…
Scholarships Form
A few of you have asked about providing some type of scholarship to students. I thought I’d share what we have done in our studio and what we no longer do! First, we have been committed to making sure that at least 10% of our…