So you’ve got your piano students practising, progressing, and loving their lessons. Is your job finished? Not quite.
We all appreciate being appreciated. Children especially blossom with a bit of sincere praise – even more so if the acknowledgement extends beyond verbal praise. And, if your students are excelling and loving their piano lessons, word of mouth advertising for your piano lessons will take off.
We are certainly not discounting verbal acknowledgement for student effort and achievement. These confidence-boosting comments are an extremely important aspect of piano teaching and should be a regular part of every lesson. However, the next step is to recognize and reward student effort and achievement in a more formal way.
Our studio and the teachers we mentor have become masterful at recognizing students in unique and exciting ways. The more inventive you are, the more it means to your piano students. Forget about filling in pre-made certificates and handing it to your students as they leave their lessons. There are far more unique and creative ways (that also serve as advertising for your piano studio!) that will thrill students and their parents.
When brainstorming creative forms of recognition you MUST remember that, although advertising opportunities for your piano studio will invariably arise, the efforts of the student are what is central. Rewards that involve blatant advertising (ie. My Son is a XYZ Music School Honor Student) are tacky.
What you really want is parents to brag to their friends, “Hey, did you know that Sarah’s original composition was so brilliant her piano teacher asked her if she wanted to record it onto her studio’s year-end CD!”… or other such exclamations of your originality and brilliance.
There you have it… Sarah’s efforts are front and center, while her parents help you with word-of-mouth advertising for your piano lessons.