Early next year we will be releasing a special report, Piano-pocolypse – How Your Studio Can Survive, Thrive, and Save the Piano Teaching World. It will initially be available (for FREE) only to subscribers of TeachPianoToday.com. Below is a sneak peak at Piano-pocolypse.
High dropout rates are not a new trend in piano education. As long as there have been students playing piano, there have been students quitting piano. But is it enough to simply accept this fact?
Can we save all of our students? Can we achieve a 100% retention rate in our piano studios? Not likely… but there is certainly room for improvement.
While some students drop out for financial reasons and others move away, many simply lose interest… too many lose interest. And this is not a good thing. Not for the teacher, or for the piano teaching industry as a whole.
We have to think of the world as one great big piano studio. We have to work to maintain, and promote this global studio. The actions of one teacher do affect others within our industry.
When a child quits piano lessons, what does the parent often say… “Yeah, he just didn’t like the piano”. Ouch! This is not good for our global studio.
You’ll notice the parent didn’t say, “Yeah, Mrs. Kuncklewrapper wasn’t able to connect with him”. Nope, instead she blames the piano, not the teacher. Come on… it’s not the piano’s fault.
So this is a call to all of the GREAT piano teachers out there.
Be an influencer.
Be vocal.
Be heard.
Drown out the voices of the vocal minority stuck in the dark ages; the vocal minority that treat piano education like a Finishing School.
And when you do, other teachers will start to take note. And piano education will start to be about passion NOT passing exams. And when piano education fully embraces passion, dropout rates will… drop.
Elizabeth says
Actually, I have had quite a few students begin lessons with me who have taken from other teachers and the parents always mention that the former teacher wasn’t engaged or able to connect with their child, then they heard from so-and-so that I was making it an amazing experience for their child and wanted to give it another try (usually because they invested in an instrument or the kid was initially very excited)… so parents DO know that THE TEACHER MAKES A BIG DIFFERENCE. Let’s keep inspiring ourselves by inspiring our students!!!!
Trevor says
Hi Elizabeth, the work you are doing is fantastic! And you’re absolutely right… parents that don’t give up on piano lessons do know that the teacher makes all of the difference. My main concern is for the parents that give up on piano lessons altogether; the parents who are not willing to try again with a new teacher because their kids simply didn’t like piano (or so they have been led to believe).