The first few days after Christmas are always pretty lax. You may or may not have touched the stack of presents under the tree that are waiting to be put away, you may or may not have taken off your pyjamas…and you may or may not have even done the dishes from Christmas dinner…
But as January 1st rolls closer, the motivation to get back at ‘er starts stirring deep inside (somewhere deep inside and below the 3 boxes of Ferrero Rocher chocolates you’ve been picking at since Christmas Eve). So, you banish the Christmas decor to the basement once again and pick every last pine needle out of your carpet… and then all of a sudden the return of lessons is just around the corner and you STILL haven’t done any of those projects you promised yourself you would do over the break!
Breathe Life Into Your Lessons With These 5 Simple Solutions
So, we’re challenging you to spend just half of one day (you can leave those PJ’s on) implementing these 5 ideas. It takes next to no time to get these in order, but it makes all the difference to a fresh start come January. Follow along and get the excitement of a new term in full swing!
1. Start a Studio Mascot Program. A studio mascot (or “practice pal”) was one of our most popular ideas and the teachers who implemented these furry companions in their studios saw immediate results. It’s social media sharing gold, the kiddos love it, and practice hours soar. Click here for the details.
2. Set up regular email check-ins. Regular communication with parents is key to having strong relationships that weather all sorts of “storms”. Spend just 20 minutes setting up 3 different email templates that you can then “copy and paste” into your email program, change the details that need to be changed and send a cheerful check-in to the parents of your students.
My most common check-in email subject lines/topics are “This weeks’ lesson was fabulous!”, “Could you help Anna with…” and “Goal reached! Congrats Taylor!”. Keep them short and simple, make the template as generic as you can, and then by changing just a bit of the email each time you can send off those puppies off with little to no effort. I send mine every Sunday evening.
3. Visually represent your studio in some way. Building a sense of community is important in your studio. Having a visual representation of all of your piano students in a prominent spot on your studio wall is just one simple way you can start this community-building. Print photos of your students and post them to star-shaped cut-outs, design a photo collage and frame it, post a pic of your most recent recital, print a photo book of student compositions/pictures etc. The sky’s the limit, but having something that your students can look to and feel as though they belong is important.
4. Commit to playing more. And we don’t mean playing the piano more. We mean game-based learning. By setting aside just 5-8 minutes of a lesson you can teach concepts in a way that makes a real impact and adds a huge amount of motivating fun to your lessons. Sending your students out the door with a smile does wonders for retention and getting the games in order really takes no time at all. If you haven’t done so already, check out PianoGameClub where members receive 4 professionally designed and kid-approved piano games each month!
5. Make one change to your advertising. Even if you are enjoying the benefits of having a full studio, you still need to have your name out in the community. Whether or not you are actively seeking students, it does nothing but good to have your name out there consistently. Spend just one hour re-vamping just one aspect of your studio’s advertising: your Facebook cover photo, your studio newsletter format, your advertising posters, your brochure, your business cards… anything. Just choose one and modernize it. Look to the “big guys” when it comes to style. What do you like about their ads? Make a list and then incorporate those aspects into your own advertising.
Small Goals = Big Gains
You’ll be surprised at how much of a difference these 5 simple changes can make to your outlook on the new term of lessons. It’s often just not knowing where to start that prevents us from making a change… so simply pick a day and start with number 1! All of these can be done from the comfort of your couch… and with or without Bailey’s in your mug… so no excuses 😉
Of course. Today I opened this email and I am in pajamas!
#1. A mascot? I think I’ll try it with my Wunderkeys graduates.
#2. Emails. I need to do this today!
Thanks for keeping us on our toes, even in pj’s!
Happy New Year Dorla 🙂
Thanks for the reminder to connect with parents via email! I knew there was something I forgot to put on my day’s “to do” list – send out the studio newsletter! 🙂
Also going to think how I can change some pictures on my facebook page. Thank you!
Happy New Year Lisa! Have fun re-inventing your Facebook page.
As always wonderful wisdom and ideas! I gotta say I now have “piano panda” dressed in a music print apron and a music bag ready to go home each week with a different family and it has been an amazing HIT with all my students!! So thank you! Also the games that I receive each month from you I laminate and send home with the kids and they love that too! Excellent ideas and am so grateful for what you both do for all of us! My biggest dilemma is note reading for the students and memorizing the notes and where they are on the keyboard- and helpful hints or wisdom on that topic? Happy new year to everyone!
Hi Sunni Moe – so glad that your piano mascot has been a hit and that you are enjoying the PianoGameClub games. Great idea to send them home with your students 🙂 Happy New Year!
How in the Wide World of Sports do you know what I am thinking, WHEN I am thinking it? I woke up this morning feeling a little bit, “Oh, no, NOW what?” after our wonderful Christmas recital. Now, I have a plan. Thank you so much!
Great post! How did you know I’ve been spending long mornings in my jammies and eating Lindt chocolate?! I LOVE the idea of a mascot! I can’t wait to pick one. I will schedule time tomorrow morning to do these 5 things. So much easier when I have a ‘to do’ list!
Hee hee…I know it because because I’ve been doing the same thing Jennifer! Happy “checking off” your to-do-list! 🙂
I am curious about the piano games. Four a month? Just how many piano games are there out there?
Hi Wanda – yes, you receive 4 different piano games every month. There are unlimited ways we can make learning important piano concepts fun so you will be able to build quite a collection of learning materials! The 4 games are of varying levels and cover a wide variety of topics that your piano students need to know. If you sign up you can cancel at any time if it’s not what you’re looking for (but we KNOW your piano students will go crazy for the games as all the other members are telling us so :)!)
I have a little bear dressed in a Mountie costume that we got at a Canada Day celebration. I am introducing him as ‘Al’, last name ‘Gretto’ (full name Al E. Gretto). I am telling the students that Al hopes they will all still be excited to take him home even though he looks like the Practice Police 😉 Maybe he can hand out practice badges for 5 days of completed practice assignments!