With the start of another year in your studio comes the opportunity to make changes. But actually making those changes can be difficult. It’s all very well to say you want to do amazing things… but when it comes time to actually do them… the complexity of those plans means they often fall by the wayside; we’re only human and there are only 24 hours in a day.
So today we’ve come up with a simple, yet high-impact plan that solves a major piano teacher stressor; consistent and continuous communication with piano parents.
Piano teachers who keep in regular contact with piano parents have thriving studios. When everyone (teachers, parents, students) are all on the same page, kids practice more and progress faster. And, for the most part, kids who practice AND progress do not quit piano lessons.
If you’ve been longing to have more of a connection with your piano parents or if you already have a great connection but want to maintain it without spending hours in your office, then rejoice – we’re about to make studio communication a whole lot smoother with an easy-to-follow, monthly, piano parent communication template.
A Monthly Plan For Piano Parent Communication
I’m a big fan of scheduling – we just got an Amazon Alexa for Christmas and we’ve been busy calling out reminders and schedules, allowing her to automate those parts of our life that will free up our brains for other things!
So, in this post, we’re allowing you to free up your own brain with a 3-step plan for automating your piano parent communication: 1) Set aside 45 minutes every Sunday, 2) Quickly prep an email following the “formula” we’ve provided below, 3) Press send.
See… simple! Now check out the monthly email plan…
1. Week One: Provide An Introduction To The Month At Your Studio
This email should give a brief overview of everything that will be happening in your studio in the coming month. Things to include could be:
- Any special events you have planned (piano parties, group lessons, recitals and performances, practice incentive events)
- New resources you will be using (new piano books/sheet music you’ve purchased, piano games you will be using, manipulatives you’ve organized, off-bench games you’ll be playing etc.)
- Your studio’s overall focus for the month (this could be a concept that you’d like to focus on in lessons such as rhythm, a composer you’ll be learning about, a skill you’d like to develop etc.)
- Welcome new students who will be beginning at your studio.
2. Week Two: Share The Fun
This email should be a brief check-in sharing some of some of the fun you’ve been having in your studio during the first week of the month. Things to include could be:
- Photos of students (with permission, of course!) using the new resources or participating in the events you talked about in Week One.
- Photos of the resources themselves (our PianoBookClub books and PianoGameClub games photograph beautifully!)
- A brief paragraph explaining how the resources you used that month are contributing to your studio’s monthly goals.
- A “student highlight” – focus on one student per month and share his or her recent accomplishments/goals met.
3. Week Three: Boost Piano Parent Knowledge
This email should be short, but must include one bit of knowledge you’d like your piano parents to have. This could be:
- A tip for helping their children with piano practice at home
- A suggested at-home listening list of pieces you’d like your students to recognize
- A PDF of a piano parent resource you’d like them to use or read (we’ve shared resources such as a our “Piano Parent Cheat Sheet” etc.)
- A link to an article highlighting the benefits of music education and your brief “takeaways” from the article.
- A “Did You Know?” fun fact about a composer, music, the piano, etc.
4. Week Four: Recap The Month
It’s time for a “round-up” of everything that was accomplished in your studio during the month. Take highlights from all three of your previous emails and wrap it up in one “catch-all” email. Busy families will appreciate the review.
- Give a run-down of the special activities or events that took place
- Recap your studio’s monthly focus and describe how it was met
- Share one or two different photos of the new resources you used that month
- Mention your “student of the month” again and congratulate him or her.
- Mention the piano parent resource/tip again and thank them for their support/participation
Let Us Know If You’ll Be Starting This In 2018!
Regular communication does more than simply pass on information; it helps your piano parents to feel connected to your studio. This sense of connection will help to eliminate “extra” emails you then have to answer, will encourage word-of-mouth as parents glow about the fabulous things you are doing in your studio, and it creates an overall sense of belonging. The time you spend crafting these weekly emails will pay off in innumerable ways. Will you be starting this in 2018? Let us know in the comments below!
Sonia says
His sounds like a great idea! I am curious if you have a good template email or what you say to parents when they tell you their child might be quitting because they aren’t practicing on their own. Parents sometimes say they don’t want to “make” their children practice. But in my experience many would quit if their parents didn’t make them. I would love to hear how you would explain this to a parent without sounding like you are telling them how to raise their kids. Please help! No matter how fun we try to make it, there are still going to be days that parents have to step in and remind them.
María Laura says
I had the same problem, but I try now to switch from “you have to make your child practise” to “it’s really fun for your child if you accompany his/her practise with words of prise and encouragement, your child is going to be more willing to practise and will enjoy the practise much more” and it’s working really well. 🙂
This post is perfect! I way trying to do something like this some time ago but didn’t know how to aproach it, thank you so much!!
Andrea says
Hi Sonia – yes we do have two blog posts on this topic! Links are posted below:
https://www.teachpianotoday.com/2017/01/30/what-to-say-to-parents-when-children-arent-practicing-piano-at-home/
https://www.teachpianotoday.com/2013/06/02/do-you-have-a-student-about-to-quit-piano-save-them-with-this-email/
Jamie says
I LOVE this template! I do plan to implement it in my studio. Thank you so much!
Andrea says
Hi Jamie! So glad you’ll be using it 🙂 We know it will save you a lot of time, but also make your piano parents feel as though they are “in the loop”.
Pamela Friske says
I really try to communicate with my parents and I really like this template and plan to implement it. I also received an Amazon Alexa for Christmas from my brother. I am curious as to how you used it exactly. Do you just tell it to remind you of events and tasks?
Andrea says
Hi Pamela – so glad that you’ll be using this plan! We know it will make regular communication so much easier! As for using the Alexa – you could say “Alexa remind me on Sunday evening at 6:00pm to complete studio email.” Then on Sunday at 6:00 it will remind you to do so. We’ve set reminders for basically everything we would normally write in a day planner, on a grocery/shopping list or on a to-do list. All you have to do is say “Alexa add ___ to my list” or “Alexa remind me to___”. As we work from home, our Alexa is right in the middle of our workspace and so she just happily reminds us of everything all day long 😉
Grace Vera says
Yes! I love all of these ideas. So helpful. My husband and I run a music studio in Orange County and are busy as ever. Sometimes it’s easy to loose sight of what’s important (life lessons right? ) I think you hit it on the head though with the importance of connecting with parents, not just students. Thank you for this resource! We plan on implementing it this year.
Andrea says
Hi Grace – so glad you’ll be using it! Yes, communication with parents that is frequent and informative helps your studio in so many ways! Thanks for commenting 🙂
Emily says
I love this idea! I’ve been toying with the idea of a studio blog, but I think I’ll start with this, as it seems much more manageable!
Andrea says
I’d suggest trying this first – if you find that you’re able to do it easily then this can transfer into a blogging schedule – follow the same formula but instead of emailing, post to your blog once a week. You can set it up so your studio parents who subscribe to your blog automatically receive the post as an email 🙂 I think it’s best to go with the plan in the beginning that has the least amount of barriers – start simple and once your’e in the groove then get more complex if you want to 🙂
Jennifer says
Love love love this idea! And all the little ideas found inside! Thank you once again for helping me!
Andrea says
Hi Jennifer – so glad it’s helpful! Thanks for reading our blog 🙂
Becky says
This is brilliant! I plan to do this. Have wanted to send a little something each week but got paralyzed. You’ve given me a great framework. Thank you! Thank you!
Andrea says
Hi Becky – the great thing is that the framework is easy for you to implement but is also appreciated by the people who receive the email – predictability and regularity are helpful to busy families 🙂
Joy Tjoelker says
I am inspired by this post! I have just been chatting with a piano teacher friend that I wanted a better, more consistent way of communicating with parents. Great ideas! Thank you for sharing it with us.
Leslie kimble says
This is a great idea! I will be trying this in 2018! Thanks for sharing
Andrea says
Hi Leslie – wonderful! So glad you’ll be giving it a try 🙂 Thanks so much for commenting.
Leah says
I love all these ideas.
I do have to say though, that I have learned that less is more in the email category of communication. In today’s world of tech overload and email inboxes bombarded with too much junk, I do one concise, bullet-pointed email a month with key words in “bold” for easy reading and to aid those that only glance over their incoming email. This has eliminated people missing important info and causeed them to respect the brief and to-the-point info that I do send.
Special care is given to my individual, personal emails with parents with as much detail included as needed but my Studio emails are, by necessity (as I have found anyway), brief, concise, bullet- pointed and key words bolded.
Lacey says
I agree. Weekly emails seem to be too much for my parents and will likely get ignored. At the moment, I only send one email a month with very few, but very important bullet points and the parents STILL don’t read them. It’s very frustrating!
Leah says
Yes, agreed Lacey. I wasn’t going to say it but…..even then they sometimes don’t read them thoroughly enough even though I’m brief and an easy read at a glance.
Loriann says
I love the idea, but may try it via text instead. I’ve found my piano parents respond a lot better to texts.