What did you do at school today? Not much…
That’s the standard response parents get from their kids. A teacher could literally bring a dinosaur back to life, and the response would be the same… not much!
Kids are poor messengers because they are mentally tired after a day of school.
Now, imagine how tired kids are after they have gone to school all day and then had a piano lesson in the afternoon or night.
It’s not a stretch to assume parents know very little about what happens in your piano studio each week.
Unless you find a way to communicate weekly, you run the risk of parents judging piano lessons based on the retelling of events by a very tired student.
To help parents get a clearer picture of what goes on in a piano lesson, today we are sharing Ask Me Pages that make parent communication quick, effective, and student-centered.
Parent Communication Builds Bigger Studios
How is it possible that one teacher with a wonderful personality and great teaching style can have a struggling studio while another teacher with a wonderful personality and great teaching style can have a thriving studio?
The answer: parent communication!
A piano teacher cannot assume that parents know what is going on in a piano lesson. A piano teacher also cannot assume parents know how students should progress or what students should be learning.
Most parents of students are not piano players. They are, therefore, in the dark about piano education.
But parents won’t stay in the dark for long. They will try to educate themselves about piano lessons by observing their children’s moods after lessons or home practice sessions. They will also listen to other piano parents and make judgments based on their reviews.
And if that is how your piano parents are formulating their opinions about your teaching, they may come to the wrong conclusion.
This is why it is so important for piano teachers to control the message. You are the professional, and therefore, you should be the first point of contact for parents.
To ensure this happens, you should be communicating with parents on a weekly basis.
How To Keep In Touch With Piano Parents
There are a thousand ways to keep in touch with piano parents; some requiring a little effort and some requiring a ton of effort.
Your daily life and family circumstances will dictate how much time you spend communicating with piano parents. Just be sure that you are setting at least a small amount of time each week for outreach.
For piano teachers with busy lives, the printable Ask Me Pages that we are sharing at the bottom of today’s post accomplish the task of parent communication in as little as one minute.
But if you have more time, consider also doing the following:
1. A Weekly Email Newsletter
A weekly email newsletter is a great way to reach all of your parents at once. It is also easier than you may think. When people think of email newsletters they think of flashy, photo-filled, digital brochures. But that is not what parents need. A simple, text-only studio message sent on a Friday and outlining special achievements, upcoming events, unique lesson activities, and some home practice tips will do the trick.
2. End Of Lesson Talk Time
When you schedule back-to-back lessons it can be hard to touch base with parents. Still, some teachers manage to have a quick chat with a piano parent before the next lesson begins. If you struggle to make time, inviting parents to observe the last five minutes of a lesson is always a wonderful way to keep in contact.
3. A ‘What’s New’ Waiting Room Bulletin Board
While a bulletin board shouldn’t be your only form of communication, it is a wonderful addition to your action plan for keeping in touch. Many parents hang out in a waiting room during piano lessons. While most are likely glued to their phones, they will also take notice of an attractive bulletin board outlining student achievements and upcoming events.
And… Ask Me Pages For Student Binders
Today we are sharing Ask Me Pages for your piano students’ binders. Each page contains Ask Me boxes that you, as the teacher, fill out at the end of a lesson (one box per lesson).
In an Ask Me box, you can enter one thing that you want a piano parent to ask of their child. For example, in the box, you may write…
Ask me about the composition I created today.
Ask me about the certificate in my piano bag.
Ask me about the piano piece I chose for the recital.
Ask me about the new piece I am beginning this week.
Today’s printable Ask Me Pages are available at the bottom of the post, but first…
Do your piano students struggle with note reading?
Struggles with note reading and other fairly simple theory concepts are often the reasons piano students quit.
Imagine a lifetime of music lost because a student can’t do something as simple as reading notes on the staff.
To save these students, we created Andrea and Trevor Dow’s Timed Note Reading Tests For Piano. With simple, daily homework tasks that take very little time to complete, your students will become note reading stars.
Click here or on the cover below to learn more about Andrea And Trevor Dow’s Timed Note Reading Tests For Piano, Book 1.
Download Our Printable Ask Me Pages
To download our Ask Me Pages, visit Teach Piano Today’s Homework Pages (click the pink button below).
Remember to use the password found in today’s email. This printable is the first one in the library.
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