“Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, a charm to sadness, gaiety and life to everything. It is the essence of order and lends to all that is good and just and beautiful.”
— Plato
Every Wednesday brings Words of Wisdom here at the Color in my Piano blog in the form of a musical quote or joke, intended to bring inspiration or humor to the middle of your week. Have suggestions? Send an email off to admin[at]colorinmypiano.com.
Well, unfortunately we didn’t get many responses to the last two week’s Forum Q&As about group lessons! I guess nobody wants to share their secrets. Just kidding. =) We did get a few good responses, which you can check out here and here. It’s not too late to add your comments, if you are willing to enlighten us. =)
This week’s topic is a fun one! Please share: How did you become a piano teacher? Tell us all about it. Here are a few prompt questions to get you thinking back to those early days:
How did you start teaching piano? Who was your first student? Who inspired you to be a piano teacher? Did you always know you would be a piano teacher? Did you have a mentor? What kind of piano did you teach on?
If any of you have your own blog, feel free to share your story there and leave a link here in the comments. I can’t wait to hear your stories! I’ve just put mine in the comments. =)
Photo Credit: kevin mullet | CC 2.0
Hello, all!
Over the weekend, I started packing up my sheet music library into boxes since we’re going to be moving in a month or two. All I can say is, I need to downsize!! I have a lot of used music that people have given me over the past few years. It makes for a great lending library, but it sure takes up a lot of room! As backwards as it seems, I’m going to save going through my music until after we move. =)
I’ve also begun looking into advertising piano lessons, since I will definitely need to do some of that in order to find new students. I’ve found a number of free ways to advertise online, and have compiled a list of links below. The first step to online advertising is definitely to create a website for your piano studio. If you haven’t already, I would recommend checking out the user friendly Weebly.com. If you have a studio website already, then you are ready to try out the links below!
Create a Google Places page
I recently discovered that local businesses can create their own Google Places page for completely free. Click here for a very nice example of a Google Places page. You can click here to get started listing your own studio business.
Free Teacher Directories
I don’t know about you, but I only use the teacher directories that are free. I don’t know which ones are worth paying for, so I play it safe and stick with the free ones! I suppose the chances of a student coming across some of these sites is somewhat slim, but when it’s free it’s worth a shot. Here are the ones I found: Continue reading “Studio Marketing: Advertising on the Internet”
“Music is the hardest kind of art. It doesn’t hang up on a wall and wait to be stared at and enjoyed by passersby. It’s communication. It’s hours and hours being put into a work of art that may only last, in reality, for a few moments…but if done well, and truly appreciated, it lasts in our hearts forever. That’s art. Speaking with your heart to the hearts of others.”
— Dan Romano
Every Wednesday brings Words of Wisdom here at the Color in my Piano blog in the form of a musical quote or joke, intended to bring inspiration or humor to the middle of your week. Have suggestions? Send an email off to admin[at]colorinmypiano.com.
Last week, we talked about the logistics of having group lessons — how often, how to schedule them, etc. — and we received a few great responses. Thanks so much!!
This week, perhaps we can continue the discussion:
What kind of activities can be conducted during group lessons? Do your students have a favorite activity? How do you decide what to cover each week? What benefits have you seen from holding group lessons in your studio?
Please share your tips and ideas in the comments below!
It’s recital season!
Have you held your spring recital yet? If you haven’t, here’s a new recital program template you are free to use if you like!
I currently have two recital templates on my Printables page and they are very popular downloads. This one is in color, although it still looks pretty good in black and white if you plan to print it that way.
To download: Visit the Printables > Other Resources page and scroll down to “Piano Recital Program Template #3.” I saved it as a “docx” this time, and I hope you all are still able to open it even if you don’t have the latest version of Microsoft Word. Please let me know if you run into problems.
If your spring recital has already occurred, how did it go? I’d love to hear all about it!
Greetings! Today I have two important announcements:
Andrea & Trevor Dow from yesterday’s interview have kindly agreed to sponsor a giveaway of Episode 1 of The Adventures of Fearless Fortissimo! This pdf is a $19.95 value and contains Early Elementary, Elementary, and Intermediate Level versions of the pieces, accompanied by a three page comic. Once you’ve purchased the pdf, you are free to print off as many copies as needed for use with your students! Read more about The Adventures of Fearless Fortissimo piano music for boys by clicking here.
To enter to win, leave a comment on this post!
You may earn one additional entry in the giveaway by sharing the link to this giveaway on your blog or on your facebook page. Be sure to leave an additional comment on this post to let me know you’ve done this, so that you get your extra entry.
The winner will be chosen via random number generator. Enter before Thursday, May 19, 2011 @ midnight for your chance to win!
Today I have a fabulous interview for you, from a husband & wife team who runs a 350-student music school in Canada! Meet Andrea & Trevor Dow.
And now for the interview!
* * * * *
Joy: Please tell us about your piano and/or teaching background!
Andrea: I was heavily involved in piano and singing lessons from the age of 4. I started teaching piano lessons when I was 18. I had a rusty old Toyota Corolla packed with supplies and I drove to my students’ homes in between my university classes and on weekends. This quickly morphed into a full-time job when I graduated with my B.Mus and within three years I had a studio of 350 students and a teaching staff of 14. My husband, Trevor, and I created the Piano Pals Early Learning Program (a preschool piano program for students ages 3-5 that teaches both beginning piano skills as well as kindergarten math concepts), which has been extremely successful at our own studio and is currently in development to be available to other teachers online. Right now I teach upper-level piano and singing lessons while managing our studio, and together with my husband we create online materials for piano teachers with the goal of bringing them the same amount of success we have created with our own studio. We co-authored the teaching e-book “Piano Hands Shouldn’t Flip Burgers” last year, are active bloggers, and most recently launched our newest venture with www.pianomusicforboys.com.
What is the most unique thing about your studio/music school? Continue reading “Interview: Andrea & Trevor Dow and their Piano Music For Boys”
“Music is a defining element of character.”
— Plato
Every Wednesday brings Words of Wisdom here at the Color in my Piano blog in the form of a musical quote or joke, intended to bring inspiration or humor to the middle of your week. Have suggestions? Send an email off to admin[at]colorinmypiano.com.
Last week, we discussed ways to get books & materials for students, and methods of reimbursement. As always, I really enjoyed everyone’s contributions to this discussion! I think this fall, I’m going to try charging a non-refundable enrollment fee that reserves the student’s place in the studio and goes towards books & materials. If the entire amount is not used, it will be used towards maintenance of the lending library. We’ll see how it goes. I think it will be much easier than my current method of waiting for reimbursement each time. =)
Today, I’d love to start a discussion about group lessons! Next week, we’ll talk about the benefits of group lessons and what kind of concepts can be covered — but today, we are just going to talk about the logistics of scheduling and planning group lessons.
So, tell us:
How often do you hold group lessons — monthly, or bi-monthly? (And what do you call them: group lessons, studio classes, or something else?) Do group lessons replace the lesson for that week, or do you teach privately in addition to the group lesson that week? How long do your group lessons last?
How do you find a time that works for everyone? How many students do you place in each group? Do you divide your students into groups by age, or by level (or a combination of the two)? If a student/parent decides they don’t want to participate in group lessons or their schedule doesn’t permit it, what do you do?
That was a lot of questions, I know, haha! But I’m very curious to hear about how you all make your group lessons work for your studio. Leave your thoughts in the comments below. =)
Photo Credit: Rick Harris | CC 2.0
Perhaps you are wondering why there is a picture of a bunch of stuffed animals for this post. Haha, I’ll get to that in a moment!
My private students are preparing to play for the university’s Community Music School recital tomorrow! There will be about 12 students performing, 4 of which are my students. For last few weeks, we’ve been taking time during lessons to “practice performing.” After all, what better way to prepare for a performance than to practice performing? =)
For my students, this means we imagine being at the recital during the lesson. The student “walks onstage” while the audience (me) is applauding wildly. The student gives a deep bow and sits down. Once the bench is checked, they take a deep breath and play. Wild applause ensues once again at the end of the piece, and the student beams, bows, and trots “off stage.”
I also encourage my students to put on recitals at home for their parents or friends, or even to create an audience of stuffed animals. The point is for the student to be mentally putting him-/her-self through the performance, imagining what it’s going to be like and imagining him-/her-self succeeding. Students really enjoy using their imagination and pretending they are onstage, and I think it is really beneficial for them to have gone through the process mentally before the real thing! (Especially when there is no dress rehearsal, as in this case.)
What kind of activities do you do with your students to help them “practice performing?”
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