Plucky Violin Teacher Blog
These blog posts were originally published on my Plucky Violin Teacher website. In the interest of saving money and simplifying my online to-do list, I will be gradually moving those blog posts here.
 This post was originally published on the Plucky Violin Teacher blog on September 11, 2016 so links and resources may not be current.
Practicing with your child can be rough. Tantrums, stall tactics, power struggles, Suzuki parents are on the front lines and we all need some extra inspiration occasionally. If you are looking to breathe some new life into your practice routine with your Suzuki student, don’t fret! I have gathered these practice tips for Suzuki parents from all around the web to help you make practicing more fun and engaging for your children. 1. I am crazy about review. I love review. I think that one of the best ways to keep your kids feeling confident about their playing (not to mention improving their playing) is to really focus on review. My students know, I love review for working on technical issues and introducing new concepts. These review spinners look like a great way to add some fun to your review practice, and they look like something I could actually make, which is a huge plus. Review Spinners 2. How do we get our kids to love practicing? Joanne Bath, a Professor of Suzuki Pedagogy, SAA-registered Violin Teacher Trainer, and a former SAA Board member, shared her tips for doing just that in this article on the SAA website. There were some wonderful tips and ideas here that I think every parent (and teacher!) needs to know. “I Love to Practice!” 3. Sometimes you just can’t get in a full practice session. Life gets crazy, kids get tired, maybe your schedule is overstuffed… Rather than skipping the practice session altogether, try some of these ideas for what to do when your child is too tired to practice… Suzuki Violin Practice Tips–Alternatives to a Full Practice 4. One of the most important Suzuki parent responsibilities is taking notes in the child’s lesson. It’s difficult to be the teacher at home if you can’t remember what happened in the lesson! Here are some practical tips for taking notes at lessons. Taking Notes at Lessons–Practical Tips for Parents 5. Speaking of review, I just can’t get enough of it! More review! More creative ideas for making review fun! Here’s a list of ten review practice ideas for your Suzuki student. More Ideas for Review Please share your favorite Suzuki Parent practice tips in the comments! Image Credit Reader Interactions Comments
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 This blog post was originally published on the Plucky Violin Teacher blog on August 28, 2016 so links and resources may not be current.
1. I loved this post from Teach Piano Today titled, “How to Turn Your Difficult Piano Students into Your Favorite Piano Students.” It is such a helpful and timely reminder for me of the impact I can have in the lives of my students. 2. One of my big takeaways from Philip Johnston’s book, The Dynamic Studio, was the power of giving your students a reason to stay. It is not enough for our students not to have a reason to leave, they need compelling reasons to stay in the studio. One of my new strategies for adding reasons to stay is an epic studio raffle challenge. Students will earn tickets for the days they practice, as well as other defined challenges and goals (listening, etc.) At the end of the semester we will be holding a drawing and the prizes will be sa-weet. Tickets to the local amusement park, arcade, etc. I am investing some money in these prizes yes, but if it gets even a few of my students fired up about practicing I will make my money back in continued tuition payments. If you are interested in holding a practice challenge in your studio, I recommend checking out this article by Philip Johnston: Running a Practice Competition 3. Have you downloaded Heather Figi’s Spring/Summer Packet yet? It has some fantastic pieces and exercises like Down-Up-Up Twinkle (Great practice for Minuet I!), Backwards Mystery Pieces, and more. I downloaded this packet to use in my group lessons today and I can’t wait to see how the kids respond to the backwards mystery pieces. It’s going to be a riot. I already know. The packet is only available for a few more days so get over there and download it. You won’t be disappointed, and it’s free so…win-win! 4. I’ve really enjoyed reading How Muscles Learn: Teaching the Violin with the Body in Mind by Susan Kempter this month for the Plucky Violin Teacher Book Club. It’s been a great refresher on what excellent posture looks and feels like and how to help my students achieve it. 5. This fall my teaching schedule is 100% booked, AND I have a bunch of students on my waitlist for January. I really stepped-up my marketing game over the last few months. I overhauled my website, re-branded my studio, raised my rates, and I’m gradually changing my studio culture. Bree Lewis’s book, The Handbook of Marketing Strategies for Music Teachers: 88 Free and Low-Cost Ways to Book Your Studio Full was an invaluable resource during this process. One of the most successful marketing strategies I tried from her book was taking advantage of locally-based Facebook groups. This tip was pure gold, and there are many more ideas in the book that I haven’t even tried yet. Right now, Bree is offering a coupon code for the next few days for $20 off, so now is the time to buy! You can purchase the handbook here, just use AUGUST for the coupon code to get $20 off. Here’s a blog post I wrote about Bree’s book a while ago if you want to know more about it… What are your best violin-teaching tips and resources? Please share in the comments!  This blog post was originally published on the Plucky Violin Teacher blog on August 21, 2016 so links and resources may not be current.
Getting ready for fall is one of the trickiest parts of being a violin teacher. It seems like everything goes crazy in August. New students calling, setting up the lesson schedule, parent education, and more. Not to mention, getting your own personal life in order too! Here are a five violin teaching tips, tricks, and resources to help you navigate this crazy time. 1. This article by Paula Bird is a great one to share with your studio parents, and it has some good reminders for us teachers as well. Back to School Checklist for Suzuki Parents 2. You’ve probably already created your fall schedules, but just in case you haven’t there are some great tips in this blog post by Daniel Patterson. I used Typeform for my student schedule surveys and it worked great! How to Survive Back-to-School Scheduling 3. I have had my new students’ parents buy these cardboard violins in the past, but I may start using this free printable version. They are more colorful and fun! My First Violin-Cardboard Template 4. I have a few new beginners starting, and I am so excited. I love little beginners. Here is a list of great pre-twinkle activities. Pre-Twinkle Activities 5. If you didn’t read this book in July, you have got to read it. I’m going through it again because I got so much out of it. It is a must-read and a must-own. The Dynamic Studio by Philip Johnston What are your best tips for starting the school year off right?  This post was originally published on the Plucky Violin Teacher blog on July 29, 2016 so links and resources may not be current.
This week’s round-up of violin teaching tips, tricks, and resources features five helpful youtube videos about vibrato. 1. Vengerov: Bach (Sonata No.1) — How To Achieve A Good Vibrato This video is a gem, here is Maxim Vengerov explaining how to coordinate vibrato with the bow. Besides he’s a delight, you gotta love Vengerov. 2. Vibrato: Beginning Exercise 1 Sassmannshaus ViolinMasterclass.com This video is the first in a series of vibrato exercise videos from Kurt Sassmannshaus of ViolinMasterclass.com and University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. 3. Itzhak Perlman on Vibrato Mr. Perlman’s thoughts about the different types of vibrato. 4. Violin Lesson on Vibrato from Nathan ColeNathan Cole is the First Associate Concertmaster, LA Philharmonic and he teaches online violin lessons at ArtistWorks.com. I’ve been a member of ArtistWorks for almost a year and I have been very impressed. It really helps me to stay motivated to practice and keep learning. I highly recommend it. Here’s one of Nathan’s videos about vibrato. Classical Violin Lessons with Nathan Cole at ArtistWorks.com! 5. Violin Class 22: Vibrato by Doree Huneven This is one of my very favorite videos about vibrato. I think she has some wonderful exercises for vibrato, and explains things very well. I am using a lot of these exercises with my students now. More Violin Vibrato Tips, Tricks, and Resources…If you are looking for more resources and videos about vibrato, I recommend checking out Mimi Zweig’s site StringPedagogy.com. Membership is free, and there’s a bunch of information about teaching vibrato there. You can also sign up for Coursera’s free course “Teaching the Violin and Viola: Creating a Healthy Foundation,” there is an excellent unit about vibrato. There’s also some helpful information in Michael Hopkin’s String Pedagogy Notebook, he includes information about teaching cello and bass as well. I also really love Viva Vibrato, it has tons of fun exercises and illustrations for kids learning vibrato. I think we talked about it in one of my pedagogy courses in my Master’s Degree. I’ve enjoyed using it with my students. What are your best vibrato tips or resources? Please share in the comments!  This post was originally published on the Plucky Violin Teacher blog on July 26, 2016so links and resources may not be current.
Is Your Mindset Sabotaging Your Music Students? The Growth Mindset and Suzuki Philosophy… June’s book club pick was Mindset by Carol Dweck, so yes, I am incredibly behind! I always expect summer to move at a slower pace than the rest of the year, but then it moves faster? Does that happen to you? Ok, back to Mindset. I have read so many fantastic (and even life-changing) books with the Plucky Violin Teacher book club this year that it’s hard to pick a favorite. This one is definitely in the top few. As I read it I was both inspired and very aware of the times in my life that my mindset has held me back. I think this book is a must-read for all teachers and parents. Every Child Can…Carol Dweck, psychologist and researcher, states “the view you adopt for yourself profoundly affects the way you lead your life…Believing that your qualities are carved in stone—the fixed mindset—creates an urgency to prove yourself over and over.” This is a recipe for exhaustion, rejection, and defeat. But we don’t have to live that way! There is another mindset available to us. “In this mindset, the hand you’re dealt is just the starting point for development. This growth mindset is based on the belief that your basic qualities are things you can cultivate through your efforts…everyone can change and grow through application and experience.” To me, this sounds a lot like a quote from Dr. Suzuki, "Once born we must live with ourselves until the day we die. There arises, then, the inevitable question of how to live. If our ability was not nurtured properly, we have to develop it ourselves. Instead of being defeated by misfortune, we have to make something good of our lives. There is no reason to give up in discouragement; it is possible for every person to improve himself." Many times I didn’t make the effort I should have because I did not want to change others’ perception of me—I wanted people to continue believing that I was smart (or musically-talented.) Avoiding the very situations and opportunities that would have helped me grow musically and intellectually actually stagnated my growth! I spent all four years of my undergrad thinking about taking David Baker’s improvisation class (open to all instrumentalists.) Every semester I looked at this class in the course catalog. Every semester I decided to wait until next semester. I was so worried about looking like a fool, that I missed a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to study improvisation with a master. Who is now gone. What a shame. We can’t know the future, our students may surprise us! Do people with this mindset believe the anyone can be anything, that anyone with proper motivation or education can become Einstein or Beethoven? No, but they believe that a person’s true potential is unknown (and Unknowable); that it’s impossible to foresee what can be accomplished with years of passion, toil, and training. Teaching with a Growth Mindset…While the book is full of wonderful stories and examples of great educators, coaches, athletes, CEO’s, and scientists, I was especially excited to see that Dorothy DeLay was included as an example of a great educator with a growth mindset. Her mentor and fellow teacher at Juilliard, Ivan Galamian would say, “Oh, he has no ear. Don’t waste your time.” But she would insist on experimenting with different ways of changing that. (How can I do it?) And she usually found a way… It’s interesting. Both DeLay and Galamian valued talent, but Galamian believed that talent was inborn and DeLay believed that it was a quality that could be acquired. “I think it’s too easy for a teacher to say,’Oh this child wasn’t born with it, so I won’t waste my time.’ Too many teachers hide their own lack of ability behind that statement.’ By the way, if you are interested in learning more about the life of Dorothy DeLay, I highly recommend reading Teaching Genius: Dorothy Delay and the Making of a Musician. I loved Mindset so much, that I am now listening to it on Audible. This book may have to be a yearly read. Try Audible and Get Two Free Audiobooks If you want to read more about growth mindset and how it relates to the Suzuki Method, check out this blog post by Alan Duncan. Since finishing Mindset a few weeks ago, I’ve been trying to praise my students, and my own children, much differently. Rather than, “You’re so smart!” I’ve been trying to remember to say, “I could tell you really thought hard about that and figured it out all by yourself.” Have you read Mindset? How do you think Suzuki teachers can help their students foster a growth mindset for themselves? Ready to dive into a good book? Learn more about the Plucky Violin Teacher Book Club here. Reader Interactions Comments
 How I Use Music Teacher’s Helper to Streamline My Studio Schedule...And Make My Studio Parents’ Lives a Thousand Times Easier….
This post was originally published on the Plucky Violin Teacher blog on July 23, 2016 so links and resources may not be current. I know longer use Music Teacher's Helper, and have switched to My Music Staff. A few weeks ago, I shared a post about why I totally changed my make up lesson policy. I have moved to a much more flexible make-up policy. If my students give me 24-hour notice before they cancel lessons, they can register for a make up lesson through Music Teacher’s Helper. My students are loving this change, and it has not been much of an inconvenience to me at all. I know all of the reasons why many teachers have a no-make-up policy, and I agree with most of them. I also know how crazy it is to be a parent these days. Kids are busier than ever, and life moves faster than ever. My willingness to support and accommodate studio parents is a huge selling point for my studio, which means parents are willing to pay more for this convenience. I Build extra teaching time into my schedule…I have a smallish studio (only 25 students) so I built a few extra lesson slots into my schedule. I put one extra forty-five minute open lesson time at the end of my teaching day. Sometimes students register for these times, and sometimes they don’t. I make sure I have babysitting during this time, and if it stays open I can choose whether to work on other business tasks, or go pick up my kiddos early. This isn’t the best option for everyone, depending on your studio size, or your family commitments, but right now it’s working for me. When students cancel I add those times as open make up lessons…The parents in my studio are pretty good about giving me notice of their cancellations. I often have them a week or two in advance, so it is easy to cancel their lesson (and issue a make up credit) in Music Teacher’s Helper and then create an open make up lesson during their time. These repurposed times are when most of my make ups happen. I email my studio at the beginning of the week with a link to the calendar reminding them to look for any open times. If times open up during the week, I send another reminder email with those new times. Parents can login to Music Teacher’s Helper and register for whichever opening they want, so I’m not waiting to hear back from anyone. I also don’t have to worry about multiple parents requesting the same time because they can only see the ones that are still available. Quick tip: Did you know there is a Music Teacher’s Helper App? I use it on my iPhone and iPad, and parents in my studio use it to quickly register for make up lessons on the go.Here’s how to set up these open make up lesson times in Music Teacher’s Helper.In the menu on the left side, I select “Calendar” then “New Event or Lesson.” Then select “For All Students.” This will add options for “Online Booking” or “Require students to register for this event.” Select “Require students to register for this event” and put “1” in the maximum students field. I title the event “Open Make Up Lesson.” Then choose the appropriate day, time, and length of lesson. (For the extra lesson times I build into my schedule, I choose “repeat weekly” in the repeat options.) These times show up on your studio parents’ dashboards along with their students’ regular lesson times (see below.) When parents register for these times, I get an email notification from Music Teacher’s Helper so I’m always on top of schedule changes. Of course, when things are crazy for me, I don’t have to have these extra times. My sisters were both in town in July, so I deleted every open make up lesson time during the weeks they were here so I could spend all of my extra time with them. (Make sure you delete these times though, don’t just “cancel” them. A couple times I “canceled” open make up times, but parents could still register for them, it got a little confusing. If you delete them, it works better.) If you have any more questions about how I use Music Teacher’s Helper, or helpful tips for Music Teacher’s Helper users, please share in the comments!  This post was originally published on the Plucky Violin Teacher blog on June 24, 2016 so links and resources may not be current.
Do you listen to podcasts? I am obsessed with them, I’m a little bit of podcast junkie. I love to listen to them in the car while I’m driving, or when I am doing the dishes or other household chores. It makes me feel extra productive to be learning new things even when I’m doing mindless tasks. I get my best ideas when I’m listening to podcasts, often podcasts that aren’t related to violin-playing at all! Here are some of my favorite podcasts for Suzuki violin teachers… 1. The Teach Suzuki Podcast has to come first. If you haven’t listened to this podcast by Paula Bird yet, you need to get on that!! Even if you ignore the rest of this blog post, quick go subscribe to the Teach Suzuki Podcast. Are you back? Oh good. Moving on… 2. A Musical Life with Hugh Sung. Here’s a link to a great interview he did with violinist, Rachel Barton Pine. 3. Tim Topham. While this podcast is aimed at piano teachers, I have gotten so many great ideas from listening to this podcast. I highly recommend it. 4. The Teach Piano Today Podcast. Not always applicable, but some really great stuff here. 5. Did you sign up for Parents as Partners Online this year? Did you know that they had a podcast? So if you are registered for Parents as Partners online, you can access the audio for all of the talks on iTunes and DOWNLOAD THEM. Even though Parents as Partners Online is ending soon, I still have all of the talks downloaded on my phone…it’s awesome. I listen to so many more podcasts, so if you want more suggestions let me know! What are your favorite podcasts? Music-related or not, I’m always looking for a new podcast, so please share in the comments! Hey friends! I wanted to update this post with some of my new favorite podcasts for Suzuki teachers: *Beyond the Music Lesson: This podcast is excellent. I learn a ton every time I listen. I’m not just saying that because they interviewed me a while back, I promise! *Building Noble Hearts: This podcast is produced by the Suzuki Association of the Americas, and is just brilliant. It’s a can’t-miss. Reader Interactions Comments
 This post was originally published on the Plucky Violin Teacher blog on June 22, 2016 so links and resources may not be current.
How Do I Know If My Child Has Musical Talent? And Does Musical Talent Even Matter… When I was a kid, every time I perform in the community, school, or church, adults would talk to my parents about “how talented I was.” My parents always responded with, “She works very hard, and practices a lot.” At the time, I was a little annoyed at this response. I thought it diminished my performance! Of course I had musical talent! In fact, a great deal of my identity rested on my “musical talent.” As I’ve grown older, and had a lot more experience I’ve come to realize that talent is overrated. Many musicians, considered to be very talented, flame out and drop out of school. Others labeled as lacking in talent eventually blossomed into the finest musicians I know. Musical ability is not a matter of luck at birth. Like language, it is a skill to be honed and developed. French children speak beautiful French. Chinese children speak fluent Chinese. If the parent and the teacher create a safe environment for learning and experimentation, your child can learn to play their instrument. When parents ask me if their child has talent, I am quick to reassure them that they do! When I see a student, I see infinite possibility, the power to learn and grow into something amazing, wonderful, and beautiful. This possibility is in every child. Even, and especially, yours. If you are wondering if your child has musical talent, I want to ask you to try to put that thought aside and ask yourself these questions instead. Do I want my child to believe they can do anything? Do I want my child to make the connection between hard work and accomplishment? Do I want my child to be limited by a perceived lack of talent? Or do I want my child to believe that they can develop any skill they want to develop? Music lessons really can’t be viewed as a “few-month-trial” to see if your child has any talent. Even if talent is inborn or genetic, that inherent talent needs to be nurtured and cultivated for a long time before it truly “shows.” Michael Jordan did not begin dunking from the free throw line at age five. Neither will your child, no matter how precocious he is. Your child’s ability will bloom and grow over time. The idea of talent implies limitation. They have some musical talent. He is so talented. It seems like a finite resource. One is born with their allotted talent, and that’s that. No possibility of acquiring more. You can waste your talent, but you can’t get more. I think there is nothing more disempowering than “talent.” My own belief in my “musical talent” ended up being a burden and a curse. When I arrived at Indiana University, one of the best music schools in the United States, I found that there were many, many, many, much more talented violinists than I. Because I had clung to this idea of “talent,” I grew discouraged and thought I may as well give up. Under the wing of an amazing teacher, I began to see the violin as a skill, one I could develop and improve. After a while, the despair began to fade away. For now, let’s all accept the principle that every child is born with the same capability of developing talent or skill as fact. (Of course, there are exceptions for disability, but even children with disabilities are often more capable than we think.) This principle is the one of founding principles of the Suzuki Method. Dr. Suzuki said in the Preface of his book, Nurtured by Love, “In today’s society a good many people seem to have the idea that if one is born without talent, there is nothing he can do about it; they simply resign themselves to what they consider to be their “fate.” Consequently, they go through life without living it to the full or ever knowing life’s true joy. That is man’s greatest tragedy. We are born with natural ability to learn… Good or bad, however, once born we must live with ourselves until the day we die. There arises, then the inevitable question of how to live. If our ability was not nurtured properly, we have to develop it ourselves. Instead of being defeated by misfortune, we have to make something good of our lives. There is no reason to give up in discouragement; it is possible for every person to improve himself.” As parents, you and I have the power to nurture ability in our children. To teach them it is possible to improve oneself, and that development it is an important key to their lifelong happiness. Who cares about talent? Let’s be lifelong learners, striving to improve and grow in every moment. Has the concept of “talent” hindered or helped your growth? Please share your experience in the comments! Comments
 This post was originally published on the Plucky Violin Teacher blog on June 17, 2016 so links and resources may not be current.
It’s confession time, everyone. I’ve been feeling really burnt out the last month or so. I’ve been tired and frustrated, oftentimes with no apparent reason! Do you ever feel that way? When you start to focus on all the things that are going wrong instead of going right? When you zero in on how far you still have to go instead of how far you’ve come? Please say yes. Fortunately, these past two weeks have been the shot in the arm I needed. Here are the violin teaching tips, tricks, and resources that have helped me out of a really bad funk. 5 Violin Teaching Tips, Tricks, and Resources… 1. While not directly aimed at violin teachers, these videos about mindset and achieving goals have truly changed the way I’ve been thinking about my personal development and my teaching. I think these principles are important to teach to my students as well! 2. I think Paula Bird must be able to read my mind, because this is the title of one of her most recent podcasts, “How to Beat Burnout.” I know, freaky right? While it is aimed at Suzuki parens, it all applies to teachers too! 3. Yesterday was the first day of the Intermountain Suzuki String Institute. I am taking Suzuki violin book 4 teacher training with Mark Mutter and it is AWESOME. I’m so excited about all the techniques and tools I’m going to try with my students. Big things coming, you guys. I highly encourage everyone to get to a teacher training workshop this summer. It’s the best way to beat teacher burnout in my opinion! 4. Do you have any students in your studio that seem to have a tough time with not playing things perfectly the first time? I can think of a few in mine that every time that can’t just nail something the first time through they get very upset. Alan Duncan recently wrote a post called, “How to Deal with Frustration Intolerance in Suzuki Students,” and as soon as I saw the title I thought, “That is exactly what I’m seeing here!” Here’s quote from the post that I liked, Certain cognitive styles, especially perfectionism make children prone to the outcomes of low frustration tolerance. When a difficult passage fails to yield to a few quick attempts, the perfectionist child is often frustrated by the inability to learn it quickly. Children who are rigid, black/white thinkers also fall into the patterns of low frustration tolerance because the world tends not to always conform to their expectations. 5. Mark Mutter (Suzuki teacher trainer) shared this resource with our class yesterday. It is a database containing the original source material for the Suzuki violin repertoire. Almost all of the pieces in the violin books are transcriptions or arrangements of pieces for other instruments, and because full titles aren’t included in the books it can be difficult to figure out where each piece came from. This site has all of that information about each piece and MORE. I’m very excited to share more historical background about the pieces with my students. If you are experiencing burnout like I am, I hope some of these resources help perk you up a little bit. You are amazing, and the work you do is so important. It’s hard to remember sometimes, but it’s true. Stay plucky, friends. How do you avoid teacher burnout? Please share your tips in the comments!  This post was originally published on the Plucky Violin Teacher blog on June 15, 2016 so links and resources may not be current.
And How Music Teacher’s Helper Made it Possible and Even Easy… Last year, I wrote a blog post about why I don’t teach make up lessons. I still firmly stand by some of the things I said in the post, but a lot has changed. I was a staunch supporter of the no make up lessons movement. Now, I have moved to an unrestricted rescheduling policy. My students can reschedule lessons for any reason, provided that they let me know the day before. Are you freaking out? I know, I know. Believe you me, I know all the reasons not to do this. But, even with my old no make up lesson policy, I was still losing money and time scheduling make ups and giving people credits. Everyone was sick. All. The. Time. So I gave make ups. And, to make matters worse, some parents would tell me that they were to busy to do a make up lesson, so they wanted a credit instead. I couldn’t count on my income. Maybe I could have forced the issue, but I didn’t want to. It’s not me. I was spending a lot of my time calling and scheduling make up lessons, and then teaching make up lessons on Saturday, when I wanted to be with my kids. It was exhausting. And, I didn’t feel like the policy was respecting my time…or my students’. There are only so many hours after school, the hours between 3pm and 8pm are precious. Every single extracurricular is stuffed into those times, not to mention, practice, family time, homework, and playing. Remember playing? It is becoming increasingly rare for kids today. These hours are precious for me, as well! I want to be done teaching at 5:30pm or 6:00pm so I can have dinner with my babies and put them to bed. We can draw comparisons to sports or dance, and say that students don’t get make ups or credits when they miss those things. But, to be fair, it really isn’t the same is it? There are more children involved in those things, and often they are cheaper per child than private lessons. After reading these two blog posts by Daniel Patterson, Never Get Hassled About Make Up Lessons Again, Part I How to Solve Your Music Make Up Lesson Problem, Part II I was convinced that I needed to change my make up policy. Daniel argues for a Nordstrom approach to make up lessons. Nordstrom’s customer service policy is extremely generous. Everything about Nordstrom’s communicates premium service and high quality. Their customers are willing to pay more because of the experience. Nordstrom’s has an amazing profit margin, so obviously the model is working. I highly recommend you read the above blog posts, because they really did totally change the way I thought about make up lessons and my business. My old way of thinking painted my students and parents as the enemy. Manipulative consumers bent on taking advantage of me and my personal time. My new way of thinking about make up lessons puts my students and I on more level ground. I serve them by offering make up times, and it serves me because I have to do little or no scheduling. Little or no scheduling? How does that work? Daniel’s method uses a google calendar listing every open time in the schedule, all the students have access to this calendar and can see when the open times are. He lets students know when more times open up, for example if a student cancels for the next day. Then when parents contact him to say they want one of the open times, he goes to the calendar and marks that time as unavailable. When I saw how Daniel’s google calendar worked, I realized that I could use Music Teacher’s Helper to make it even more hand’s off on my end. (Seriously guys, this has made my life SO MUCH BETTER.) In my Music Teacher’s Helper Calendar, I have all of my students’ lessons scheduled. In addition to their regular times I built in a few extra make up times at the beginning or end of my teaching day. I only add these at times that I really am willing to teach, and I have babysitting lined up for those times. (If I don’t end up teaching during my make up times, I simply do other work I need or want to do. Like blogging, or folding laundry without toddlers unfolding as I go. It’s amazing.) These make up times show up in my students’ individual Music Teacher’s Helper Calendars and they can register for the times that they want. Once they’ve registered, Music Teacher’s Helper sends me an automatic email telling me they’ve registered for a make up lesson and when it is. No more spending hours on the phone each week scheduling make ups for students who have been sick. Parents feel relieved that they can get to Parent-Teacher Conferences at school, and still make it to violin lessons that week. I no longer give ANY credits so my income is much more predictable. And I love that I have to do very little scheduling via email or on the phone with my students. In my next blog post, I will walk you through how exactly I set up these open make up lesson times for my students. If you are interested in trying out Music Teacher’s Helper, you can get a free 30 day trial and 20% off your first month here. What is your make up lesson policy? Are you happy with it, why or why not? Please share in the comments! Comments
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Plucky Violin TeacherHi, I'm Brecklyn! I am a Suzuki violin teacher, Suzuki parent, and blogger. I help busy and overwhelmed music teachers and parents find success and avoid burnout by providing the tools, resources, and inspiration they need to spark a love for music in their students. To learn more about me, click here. Archives
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