Advertising for New Students

January 10, 2011 Jennifer Boster
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I just had to get that Merry Christmas post off of the top of the blog – onto a new year! 🙂 I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas break and are on to great new semesters of piano study. We have a lot of great things coming up on The Teaching Studio. For now, I thought it would be a great time to re-visit the topic of Finding New Students.

I have made many-a-flyer in my years of teaching piano lessons. I decided it was time for a new, more professional-looking one. I wanted one that I could email out to people (I have had people give my name to people who are interested in lessons, and wanted something professional-looking that could be forwarded on to others). I used Microsoft Publisher to make this one and I love how it turned out! I have never used this program before, but I loved all of the professional-looking templates you can choose from and customize to your heart’s content. What do you think?

Now, tell me – what kind of information do you like to put on your flyers? If you use flyers to advertise, how do you make them? Where/how do you like to distribute them?

Happy Monday!

Pedagogy Books: Practical Piano Pedagogy

July 9, 2010 Jennifer Boster
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Practical Piano PedagogyPractical Piano Pedagogy by Dr. Martha Baker-Jordan is a wonderful resource for any piano teacher looking for some great ideas and printable resources for their studio. Yes, this book includes TONS of free printables (you can photocopy them from the book, or load them on your computer from the included CD!) – including all sorts of studio forms and other resources. (I mentioned this book before in a post about personality types and piano methods.)

The author has written a great chapter called “The Business of Piano Teaching,” which discusses good business procedures which help to make you more professional. This chapter includes many forms such as a Telephone Interview form, a Beginner Interview form, a Readiness Evaluation for Beginner form, a Studio Policy, Billing Form, Yearly Tuition Schedule, Letterhead Stationary, etc.

Other great chapters include: “Tuition: Being Paid What You Are Worth,” “Strategies for Acquiring Students,” “Now You Have Them – What Do You Do?,” and “The ‘Black Hole’ of Piano Teaching: Why Does it Exist?” (Can you guess what the “black hole” refers to? – Improvisation, Harmonization, Composition and Transposition!)

I have not yet finished reading this book, but so far have enjoyed it very much. I definitely will use it as a resource in the future!

Finding New Students in the Summer

May 15, 2010 Jennifer Boster
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While in college, I would come home for the summer. I needed a job, and wanted to teach, but wondered how I could find students just for the summer! Anyone ever have a similar predicament?

I advertised a lot (in ways such as these) and was happy to end up with about twelve students – not too shabby! 
I think that with a little creativity and with a good attitude, the summer months really can be ideal for building up your studio & recruiting new students. Even though a lot of people like to start up lessons in the fall with the beginning of school, and summer can be a really busy time for some families, I do think that it is possible to be successful in finding new students during these months. Here’s what I did…
I made flyers advertising “SUMMER PIANO LESSONS” (because in my case, I would only be there for the summer months…I wasn’t sure how many students I could actually get, and was pleasantly surprised with the response!). Here is what my flyer said:

SUMMER PIANO LESSONS

any age, any level, everyone welcome! (does this scream desperate or qualified? hmmm…not sure. hehe. and no, this part in parentheses was not on my flyer.)

Have you ever wanted to take piano lessons, but never had the time?

Have you had lessons in the past, and would like a refresher course?

Is your child too busy during the school year, but would like to start piano?

Has your child been asking for piano lessons, and you’d like to give it a try?


By being a bit creative in the way I advertised and in the target audience I was advertising to (people who otherwise might not sign up for long-term lessons), I was able to get a pretty good-sized studio for the two summers I was home from college. I had a wonderful mix of ages and levels, including young beginners, older beginners, adults, teenagers, and transfer students of various ages. Sadly, I had to leave my students at the end of the summer to go back to school, but they knew that would happen all along, because that is how I advertised it! (Luckily I also have younger siblings who also teach, so I was able to pass on a few of my students to them!) We had an end-of-summer recital, and I think the students/parents were all pleased with the progress made in those short few months. Here is one of my cute little beginners who started lessons that summer – definitely one of the students I was sorry to leave!

So my point – you can see either see summer as a tough time to get new students (which it can be), OR you can work hard, use a little creativity in your advertising, and have a great summer teaching your new students.

poll results & a new topic!

March 17, 2010 Jennifer Boster
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It’s the end of our second week here at The Teaching Studio – thanks so much for reading and sharing! We have had many wonderful comments and ideas shared, we have a lot of new followers this week, and we are so excited that we got seventeen votes on our poll! Here are the poll results:

What has been your most effective way of finding new students?

The “other” answer that we had was:
contacting local music stores, giving them my info

Looking forward to this week:

Our topic this week is going to be Setting Up Your Studio: Studio Policies. So whip out your studio policies and get ready to share your great ideas! This could involve policies about tuition rates & billing, make-up lessons, practicing expectations, required supplies, recitals, etc. Should be a helpful week!

Also, if you have not taken our reader survey, take 1 or 2 minutes and fill it out! We would love to learn a little about you!

We also will be starting a regular feature where readers will have a chance to submit questions about teaching, and they will be answered (and hopefully discussed through readers’ comments!) We want readers to have the chance to discuss the things that come up in their own teaching, whether or not it fits with the topic of the week. So, start thinking about the things you need a little inspiration on, and submit your questions here!

Have a wonderful week!

interviewing & auditioning

March 16, 2010 Jennifer Boster
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A few more thoughts on finding students:

Hooray, you got a phone call from a prospective student! So…now what?

When I get phone calls or emails from people interested in piano lessons, I usually 1) am very pleasant, 2) ask for some basic info about the student’s age and musical background, 3) give some pertinent info about myself/my studio, 4) get their email address, 5) set up a meeting/audition for the prospective student to come meet me and play for me, and 6) follow up with an email to the parent (or adult student) with a copy of my studio policy and a helpful link.

Seriously, sometimes you need a sort of “script” planned out as to what you need to tell them and what you need to ask them. At least I did when I was starting out.

Then, when they come and meet me/audition for my studio, here’s what we do:

  • I introduce myself and talk about my teaching philosophy/style of teaching
  • get to know the student. I give them a nifty little form to fill out with all the basics, as well as some very helpful questions such as “WHY do you want to take lessons, and WHAT do you hope to get out of all this?” Seriously very good to know. Here’s my little form…it’s super helpful to keep these on file for each student…
  • the student then plays a piece or two for me
  • hand over a copy of my studio policy/contract (which they hopefully already read in the email) and go over some things/answer any questions
  • I also think it’s fun to give them a CD recording of myself performing some pieces, so they can take it home and listen; or of course you can just perform for them right then and there! I think too often we don’t perform enough for our students – let them know you’re good and that you know what you’re doing!
What do YOU do to “interview” new students? Any ideas on how to make you and your studio stand out to prospective students?

Advertising for Piano Students

March 15, 2010 Jennifer Boster
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I’ve LOVED what everybody else has written so far – what awesome ideas! My thoughts on how to increase your studio size will mostly be a reiteration of what’s already been stated. I especially love this post because, as I’ll be moving to a new area soon myself, I need all the tips I can get!

A few ideas:

1. Like Jonathan suggested, give a lecture-recital (or just a recital) in the area. Put ads for it in the newspaper, in schools, etc – get the word out!

2. Join a local music association. Find out who the leaders of such organizations are in your area, CALL them and become acquainted – introduce yourself and don’t be shy about your accomplishments and what YOU have to offer as a teacher! Then let them know that you’d be interested in contributing to your community by becoming actively involved in their organization, and is there anything you can do at this point to help? (I think this is one of the most effective ones, since you’ll then become acquainted with other teachers who can refer other students to you).

3. Fliers in all the previously-posted locations 😉

4. I read about this one and I’m going to try it when we move: Bake piano-shaped cookies (I already have the cookie-cutter for it!) and visit the local schools in your area – introduce yourself (and give cookies to) the principal, as well as the music teachers in those schools. Alright now, this might be a lot of cookie-baking, but maybe it’ll be worth a shot! I’m excited to try it!

5. As stated before, the *most effective* way to gain more students is by having your current students refer you to others! In one of my undergraduate piano studio teaching classes, I remember our teacher told us a very effective method he uses to motivate student referrals: He tells his students “If you refer at least one student to me, then the first month that the new student starts lessons, YOU get free lessons that month!” Saving money is ALWAYS a motivator for parents, he explains, and you won’t be LOSING money the first month you’re teaching that new student, but you’ll DOUBLE your money the next month (since now you have one more student in your studio). I hope I explained that clearly enough!

Getting the word out

March 14, 2010 Jennifer Boster
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Jenny Bay’s post on this subject has a really great list of ways to find students, so I thought I’d just share my experience in moving to a new state in August.

First, my misconceptions about finding students. I had two groups in mind that I was sure would jump to join my studio: people at church (the first people I met here), and my immediate neighbors once we moved the piano out. Most people at church already had piano teachers so it took a bit of time for students who hadn’t started any lessons before to come to me. As far as my neighbors, I think their children are just too young, at least right now. 🙂

On moving to our new city priority number one was to get permission. We live in student housing and they have certain rules about working in your apartment. Since we didn’t have the piano yet I would be teaching in a common area, and therefore couldn’t charge. This actually worked out really well. I’ve heard of people who offer a first free lesson or couple of lessons, but I did this out of necessity. I gained the trust of my first few students because I followed the rules. Those students have brought me referrals, but more on that later.

The students came to me after I put fliers up at all the bus stops. Our community has a lot of international students, so it would have been good for me to put an e-mail address on the flier for anyone who was nervous about speaking English on the phone to a stranger. I got my first five students with these fliers.

Since then I’ve gathered a total of 11 students: 2 students directly from other students, and four more who heard that I teach piano. Like Jenny Bay said, word of mouth is really the best way to find students–the parents are already more comfortable with you because they’ve heard good things from their friends and they can support each other as piano student parents, an under-appreciated but worthwhile pursuit.

wanted: piano students

March 12, 2010 Jennifer Boster
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Oh the joys of advertising for students.
Obviously, we all know that this is an important step when setting up your studio. For a young teacher starting out (or any teacher looking to expand their studio, for that matter) it can be a daunting task. I seriously would love to get to the point where students come to me with little to no effort on my part, and to where I actually have a waiting list. That would be the life. Unfortunately I have moved around quite a bit during my years of teaching, so I have never actually gotten to that point yet.
I have had quite a few students in my teaching career, so I obviously had to acquire them somehow. Here are some ways I have found students in the past:
1. teaching unsuspecting younger siblings & cousins as some of my first “guinea pigs”
2. mailing little brochures to people with young children in my neighborhood
3. delivering fliers to every. single. door. within a five mile radius of my house with the help of my [amazing] mom and her minivan (probably got 1, 2 students tops from this method – plus a lot of exercise)
4. putting business cards and fliers in random places, such as a car wash (got one student from the car wash. awesome.)
5. putting fliers in music stores (this method actually works pretty well)
6. advertising on craigslist or some other online classifieds website (this method guarantees you will receive plenty of spam email from folks in other countries who are sending their children to America on holiday and they would like you to teach them for x number of hours per day for x number of months and they would like to know how to wire the money directly to your bank account. score!)
And, the absolute best method, in my opinion:
7. WORD OF MOUTH
So, I guess what I’m getting at is this: feel free to tape fliers to hundreds of doors and advertise online to your heart’s content (and you may have to use some of these methods when you’re just starting out), but my advice would be to get to know other teachers in your area and let them know you’re looking for students. Be the best teacher you know how to be, so your students will refer others to you.
I’d love to hear what others have to say on this topic, as I am currently searching for more students myself. I could use a little inspiration in that department 🙂

Looking ahead to this week’s topic!

March 10, 2010 Jennifer Boster
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Thanks for a fun first week on The Teaching Studio! We are super excited about the great comments we’ve received and the excitement about the site that we’ve seen from so many pianists and teachers, and that we already have some followers!

We have loved talking about the joy of teaching and hope that if you have any thoughts on this topic in the future that you will still feel free to comment on these posts and share why teaching is a joy to you (because sometimes we seriously need a little inspiration, am I right?). We will be keeping a list of links *here* to all our topics we discuss, and we hope that, with our posts along with wonderful posts from our contributors and comments from our readers, it will become a nice little database of teaching inspiration and ideas.

And speaking of the joy of teaching, here are our poll results for this week (thanks to all who participated!)

What about teaching is a JOY to you?




(isn’t it sometimes so (sad but) true that the most joy you find is when the lesson is over??)

And now, looking ahead to this week’s topic:
   
Setting Up Your Studio: Finding Students.

Be thinking about any comments and ideas you might have to share! This topic could include things such as advertising for students (how to get your name out there to actually get students), conducting interviews/auditions with prospective students, how to make yourself as a teacher and your studio appealing to prospective students, when to be picky about which students to let into your studio, specific things you do in your studio when you get new students, etc. We can’t wait to hear your comments!

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Advertising for New Students

Pedagogy Books: Practical Piano Pedagogy

Pedagogy Books: Practical Piano Pedagogy

Finding New Students in the Summer

poll results & a new topic!

interviewing & auditioning

interviewing & auditioning

Advertising for Piano Students

Getting the word out

wanted: piano students

wanted: piano students

Looking ahead to this week’s topic!

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