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22 Jan

Achieve a Good Attitude This Year!

by admin
in Program Development, Teaching
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Several years ago, the following article appeared in our local newspaper. My dad clipped the article and I recently came across it again. It is still timely and valuable advice written by Lloyd Shearer. Shearer was a celebrity columnist for Parade magazine (an insert in the Sunday paper) and wrote the popular column Personality Parade.

10 Ways to Achieve a Good Attitude

    1. Set goals for yourself. Make them believable and clearly defined. Write them down every morning, vividly imagining them during the day. Once achieved, create another.
    DO NOT PUT THIS OFF. DO IT NOW!
    2. Avoid negative people. They put junk into your subconscious. You cannot help them unless they are ready to be helped. They are rarely ready.
    3. Actively seek positive people. Make it a point to spend more time with them. Positive people are gems. Cherish every one you meet.

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09 Jan

Studio Field Trip

by cconrad
in Marketing, Performance, Program Development, teacher resourses, Teaching
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Conductors003Have you ever done a field trip with your studio? I’m attempting one — sort of.

Each year, our local symphony holds a children’s symphony — a free, interactive performance that plays lots of kid-friendly songs…and lasts under an hour.

While I’m not exactly organizing and transporting the 30 students in my studio to the event (I can barely keep track of my own two kids), I am encouraging everyone to attend and providing supplementary material at music classes and for parents. Here’s what I’m doing for students enrolled in piano lessons at my studio:

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09 Oct

The Power of Your Event Schedule

by cconrad
in Marketing, Performance, Program Development
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When potential and curreclassnt customers visit your studio website, they should be able to tell that you are an active studio with plenty of events designed to motivate and inspire.

When students are working towards events, they are motivated to practice, listen and focus, making for a group that progresses well and is easier to work with.

When potential clients see everything going on at your studio, they want to be a part of it!

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03 Oct

Tools for Independent Learning

by admin
in Performance, Program Development, teacher resourses, Teaching
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social-learning

“Give a person a fish, and he/she will eat for a day. Teach a person to fish and he/she will be satisfied for a lifetime.”

In my last blog, Igniting the Spark, I wrote about my goals for the year – empowering students to take responsibility for their own learning. Since then, I have experienced an amazing paradigm shift and as a result, am truly enjoying my teaching. I have always enjoyed teaching, but am easily frustrated when students arrive at lessons unprepared or “check out” in the lesson! The shift this year has been a conscious effort to give students the tools for independent learning, talking less and demonstrating more, and holding them accountable for each week’s assignments. I am feeling much more relaxed and students are working a lot harder, with less stress on my part. I have focused on three main areas:

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09 Aug

Affordable Marketing in Your Community

by cconrad
in Marketing
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marketingWith families returning home from summer vacations and gearing up-for-back-to-school, it’s important that your studio’s name and information is out in the community so that you have new students enrolling this fall. Even if you don’t have a huge advertising budget, there are creative ways to become a community presence that will cost you little to nothing.

Here’s a few affordable — and even free — ideas from my experience and observations of other successful studios in my community:

  • Sample Classes – I teach group piano classes, so during the first week of August, I set up shop at the community room of my local library and offer sample classes. I have my studio policy and registration forms to send home with families and provide a special discount offer for families who enroll within a week of attending a sample class. A friend of mine who teaches Music Together classes does her sample classes at the local Children’s Museum, who advertise them for her free of charge, since they enjoy having a musical activity to offer museum visitors.
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