Last month, I went on Dave Simon’s podcast.
Here’s a short quote from that interview:
“…I can say this with a clear conscience, but 100% of the kids that come through my studio, by the end of the second lesson are sight reading and rhythm reading on their own, period. This group method would not work without that. And that’s how I’ve done it for a very long time and what I’ve taught other people to do. How to get kids to be independent very, very quickly, so that they’re handling the bulk of the emotional and intellectual work. I’m there more as a coach, not as a capital T teacher. Not to say that I’m not teaching, obviously there’s content involved, but the approach is less focused on the abstract theory of knowledge of music, and more on the actual practical playing of it.”
Within that quote is the core of my philosophy of teaching, of studio marketing, of studio business:
The most important part of studio business is serving your customers with a great product.I found that so many of my studio’s problems went away when I developed each student’s sight-reading ability.
For instance:
- Student note-reading problems went away, making their “normal” experience at lessons one of fun, not of struggle.
- Method book students complaining of the “notes being too hard” or “lessons are boring” went away… because they were learning a half dozen new pages each week.
- Parent apathy went away. Because they saw their child excelling at music. I now had excited advocates in my studio… propelling my word of mouth marketing.
- Retention problems went away. What parent would pull their child out of lessons when they were doing so well, learning so much music, and it felt easy?
I go into greater depth about sight-reading, studio marketing, and group lesson curriculum in this 45 minute interview.
If you’d like to listen to this interview, just click below:
