Comments on: Student Interviews

By: New Student Interviews « Notes from A to G Piano Studio

New Student Interviews « Notes from A to G Piano Studio — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 00:49:59 +0000

[...] When a parent first calls to inquire about lessons I use a student prospect form that I use when placing students on the waitlist so I can recall all of their details when I follow up in the future. During student interviews I normally have the parents fill out a questionnaire while I get to know the child(ren) and go through a few musical activities with them. Copies of the student prospect form and the parent and student questionnaires can be found in the printables under forms. I have adapted the questionnaires from ones provided by Natalie on her Music Matters Blog. [...]

By: Kristen

Kristen — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 16:42:07 +0000

Thanks for much for sharing this! I had my own version which I discovered this morning was lost in a hard drive crash! My student was coming in half an hour and I’m SOOOO glad I found this! Thanks again!

By: Dana Cerminaro

Dana Cerminaro — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 16:11:50 +0000

Thank you so much for this creative survey! It is a great way to communicate your expectations in a professional way. This exercise also gives the student, parent, and teacher a chance to get to know each other in an informal setting. I hope to use this idea in my future teaching.

By: Cathy Shefski

Cathy Shefski — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 00:49:50 +0000

Thanks Natalie! These are very helpful…I almost feel like filling out the evaluation forms for my existing students, sharing them with the students and parents, and setting goals for the school year.

By: Amy Chaplin

Amy Chaplin — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 13:44:09 +0000

Thanks Natalie! Is it possible to get all of these in Word format so that we can modify them to fit our studio? Thanks for considering this!

By: Richard

Richard — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 22:07:35 +0000

Thank you so much for sharing Natalie. You saved us a lot of work by posting these forms.

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 14:29:01 +0000

These are great, Natalie! Thanks for posting them. I’m going to use them this Friday!

By: Angela Bowles

Angela Bowles — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 04:02:37 +0000

Natalie,
This is the first time that I came across your blog, and boy is it ever helpful! I have not been teaching music lessons for too long, and I love to gain knowledge from other teachers. Thank you for these helpful forms. I do a brief interview, but usually count it as the “first” lesson. So far, it has worked out very well that way. Thank you again for your posts! They are very helpful.

Angela

By: Theresa

Theresa — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 03:30:12 +0000

Hi Natalie,
Thank you for posting these forms and others that you use. Do you mind sending me both types of Interview and Evaluation forms (beginners, transfers) as a Microsoft Word document so that I could modify it to my needs?
Thanks again,
Theresa

By: natalie

natalie — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 02:51:39 +0000

Lydia~

I’m glad you find them useful! As I was thinking about your question, I realized that I usually conduct the interview as the first lesson. Most of the time now I am accepting new students that I already know – either younger siblings of current students or other family friends. So I am conducting the interview more as an assessment with the understanding that I have already accepted them as a student. My philosophy and policies are pretty straightforward and if I get lesson inquiries from people I don’t know I always require them to review the philosophy and policies and then contact me a second time to let me know if they are still interested in pursuing lessons with me. This eliminates some who might otherwise not “stick.”

At the end of each Spring I hold Year-End Evaluations with the parents and we discuss plans for the future. If a student is going to quit, this is usually when it happens. I don’t have much of a problem with people quitting in the middle of the year. You might consider requiring a one year commitment from students up front if you want to prevent them from quitting in the middle of the year and it seems to be a problem. Just a thought!