Continuing in the same vein as the last two weeks with a business-related question, I though this one seemed particularly apropos for this time of year as we evaluate and implement changes in our policies for next fall. I’m sure there are lots of different ways to go about raising rates, but I personally think that a brief statement with a reminder of the studio benefits is probably sufficient.

As much as it’s tempting to want to give long-winded explanations (a.k.a. apologies) for rate increases, as you alluded to, the professional approach is to assume that families will understand the rising costs and place enough value on the services and education they are receiving from you to be completely fine with it. A $5/month increase per month seems very reasonable in light of what you are providing for your students. You might want to read this post on Three Simple Questions to Help You Figure Out What to Charge For Lessons for additional ideas. I also encourage you to read the comments on Do Independent Music Teachers Get Sick Days? and Determining Monthly Tuition for some fabulous perspectives from other teachers!

In case it’s helpful, here’s some sample verbiage that I’m using in my studio update this week to inform families about the new studio rates:

The rate for lessons will be increasing from $__/month to $__/month effective September 1, 2012. This will continue to include weekly private 45-minute lessons as scheduled, participation in all studio group classes, recitals, and creative projects, access to the studio lending library, use of studio technology, and opportunity for involvement in many other community festivals and competitions.

If anyone else has input on how to raise tuition rates in your studio, please feel free to offer suggestions!

Remember, if you have a question you’d like to contribute to next week’s Monday Mailbag, leave it in the comments below or send me an e-mail sometime this week with Monday Mailbag in the subject line!

I had to do a little bit of digging to understand exactly how the program works. (I’m sure once they have fully completed the switch to their new program name and website things will be a little easier to navigate!) Schools or individuals can enroll in the program for a yearly membership fee which provides them access to the online mentoring website where students can submit compositions for critique and reflection. They also have the opportunity to be mentored by a professional composer for an additional fee.

One of the biggest perks of the Music-COMP program is that students can submit compositions for live performances by professional musicians. The motivation for and reward of composing rises to a whole new level when students can hear their work performed by live musicians, not just a computer sound card. This year’s Opus 24 will take place on Wednesday, May 2, in Ludlow, Vermont.

As a huge advocate for expanded approaches to education, I think this would be a fabulous real-world opportunity for any school, studio, or student interested in gaining experience and expertise in the field of composing!

This is actually a pretty thought-provoking question for me! I’ve never given achievement awards based on years of study or completion of levels, but I can see how something like that might be a good motivator for a student. Some of my students participate in a yearly Music Progressions evaluation program that is comprised of 10 levels. Those who participate receive a certificate each year, but I can’t remember a student ever caring about the certificate (I often find these crumpled in the bag months later). I think it would be kind of cool to have an award of some sort that was progressive from year to year. Extra incentive to stick with piano study through the hard times!

My year-end rewards are almost always tied to our practice incentive theme. And they are usually completely different from year to year. For example, this year the students who earned the specified number of Complication Coins can use them to purchase a custom-designed studio t-shirt. You can see a list of other year-end rewards I’ve used on this post about Practice Incentives and Rewards.

My mental wheels are really spinning now, though, and I’m curious to know if other teachers give some sort of progressive award based on years of study or level completion. What do you do in your studio? I’d love to get some new ideas!

Remember, if you have a question you’d like to contribute to next week’s Monday Mailbag, leave it in the comments below or send me an e-mail sometime this week with Monday Mailbag in the subject line!

Anyone else with me on this?! Visit the Odd Quartet website to print out your own pdf of the poster.

(HT: LaDona’s Music Studio)

A while back I embarked on just such an excursion and ordered a collection of accessories and related gadgetry for my recently acquired iPod Touch. I was thrilled when my extensive searching turned up this Sony Clock Radio/CD player with an iPod dock!

Since my CD player bit the dust about a year ago I was waiting to replace it until I found something I really liked. This is an awesome little device! The footprint is unbelievably compact, especially since the iPod dock slides into the base when its not in use. It also comes with a handy little remote that works great for navigating to different tracks and adjusting the volume. Even though I use YouTube all the time to search for performances and recordings, there are still numerous selections in my personal collection that I want to be able to play for my students. Nothing beats having a quick little device like this where I can stick in a CD or pop on my iPod Touch to provide a few minutes of quality music listening during a lesson!

When I first started developing yearly practice incentive themes (visit this post for a list of some of the earlier themes that aren’t available in the resource store), I just charged families $10 for the student assignment book and then covered all the other costs from the amount I charged for lessons. This was not a good plan for my financial situation.

Several years ago I started charging a yearly registration fee of $50 (due by August 1) that helps offset the cost of running practice incentive themes, printing materials, purchasing awards, renting facilities, etc. This has been SO helpful! Since I develop our theme for the year in the late summer/early fall, this usually gives me plenty of time to keep my eyes open for good deals throughout the year. Sometimes I know exactly what I want and do tons of research to find good deals; other times (like with the Traveling to Triumph auction) I had a general idea that I wanted items from each of the countries to which we traveled. I found the desired items throughout the year, either on-line, at stores around town, or occasionally when a friend or parent suggested something. (The only exception was the chocolate kinder eggs from Germany that I had my heart set on, so my neighbor had her Germany-dwelling son send her a box of them for me!)

Most of the time, I try to avoid trinkets and instead develop the theme in a way so that the end goal is more about personal achievement. When I use tangible awards, I like it to be something meaningful, lasting, and related to the students’ musical growth (e.g. a trip to a symphony rehearsal or a recording studio, the opportunity to produce and sell music-related projects, a custom-designed and printed name plaque, etc.). I usually allocate $200-$300 to the year-end trip/award/project, etc. – whatever it may be.

For others who use incentive themes and plan special awards/events for your students, do you collect a registration fee? Or do you cover these expenses out of the regular lesson fee? Or do you have parents contribute separately for these things? Or something else?

Remember, if you have a question you’d like to contribute to next week’s Monday Mailbag, leave it in the comments below or send me an e-mail sometime this week with Monday Mailbag in the subject line!

I was excited to come across this brief post on Cheap Sound-Proofing Techniques for Small Home Studios. It’s not something I’m going to do any time soon, but it’s great to know that there are viable options for producing higher quality audio recordings right in a home studio!

In short, everything!

Canon Elura MiniDV Camcorder – I bought this several years ago for our Isaac Watts Film Project as part of our piano camp and have been using it ever since! It’s been a great little camcorder. I can record onto the miniDV cassettes and then transfer them over to the computer, or I can use a Firewire cable to connect into the computer and record directly into my Adobe Premiere Elements software. From there, footage can be edited, exported, and uploaded to our YouTube channel.

Canon PowerShot SX130IS Digital Camera – This is the one I use more frequently in lessons because it’s easy to record onto the SD memory card, play it right back for the student, stick the card in my computer and upload it either to the hard drive or directly to YouTube.

iPod Touch – Ever since I got this amazing little marvel of technology, I use it for everything. Including recording students. I have it linked with my YouTube channel, so it’s a piece of cake to record the student and select the option to upload it directly to the site. The video is HD, so the sound and image are both great. There is a time limit, so this doesn’t work for every piece, but it’s so easy and fun when it does!

Webcam – Either a built-in or external webcam can work for recording video. I don’t use this option much because the quality isn’t the greatest, but if you need a real quick way to record and upload you might consider it. YouTube has an option on the Upload page where you can choose to record from the webcam. Once you record you have the option to view the video and either save it or re-record it.

SmartPhone – Even my handy little Samsung Intrepid has saved the day a few times when it was all I had on me to do a recording. Most SmartPhones now have video recording capabilities. And I can use this, too, to upload directly to our YouTube channel via SMS messaging, which is nice. The audio leaves much to be desired, so I would never use it for anything other than an emergency situation where we just need to capture something on camera.

As you can see, the options are plentiful! If you haven’t already, I would recommend setting up a YouTube channel and then go from there experimenting with equipment you already have on hand to see how it works and what you like best. You might also be interested in checking out the post on Using Video With Your Students if you want more info about using your own YouTube channel.

Did I miss anything? Do you have another way you do video recording with your students that I failed to include in the list above? Please share!

Remember, if you have a question you’d like to contribute to next week’s Monday Mailbag, leave it in the comments below or send me an e-mail sometime this week with Monday Mailbag in the subject line!

Since we’re at the start of a new teaching year, I’m pulling questions that have a bit more to do with the business side of running a studio. And I’m really glad that this one wasn’t phrased as a direct question toward me because I don’t think I can offer much input! I started out as a sole proprietorship and have remained that way ever since. At one point, I visited with an accountant to discuss the pros and cons of incorporating. After reviewing my particular situation, neither of us thought it was the best route at the time.

There are certainly risks associated with running a website and I’ve had to deal with legal things I never expected as a result of it! My best advice, though, is to educate yourself. Whether it means setting up a consultation with an attorney or accountant, reading through legal and business books, scouring the internet for helpful resources, or discussing situations with friends who own businesses (or all of the above!), the best thing you can do for yourself and your business is become knowledgeable about laws and policies governing the market. If and when someone does come after you, there’s nothing that beats being able to quickly send a well-written, well-researched, and well-documented response that addresses the concerns or accusations that have been raised.

I know of a few teachers who have incorporated their studios, but most of the ones I know operate as a sole proprietorship. It would be great to hear from others, though, about how they have structured their studios and the reasoning behind it! So, please share: what kind of business entity is your studio?

Remember, if you have a question you’d like to contribute to next week’s Monday Mailbag, leave it in the comments below or send me an e-mail sometime this week with Monday Mailbag in the subject line!

This seemed like a great topic to discuss as we approach a new year of teaching! Over the years, my lending library has more closely resembled a free music store for students. I’ve known teachers who used elaborate systems akin to a card catalog, but I never took the time to set up anything like that. Like you, I just couldn’t figure out what the best approach would be. Until I met Music Teacher’s Helper (MTH)! Anyone who has been reading here any length of time knows how much I love MTH. I seriously could not imagine running my studio without it!

Anyway…they have a great built-in Lending Library feature where you can maintain a database of materials and make it available to students. You can either input items ahead of time to create the database, or you can create the database as you go – whenever a student wants to borrow an item. It’s very intuitive. Just select the Lending Library menu option and click the button to “Lend an Item.” Then you can create the item and select one of your students as the borrower. For each item, you can include the Title, Author/Composer/Artist, Type (you can add new types), Quantity in Stock, Total Quantity, Serial Number/ISBN, and Notes.

Honestly, this is not something I’ve used extensively yet, but it’s one of my goals for the upcoming year. It would be so easy to take a minute when a student wants to borrow something to add it to the library and then click to loan it out to them. You can also set a due date. When a student logs into his/her account, they will see a list of all the Lending Library items they have borrowed. And you can see at a glance who is borrowing which books. This is a much more efficient and professional way of tracking Lending Library items, so I’m really eager to get it running this year!

For those who use MTH, have you utilized the Lending Library feature? How has it worked for you? For those who don’t use MTH, do you have any other suggestions of how to operate a Lending Library?

Remember, if you have a question you’d like to contribute to next week’s Monday Mailbag, leave it in the comments below or send me an e-mail sometime this week with Monday Mailbag in the subject line!