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!

Selling a Piano Studio as a Business
by Suzanne Karpinski

Running a piano studio is just like running any other small business: you have clients, provide a service, collect payments, and if you are in more competitive markets such as larger cities, you must also advertise. Your personality, temperament, skills and time are your product, so in order to continue to teach, you must generate a positive image and reputation in order to continue to thrive. This is a process that can take several years, much work and advertising dollars to achieve. So if the time comes for you as a teacher to move on from your business, what should you do with that investment?

This was a question that I recently had to address as am getting ready to make a huge cross-country move to begin my MFA degree on the east coast. I cared deeply about my students, so first and foremost, I wanted to ensure that the teacher who took over for me could maintain the standards and quality of instruction for my students that they had received from me. Here it is also important to recognize that this is also a business transaction.

In every specialty practice where clients are involved, it is common for the sale of the business to include the selling of the client list and the businesses’ “good will”. This is a term used to denote what was previously mentioned – your reputation. Yes, it has monetary value in the business world! People will pay for the guarantee of a quality product – you in this case. Therefore, it is highly advantageous for the purchaser, in this case the incoming teacher, to have that reputation already established for him or her. (This is yet another reason for carefully choosing the new teacher who will be purchasing your studio.) The client list represents all the time and effort you put into establishing that reputation, and any teacher worth her salt should be compensated for that effort.

In this instance, both I and the teacher taking over my studio needed to reach an agreement about what this “good will” was worth. Very tricky indeed. We looked at the incoming teacher’s advertising costs and calculated how many advertising dollars it typically required to see one student sign up with her studio and stay for at least 3 months. This was done by looking at the ratio of students to dollars spent. In this instance, we calculated that each student was worth about $50 a month in advertising. In normal business practice, a client is typically valued at what their worth is over the course of a full business year. We decided that in fairness, 6 months was likely more appropriate given the typical commitment of an average student in our area was 3-6 months. The final agreement said that for every student that signed with the new teacher, that teacher would pay the seller (me, in this case) $50 for every month they remained with the teacher, for a maximum of 6 months. Partial months would be pro-rated. Additional clauses that are typical of sale of business documents were also chosen to be included, such as a non-indemnity clause and an arbitration clause, which protect the buyer and seller from any potential disagreements later on.

At the end of the day, my students are sad to see me go, but excited that they’ve got a new teacher that they feel comfortable with. Parents are satisfied that they will continue to receive quality instruction. The new teacher is relieved to have spent her advertising budget on a new roster of dedicated, continuing students. And I, the outgoing teacher, can depart with a clear conscience and compensation for all of my hard work!

In spite of some technical glitches, the two sessions I presented went well. I don’t have any pictures of those, but I did capture some other highlights from the occasion that I thought I would share with you!

Melody Bober was the guest clinician this year. The weekend commenced with her wonderful presentation on ways to energize our studios.

We had a small group, but it made for a great environment with lots of opportunity to visit, re-connect with old friends, and make new ones!

Virginia Houser shared “Off the Beaten Path Teaching Treasures.”

At our Friday luncheon, two teachers were recognized for special awards. Jennifer Fink, of the fabulous Jen’s Piano Studio blog, was the recipient of the KMTA Outstanding Teacher Award!

Julie Watson was the recipient of the KMTA Outstanding Service award!

A lovely evening concert was given by Dr. Jane Solose.

Spending time with colleagues/friends is always a favorite! Jen, Julie, Lisa, and I grabbed a treat at Braum’s and stayed up way too late visiting together.

A fun duet recital Saturday morning with Martin Cuellar and Melody Bober performing some of her duet works. My favorite was the Southwest Landscapes suite. I bought a copy and one of my students and I started playing it this week!

Sylvia Coats gave a highly practical and energetic teaching demonstration on “Encouraging Creative Interpretations.”

Our South Central Kansas MTA delegation.

There were a number of other great workshops, too, but I was so absorbed I guess I forgot to take pictures. Oops!

A lovely spot I captured with my camera on my way out of town at the conclusion of the conference. It was a gorgeous evening for a drive home through the Flint Hills! And now my mind is spinning with lots of ideas and things to sift through as I continue with summer lessons and prepare for a new year in the fall…

Quest for Capital is without a doubt one of the most fun, educational, and motivating practice incentives we’ve ever done in the studio! I like to think of it as an entrepreneur-meets-music-student endeavor. In addition to investing in specific piano skills (a.k.a. Stock Options) throughout the year, students could also dream, plan, and create special Capital Improvement Projects that were showcased at The Gallery at the end of the year. The students were given a small table space and encouraged to sell their projects for a small profit, thus experiencing the excitement of integrating their music talents and knowledge with other areas of life and producing something of value in society.

The practice incentive is designed to provide a framework that will spur students on to attain greater proficiency in their skills and get their creative juices flowing as they contemplate possible project ideas. Students have already been asking me if we can do the same theme next year, or at least keep some of the same elements so that they can work on new projects. I am absolutely thrilled with the outcome of this theme and about the potential for it to be used in other music studios all over to inspire students in creative musical endeavors!

And now…for the special deal! Through the end of June, you can get $5 off the practice incentive package price when you use this coupon code: 59W3E7W2.

AND – everyone who purchases the practice incentive by the end of June will be entered in a drawing to win my complete set of studio materials – all the laminated studio cash, the wall banners, and the stock folders on the wall! Just select the Quest for Capital theme on the Resources page and checkout, and you will be entered in the drawing. The winner will be chosen at noon (CST) on Friday, July 1, using a random number generator.