Anticipating the Seasonal Schedule Changes
As the beginning of the school year draws close, many teachers I know are preparing their schedules to fall back into a reliable and consistent routine. For the parents and students in my studio, there will also be changes to their availability as they add new activities like sports or dance rehearsals to their schedule. Today I wanted to share my process designed to keep parents and students in a lesson time compatible with the seasonal changes to their schedule with as little fuss as possible. I’ve also included a customizable form in case if you would like to implement something similar in your studio. Read on for the process that has served my studio well over the years!
Why should music teachers assume the responsibility for anticipating schedule changes?
Right about this time you may be wondering why you should be the one to start the conversation about any upcoming schedule changes with your students and their families. You are right – Running a business like ours requires a degree of flexibility and communication from all sides, especially when your studio might include up to 70 students or more. As a result, I don’t think it is unfair for music teachers to expect their studio families to be both upfront about their schedule needs while remaining as flexible as possible. This information can help us do our jobs better and think of crafty ways we might be able to be more accommodating to our student’s needs, too. Without this exchange of information, it would be impossible to guarantee we can accommodate everyone’s needs when we all only have 24 hours in each day.
Another reason we should head this conversation is we are the teachers. As such, we are responsible for the culture and functionality of our studio. Our time is valuable and our commodity after all. Families, their routines and priorities are also susceptible to changing over time. If you are left with openings from a family choosing to stop lessons, wouldn’t you want to know ASAP so you can offer that time to your wait list? While much of this form is designed to be accommodating for the families in your studio, we have a lot to gain from being kept in the loop on this information, too. And ultimately, isn’t this how we are supporting ourselves and our families? We have too much at stake to just let schedule changes happen to us.
What time frames would you recommend for sharing this preference form?
This may change depending on your studio’s location, but in my studio I send out a preference form for September, January and June. As my studio evolves over the years I am continuing to perfect this process, as at some locations I am not the only one involved in scheduling lessons. I will also admit I made a rookie mistake the first summer I was back to teaching out of a home studio by NOT sending out some kind of schedule preference form. As a result, I had a couple awkward conversations as summer was starting when families decided they weren’t going to do summer lessons – It really took me quite off guard and felt very abrupt to me. If I had sent this form out like I’m recommending now, I could have better planned my summer schedule and the new students who ended up joining my studio this summer could have started even earlier! Lost income to me, fewer lessons for some new and eager students, awkward conversations with other studio families… Everyone lost out due to my lack of planning.
With that being said, I would recommend sending out your form out at least four weeks before the new schedule will take effect. Set a deadline for students to return their requests to you two weeks before the new schedule will take effect, so that you have time to compile all the information, arrange a new schedule and share it with all students. Two weeks might sound like a lot of time, but you’ll be grateful for the wiggle room when a family suddenly realizes they’d forgotten to include that new dance class or a student’s band director decides they need an extra practice after school.
What do you do if you can’t find a mutually convenient time for all students and their families?
Depending on the nature of the student or their family, some may be content to hang on to a less ideal slot until they might be able to swap lessons with another student once a sport season is over or until the next schedule change. For most families though, I think that is still asking a lot of the student, parents and teacher. Speaking from personal experience if there is truly a conflict time wise, it is usually best to part ways instead of trying to make something work that is less than ideal on both sides. Again, this can depend on the involved parties’ temperament, but I’ve often seen these arrangements result in resentment and frustration. Consider how strongly you feel about working with a particular student or teacher and use that to make your final decision in these situations.
If you choose to go forward with a less than convenient time, remember that gratitude and grace for all sides can go a long way. For parents and students, show appreciation that your teacher is doing the best they can and understand they still have to enforce their respect for their time. Expect to still pay for those lesson times even if you aren’t able to come, because this is your teacher’s income and they are reserving lessons time for you and not another prospective student. For teachers, be understanding when and if things come up because of the less ideal time. Be creative and consider offering make up lessons online on another date but still within your business hours. Another great idea I’ve seen other teachers implementing is recording a video lesson with new material during the lesson slot for the student who has to miss – Just remember to send the video to them, too! This is something I’m personally actively working on in my own studio management, but try to find the balance of being compassionate and flexible while still respecting the limits you have put on your business time.
Final Thoughts
As private music teachers we are constantly balancing many jobs: Researchers. Visionaries. Social Media Managers. Consultants. Ensemble directors. Accountants. Booking agents. Performers. Marketing managers. My experience has been that it is easiest to plan as much as possible as far in advance as possible so you can share information with your studio families and anticipate life’s changes. We know the school year will bring changes for many of our students, so let’s do what we can to make these transitions as easy as possible for the families in our studios! Below you’ll find the form I use for my studio in a Google Doc – Feel free to save it and use it in your own studios!