studio-wide events, a win-win

Think about distinguishing your studio from others by providing services that individual teachers can’t offer by themselves.  Even if your teachers are basically renting teaching space from you, everyone can benefit from a few coordinated events.

Such events can help make students feel that they are part of something bigger than just taking lessons from their teacher, and as a result, they will feel more of an attachment to the studio–a plus for both the teacher and the studio as a whole.

Pooling talents is the key.  An individual teacher could offer services from any location, but if you combine the skills of various teachers, you can offer something people can find nowhere else.

Examples include introductory classes, ensemble classes, jam sessions, open house festivals, recitals or demonstrations, camps, and gig services.  Let’s take a look at these ideas…

Introductory classes

Introductory classes are appealing to people who want a chance to sample teachers and offerings before committing themselves to lessons or a series of classes they’re not sure of.  You could coordinate with your teachers a way they would be comfortable working together, or working in sequence, to show prospective students something of what they can learn.  If you are a music studio, this could be a chance for people to try out different instruments, and in the process, get a sense of what the different teachers are like.  The introductory class could be a single 2-hour session on a weekend, in a workshop format; it could be a whole afternoon or day, with refreshments served; or it could be a weekly class for a short series over the course of, say, one month.  Below I’ll discuss camps, and this introductory class idea can fit in there, as you’ll see.

Ensemble classes

Ensemble classes are a great way to combine the talents of your teachers and make students more excited to come to your studio.  Discuss with your teachers ways to identify students who might benefit from working together.  You will have to work out who would like to lead an ensemble class.  Some teachers might be afraid of losing a student to the ensemble or to another teacher, so it’s good to be sensitive to their concerns, but it would be a shame not to give students this opportunity.  Usually the exciting challenges of working in an ensemble make students even keener to take their private lessons so as to keep up with the group.  It can be difficult to just put ensembles together by signup sheet but you can try it; usually teachers are best at identifying students who might benefit, and what their skill levels and interests are.  Sometimes jam sessions are a good way to warm students up for joining an ensemble class.

Jam sessions

Jam sessions are informal ways to allow students to use the skills they’ve been learning.  Sessions should be led by a teacher or several teachers, who can start tunes that they know are playable by the students.  It’s fun for students to join in when their teachers are playing too.  Session leaders need to keep an eye on students to make sure there are at least a few tunes for everybody.  Even if a student can only play a few tunes in the session, it’s going to be fun for them.  If they feel locked out of all the tunes, it won’t work for them.  Paying teachers for sessions can be tricky unless you charge for the session, and that might cut down on numbers.  A good session should have a critical mass of players.  However, sometimes, when a session is free, people are less committed, so charging a reasonable fee might help everyone, and benefits the studio for the use of the space.  Refreshments are a great idea here.  Teachers might want to do brief performances as part of the session—this gives them exposure and increased involvement, allows students to hear their teacher play, and provides more reason for people to attend, even if just to listen to their kids or friends, or to listen a time or two before joining in.

Open house

An open house at the beginning of your semester or term allows people to investigate your studio in a welcoming way.  This can generate publicity in the media for your studio, and you can post signs and flyers about it.  Teachers can be invited to do demonstrations, performances, and talk with prospective students.  Demonstrations can give people a chance to see a variety of styles of performers; you could have entertainers such as magicians, etc., as well, to make the event more festive.  A music studio could have a “petting zoo” where a company that rents instruments might come in to allow people to touch and try various instruments.

Recitals & Demonstrations

Recitals really give students, and teachers too, goals for their learning.  Participation can be as formal or informal as your teachers think best.  You could organize a recital to showcase each teacher’s studio in sequence, so no one would feel required to sit through everybody else’s performances.  You might have a good space in  your studio for a recital, but if not, the benefits of engaging your students and teachers studio-wide, and gaining publicity for the studio, can make it worth while renting a space or renting chairs, and even providing some refreshments (that’s always a plus for participants!).

Demonstrations are similar to recitals but can be quite different, requiring either a higher level of performance quality, or an MC who can make both players and listeners comfortable hearing students play what they’re working on, and appreciating them for their efforts and their progress.  You could organize demonstrations at your space, at a mall, or at a community festival, for example.

Camps

A camp can be as simple as a daily workshop for a week or weekend at your studio, or as complicated as renting a residential site by a lake in the summer for a full week or weekend of events.  To benefit your studio, you should coordinate it with your teachers and make use of them so that the camp can be representative of what your studio offers.  I’ve seen camps at a music school where a lead teacher organizes and is paid extra for that, while bringing in other teachers to help, including both teachers from the studio and guests from outside, which can add an exciting feature to the camp.  A clear theme for the camp is important – Rock Camp, Strings Camp, Woodwinds Camp, etc.  One camp I’ve run was called “Meet the Instruments” and it gave kids aged 8-12 a chance to try all the instruments over the course of a week.  This would fit into the idea mentioned above about having a camp function as an introductory class, making use of your teachers, or bringing in guests to fill in gaps, and following up on the camp to offer ongoing lessons and classes to the participants.

Gig services

Gig services are another possible way of pooling the talents at your studio, and making it bigger than just a collection of teachers.  For example, you could advertise that you can provide wedding musicians, and find a fair way to parcel out requests to your teachers.  You could have a page on your website listing teachers interested in playing for weddings or other functions and have people contact them directly.  This would be a service to your teachers that would make them better appreciate being part of your studio.  Or you could be the coordinator, and pass out gig offers to the appropriate teachers, presumable taking a cut for the studio for the service.  It would be important to have a transparent process, so that teachers don’t feel you have favorites, and feel resentment instead of appreciation towards the studio.

Hopefully these ideas will get you thinking about ways you can make your studio into a whole that’s bigger than its parts, to the benefit of all.