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Time Saving Tricks: Email 

1/22/2015

17 Comments

 
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Email feels like the bane of my teaching life some days. It seems to pile up so quickly, yet take so much time to answer thoughtfully.  I am always looking for ways to streamline communication with my studio families. I've found that automating the process helps tremendously! I currently use two different tricks to keep my inbox under control.

  
Picturehttp://www.boomeranggmail.com/
I often have a list of things that I need to remind my studio parents- lesson time changes, book orders, festival deadlines, etc. Boomerang lets me write an email at any point and then schedule to send it at a later time. It also will send you a reminder to follow up if the other party doesn't email you back within a set time. I used mine during Christmas to send out spaced out recital reminders- it took me 15 minutes to write two emails, and scheduled them to send every two weeks. Done! SO much better than having to remember to write it on the actual date. I also use it to send monthly "Tuition Due" reminders.  The free version allows you to send 10 emails a month, but the paid version ($4.99) is unlimited. If you don't use Gmail, they also support Outlook.

Picturehttp://www.mailboxapp.com/
I check my email often on my phone,  but found I would often lose important messages in the clutter.  The Mailbox app lets me archive, delete, or put off messages until later with a very quick swipe. You can also schedule emails to return to your inbox automatically at a later date, so you can focus on what's important now. Mailbox has quickly become my most productive app!My inbox, which previously had a couple hundred emails, now is at Inbox Zero! I love it.  Mailbox is available for both OS and Android. 

What are your favorite email tips? 

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17 Comments

Travel Music Teaching: Pros and Cons 

1/21/2015

25 Comments

 
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My junior year of college, I attended the yearly MTNA pedagogy conference. They had a session geared for  new teachers that presented different teaching careers. One of the presenters began by telling horror stories about travel teaching. She stressed over and over again, "DON"T travel teach! It's a nightmare."  After I graduated and was starting to build my own studio, I struggled with what to do- I didn't have the space to open up a studio in my apartment, but I was wary of traveling.  I took a chance on travel teaching, and five years later, and I'm so glad I did! From my experience, here are some of the pros and cons of travel teaching... 

Pros                                                Cons 

1. Niche Advantage 
Travel teaching allowed me to fill my studio quickly in a competitive market. I live in saturated area for piano teachers, but am one of two teachers who travel to their students' homes. Parents value the convenience of lessons in their home. 

2. Personal Privacy 
My personal living space and my students never intersect. My students will never know that I like funky furniture colors or that my cat ninja attacks ankles at the most inopportune moments.  All business is done in their space, allowing me to choose what I share with them.  It is wonderful to have that distance between work and home life. 


​3. Tax Deductions 

Mileage and gas deductions add up quickly! At 56 cents back per mile, recording my mileage has significantly reduced my taxes for the last two years. There are also other deductions you can take regarding your car, gas and car maintenance, depending on your situation


4. Home Court Advantage 
My students know their instruments very well and are able to show me what they have been practicing on their own instrument. I can also assess the quality of their instrument which is helpful in understanding different technique issues.  It's also easier to fix posture and bench height issues. 

5. Controlled Attendance 
I control when the lesson begins and ends- I can show up three minutes before the lesson, and leave right on time without having to wait for students to arrive, or hurry them out the door. 
It is harder to forget your lesson when the teacher shows up at your door!


1. Limited Teaching Hours
Although traveling helped me fill my studio quickly, I'm not able to maintain as many students. Even though I organize my students by location, travel time still eats a considerable amount of my prime teaching time.

2. Unpredictable Environment 
Your teaching environment will always be a bit unpredictable. There will be enthusiastic pets, ringing doorbells, extra family members and noisy siblings galore!  You will get to know your studio families on much more personal level when you are at their house. The good news is that your student is normally used to practicing through these distractions!  

3. Extra Expenses 
Traveling teaching has a lot of up front expenses- gas, car maintenance, extra travel time, etc. Be sure to factor those considerations into your rates! 





4. Home Court Disadvantage

Sometimes you will be limited by the student's instrument. There have been many times I wish I could have shown my student the insides of my acoustic when they asked how the pedal worked, or scrambled to explain chord quality on an abysmally tuned piano. 

5. Weather and Traffic Delays
Some days you will battle traffic and weather all day, throwing your carefully calculated travel time out of sync. All you can do is laugh, contact your studio parents, and adjust your schedule! 
Over the last five years, I've grown to love travel teaching.  Although it has it's own set of challenges, it also can be a great way to find a niche in a competitive environment or make the best of restrictive living circumstances.  

What has been your experience with travel teaching? 

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25 Comments

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    Hi! I'm Johanna.

    Traveling piano teacher, book enthusiast, crafter, and lover of all things tea related. 


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