Trial Checklist

  

Attendance

Take attendance so that you get teaching credit. We can follow-up with the student, or reschedule if necessary.

First-Timers

Students new to the instruments may not have heard ­­­­­­the instrument played before, so demo a beautiful/cool song for a minute to pique interest.  Many parents bring young children for a piano trial, who have actually never heard a piano song.

Students Switching over from Another Teacher/School

They may have many reasons to switch to you (teacher retired, moved here from another state, etc.).  Focus questions on what he/she wants to learn here.  Most experienced trial students will already come with music and will have an idea of what they want to accomplish, so you can pick up where they left off if they want to continue.

Structure

  • Be aware of the time and keep your intro to about 1 minute, and let student share for about 2-3 minutes.

  • Include 20-25 minutes of actual teaching.

  • Last 2-3 minutes should be spent answering questions, recommending books (relevant) and doing a warm hand-off to a Studio Manager to answer scheduling/pricing questions – “I’d like to introduce you to ____, who can help you with scheduling, pricing or any other question you may have”.  Be sure to thank the student for coming by! If the student expresses that they want to continue – let the Studio Manager know. 

Take Notes on Opus

Record helpful trial lesson notes on Opus such as “Student tried guitar but wants to continue with ukulele due to small hands” or “Student’s mom said they would also like to add on a voice lesson in addition to piano” etc. This helps the Staff with lesson signups.

Do Not Reject Student Directly

Please do not reject the student directly. Just do the trial, and if you feel that there isn’t a good fit - please text the orange circle group text with management ASAP and add detailed noted onto Opus.

Please do NOT suggest another teacher or instrument to the Student. We, the office staff, will do that on your behalf or even possibly suggest another instrument, We are doing our best to fill your schedule so there will have to be a significant reason to reject the student such as violence, complete disrespect to the teacher, hatred for music, etc.

Keep it Fun!

Most importantly - keep it fun! Learning in a fun environment is the best for students!