Summer

[joyfulmusic]

I have different categories of commitment from my students and their parents.  The school year schedule runs the world really.  How do the rest of you deal with families who want to drop lessons all summer and begin again when school starts?  Not all my students are serious about learning but they are still learning.  One student who dropped last summer had to go back to six months earlier in her prior year when we started in the fall.  I've sort of let things unfold in the past but i'm getting sick of it.  Here in the Boston suburbs a lot of parents just see piano lessons as part of the picture of giving their kids everything possible.  Okay, so i'm having a bad day.  But seriously what do you have as a policy? 

[slobone]

As a kid I spent most of the summer at camp, so lessons were out. I can't remember if I continued to take lessons when I was living at home, but out of school. I don't think so. It never occurred to me to wonder what the financial effect was on my teachers. 

American school vacations are ridiculously long anyway. Especially these days when most families don't have a parent who can stay home to babysit.

Try to convince the parents that the summer is an especially good time for the kids to work harder on the piano, if they don't have anything special to do. But I don't think you'll get very far.

[Bob]

A big motivator I found was explaining how it impacts their practicing.

Kid 1 stops in May.  Kid 2 takes lessons during the summer.

Kid 1 starts up again in Setember and takes a few months to get back up to speed, say by October or November.  Kid 2 has continued to practice and doesn't need to get back up to speed.

The result?  Kid 2 ends up about six months ahead of Kid 1.  Add that up for a few years and Kid 2 will be years ahead of Kid 1. 

There's a lot that can vary with it, but I think there's some truth in that.

[a-sharp]

I'd make sure you charge something to hold their spot in your studio - a vacation fee or something. Explain how much they lose with so much time away from practice. Also - summer is often the *best* time for music study as there are no academic distractions... I guess I'm fortunate - most of my parents are glad I teach year-round.