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I need to stop looking at scheduling lessons as a battle, or that horribly fun-naseous game Jenga. There are definitely days that I have my studio open and days that it's closed, but beyond that I'm trying to be as flexible as possible. This is a very scary thing. Having my own studio means I do all the admin, all the advertising and I am the business. I really do pour my heart into it but there are some hurtles I've yet to navigate in the best way.
Firstly, there is a quiet but constant fear that some students just wont come back when the next cheque is due, or at all for that matter. Which is a difficult fear to unravel. I obviously love my students and love what I do, but they are also my living. I've spent the last year asking for monthly payments. The same will happen this "year" but next September (2015) I think I will be developing a semester payment system that carries over the Christmas Break as a way to ensure students come back after Christmas. Now it's not typical that my students just start running for the hills, but I like to think that a mixture of wrong expectataions and the whim of a child can leave me high and dry.
Let me explain....
A parent that expects their 6 year old child to become a virtuoso in 4 months, while never practicing at home is never going to last as a student of mine. I've had some parents complain that their child wasn't making music fast enough, when I really need at minimum 4 months to get to know the child. That, plus a whimsical child that suddenly doesn't like piano any more is all too common. I've had people walk away becuase their child "didn't like piano" and since they "weren't making music" it made sense to stop lessons. That really gets my goat.
I also don't want to seem desperate, trying to prevent my students from leaving me. However, I hope that the relationships I'm able to create around the piano are what keep my students coming back! Now that I've vented my fears, I will carry on scheduling new and long-time students for the summer and the fall, praying they show up and if they don't that someone else will fill their spot or that I'll continue my own lesson in both patience and flexibility.