Hi all,

I'm about to lose a student through him moving to a new area, and it got me thinking about the amount of students who leave and give up.....

So... question for other teachers here... how often do you lose students for reasons other than circumstance (i.e. moving house, unable to afford lessons any more etc)

The reason I'm asking is I've noticed how few students leave now, compared to when I first started teaching. It's now been about a year since I lost a student, but going back seven years or so the story was totally different, and I now have a waiting list for the first time ever!

Lynne

A couple of mine are waiting in the wings because of time-tabling problems. One is waiting patiently; the other - I don't know - may be on the way out (since changing schools, is only free on a day I have no spaces).

I lost one student this week because more flexibility is needed with lesson times and days than I can offer. Half of September was taken as holiday, and it was not appreciated that now October is near I need my week's bookings to settle down into a more regular pattern. Probably a wise decision I think - a teacher with just a few pupils who can respond to varying time-juggling requests may be what's needed.

I've had several leave after not too long - mostly upper teens or early 20's, either due to lack of money or family problems.

I've also had some who have enquired about lessons, booked a trial lesson, then rung up just before the lesson to say they've changed their mind. I find this really annoying and they can usually offer no plausable excue for their change of plans.

David

I think if we're trying to build up a studio, it should be sort of 2 steps forward, one step back; ie we're bound to lose some due to the usual factors like moving away, changing schools (logistics), adolescence etc. But if we're consistently losing more than you're picking up, then it's time to look at our approach, methods etc.

In other words, if we want your numbers to increase, they should either be staying the same or steadily increasing.

If we want your numbers to stay the same, you should be able to manage this with a natural flow of people leaving for the usual reasons, and new ones starting.

If we're steadily losing students, then it's time for remedial action!

Lesson planning really helps, as it shows the student we're on their case and focussed on their needs. Not just steaming from grade to grade can help, as we're then more likely to be providing a large repertoire. Finding out the sort of music they enjoy the most, or envisaged playing when they started out on their instrument is also a great way of keeping them inspired and motivated. Tons of imagination, changes of pace in lessons, varied activities etc etc etc etc....

Violinia

I suppose I lose about 3 a year to "natural" causes - move to university, family move etc but not much else. That said I've just said "goodbye" to a quite promising boy who's given up under peer group pressure because it's not "cool" to play piano at his school.

As I have a long waiting list, a student giving up is sometimes a relief because I can take a new pupil on and shift the waiting list a bit. That said, I don't want them to go so I do work very hard to keep them engaged.

I would definately back this up. I've used various ways of planning lessons over the past 2 years none of which have really worked too well. In the end, I settled on using the same model as is required of classroom teachers, thus setting out aims and objectives and evaluating the lesson. It takes a bit of time, but has really been worth it. So much less of the lesson time is wasted on me trying to find the next thing or decide what to do next. I'm certainly going to stick to this method now.

David

It's frustrating isn't it?!

At least they let you know I suppose.
I had one father last year who booked a course of 6 lesson for his daughter. I sent a letter of confirmation and an invoice for the first half-term. First day came and girl didn't arrive. No message. No subsequent contact at all. Letter and contents were ignored.
(Local blacklist anyone ?? )

It's rare in my experience that people cancel before the first session or simply fail to turn up.

I rarely lose private students unless they're moving away, or have finished school or on odd occasions, have decided they don't have the time to commit anymore as they are now in their important exam year (and wanting to become a doctor or something!) - and I'm just about to lose one who has just got into the junior academy at the RSAMD. But averagely I probably have 2 vacancies per year, if that. At school it's different as pupils have to come out of class for their piano lessons so I lose a few more because of not wanting to miss school lessons - some feel embarrassed having to ask a teacher to be allowed to go, and some don't like having to copy up missed work, or having to sit a class test at lunchtime instead.

Funnily enough, I have been thinking about this lately, too.

When I began my career back in the mid-1970's, pupils came and went at heroic speeds.

I was quite fiery in those days. Pupils who did not practise got a verbal roasting; I would then pass that roasting on to the parents. No wonder I had something of a turnover in those days

These days, I cling onto pupils for years on end. It is tempting to think this is because I have mellowed; no doubt this helps.

More to the point, I think, is that we are now teaching children of parents who grew up in the 1970's and 80's. My generation (educated basically in the 60's) and those educated in the 70's and 80's had fantastic educational opportunities. Instrumental musical teaching provision in school was superb; it was also free of charge. Increasing disposable income meant that more parents than ever before could afford private piano lessons for their children.

We are teaching children of people who had so many opportunities to learn an instrument as children themselves. Regardless of whether they 'succeeded' they recognise what is required of children studying a musical instrument, if they are to do well. Perhaps that is why children are lasting so long these days.

Steve

I have to say I've been quite pleasantly surprised by the responses in this thread. Looking at the exam statistics (I'm assuming these are a good indicator of when students give up) almost 50% (48%) of exams are either grade 1 or 2. Which suggests that half of people give up before making it to grade 3. Maybe we just have a really good bunch of teachers on here (well we do) who can keep people interested for a lot longer than most people manage; it seems strange though the rather large discrepency between the few people who are reported to leave unless they're off to university (I suspect most people would have passed grade 3 standard by this stage) and what are effectively the national statistics (exams have been shown in a study to improve people's ability to continue playing, something the AB are unsurprisingly proud of ) suggest something very different.

Maybe it's not this generation that are not as good at sticking at things as people often claim; but that it really depends a lot more on the teacher than on the student whether people continue. I'm sure it's a little from both but the teachers here seem to be able to keep people on a lot better than the average case. Or maybe you all don't count someone as a 'lost' student unless you will miss them and enjoyed teaching them .

This may be true of some of you, but I think to some extent it depends what part of the country you live in - or of course what part of the world.

Quite a number of my pupils come from families where the parents did not grow up in this country - and it's all too obvious sometimes that there is no idea of what is involved in learning an instrument.

Why does he need to practise?

Can he come every day before school?

We have a toy piano - it's the same isn't it ?

It can be quite a steep learning curve for the parents too!