Keep local media
informed about student successes (cont.)
Keep schools informed too
Much like the media, schools can only highlight the successes
of their students if they know about those successes. Your student may
well have just won second place in a flute competition, but you can’t simply
assume that they will tell the school about it.
It’s up to you to make that phone call or visit. Bring some
details of the triumph, so that it will be easy for the principal to gush at
assembly.
Most principals are delighted to hear about the achievements
of students, and your student certainly won’t mind basking in the extra glory.
Taking the time to notify the school like this helps boost the profile of the
student at school (which helps the student), provides the school with someone
they can hold up as Role Model of the Week (which helps the school), and prompts
the question as to who this child’s music teacher is (which helps you).
It’s another everybody-wins scenario, and also helps make
the student a celebrity for a day among their peers. Everyone likes to have
their name mentioned at assembly, and this promotion technique will not only
raise your profile, but will probably have your students practicing harder
afterwards too.
What sorts of achievements are newsworthy?
You don’t need to wait until a student wins a major
international competition, or has a new recital hall at Julliard named after
them. Any time they have a success that has a tangible reward—a ribbon, a
trophy, a place, a certificate—it’s something the school should not only
know about, but actually see. Not only is your studio benefiting from the
extra exposure, but new support networks and interest will spring up for that
student at school. When a teacher on playground duty chats with them, instead of
just making small talk about what a nice day it is, they’ll probably ask the
student how their music lessons are going.
All of which makes it much, much harder for them to quit—thus
having a subtle but positive impact on your retention rates. In other words, the
few minutes you took to keep the school up to date on a high achieving student
could have an impact for years to come.
