Start a "Great Students" section

The first thing students will look for when they see a newsletter is their name. If you want want to ensure that students enthusiastically check each newsletter as it comes out, be generous with sprinkling names and accomplishments throughout each issue.

You don't have to wait until a student makes their Carnegie Hall debut before you give them a mention. If they did more practice this month than they normally do, give them a pat on the back in the newsletter. If they have just played their first piece from memory, give them a pat on the back in the newsletter. If you think their tone production has taken a leap forward, give them a pat on the back in the newsletter.

Start a "Great Students!" section. Entries only need to be brief:

"Alison Cormack: For great attention to detail
Michael Pearson: Wow! What a month of practice"
etc.

Once they see their name, they'll be showing off the newsletter to everyone in the household - and will work better for weeks to come.

Where are they now?...

Long established studios in particular will have a list of former students who have gone on to bigger and better things.

When you find out about the achievements of students from days gone by, don't just send congratulations to the former student - publish the details in the Newsletter.

These highlighted accomplishments don't always have to be musical. If a former student has gone on to become a well known sports commentator, has just directed their first major play, or now heads up the emergency unit of the local hospital, mention it in the newsletter.

Music teachers have known for years that the skills we teach are transferable - it doesn't hurt to establish a link in parents' minds between continuing music lessons, and an exciting future. And it also reminds students that your interest and support doesn't end just because lessons have.

Students from years gone by: Congratulations to Wendy Spencer (in this studio from 1995-1999), who recently gave birth to twins! Wendy is probably best known now as the strength and conditioning coach for Olympic 400m runner Jasmine Polack, and we wish her well for her new adventure.

Quizzes

These don't have to be serious learning exercises. Quizzes can sometimes be more about community building than learning new facts.

If you want to keep things along musical lines, you can include composer trivia, theory teasers, terms and signs, instrument facts... with the second edition of New Grove running to 29 hardback volumes, there's no shortage of raw material for music quizzes.

On the other hand, you could ignore music entirely, and include logic puzzles, lateral thinking exercises or mathematical conundrums. The aim is to get parents and kids together, working through the puzzles you set.

In this way:

 "Given are 12 marbles. One of these marbles is slightly heavier or lighter than the others. You have a two plate scale. You are allowed to weigh three times. Can you find the marble that differs in weight?"

is just as valid as:

"How many sharps does A Major have".

(In fact, the first question is probably better!)

Reminders and requests

If it's important enough that your students need to remember it, then it's important enough to include a reminder in your Newsletter.

"The neighbors have asked me to remind you not to park across their driveway when you come to lessons! (please)"

"To all student who are considering participating in the Winter Festival of Flute, entry forms are due THIS FRIDAY."

"Students who will not be continuing lessons in the next Semester are reminded that the cutoff date for notification without part payment of fees being due is Sunday May 23rd."

Most of the dates can also be posted on their online Studio Calendar, but it doesn't hurt to have the reinforcement through a newsletter.

Studio policy changes

Your Studio Policy Manager actually allows you to make changes to your studio policy whenever you need to, and then have the updated policy readily available through your student's websites.

But if you are going to make changes of any sort, you really should announce them in a newsletter or message to your students. Otherwise you risk the changes going unnoticed, and arguments will often follow.

Welcomes

Your studio website is designed to help your studio become more of a community - you can help foster this spirit by making a point of welcoming new students to the studio.

If you can, help make these students real by quickly mentioning any interests or other talents they may have. So if your new beginner is a regional age group chess champion, refer to that quickly in your note welcoming them aboard.

It's easier to help students feel special once you've taken the trouble to point out to everyone else why they are special.

Student Articles

You don't have to be resonsible for producing all the content of your Studio Newsletter. A great way to create additional content is to have students act as guest journalists - writing short articles on anything music related that might be helpful to others.

It could be as simple as assigning each of them a composer to research. Or you could have them record their own personal thoughts as they prepare for, and then recover from a big recital. Again, it helps remind your students that they are part of a bigger community, and that there are others who experience exactly the same joys, frustrations and obstacles that they do .

Hyping upcoming studio events

If there's to be a big studio recital in a few months' time, and you really want it to be big, then it's time to start hyping the living daylights out of it through your Studio Newsletter.

You can run short articles on the venue, highlights from similar previous concerts. But if you really want to get the studio buzzing...

...start profiling the participants. Name, age, hobbies, how long they've been learning, and what they're playing. And to add even more interest, have them also list the things they are most looking forward to showing off in the piece, together with the thing they are most worried about.

When concert day rolls around, students won't just be sitting there waiting for their turn. They'll be aware of many of the subplots, recognizing names of students and pieces from the Newsletters you put out building all of this up.

Useful Weblinks

Your studio website allows you to create a library of useful links for your students, but if you want them to actually use these resources, it's sometimes worth profiling them a little.

Give them the name and address for the site, and then tell them a little about why it's so great. How can it help? What fun things can they do once they get there? How is it different from other sites that claim to provide the same help?

Students won't visit these resources just because they are told to. Students will check them out if they're curious - and the jobof your newsletter is to help make them curious.

(You're more than welcome to add PracticeSpot to this list of course...)

Competitions

You'll probably handle the day to day running of your various in-studio competitions through the Message Center, but for posting results, you can't beat a newsletter.

So if you know who the Top 10 Practicers for July are, because you are in the middle of a Practice Championship of the Universe with your students, then you can absolutely make their week by publishing that list on the newsletter.

Students who are on that list will start plotting means for moving further up the list (scoreboards tend to have that effect on kids) - while those who don't appear on it in the first place will start to wonder what they can do to be part of the in-crowd next time.

Advertising external musical events

If a particularly fine musician is coming to town, you should let your students know about it, and perhaps even offer to book a group seating.

It will help parents who don't ordinarily consider going to such concerts to at least think about it (by keeping such opportunities front and center), while it will help the "I would have gone if I'd known about it" students to notice events that they might regret missing later.

This is particularly rewarding if it's a former student who is performing. In addition to the date and time of the performance, you can profile them a little, reminding your beginners that they were once beginners too.

Theme of the month

To help focus your students on particular aspects of their playing or preparation, it's sometimes worth dedicating an entire newsletter to a Theme of some sort.

The theme might be "sightreading" or "Dynamic Dynamics!" or "Posture" - and your job is not only to make that issue part of your students' consciousness, but also to provide plenty of advice as to how they can improve it in their own playing.

Apart from helping your students, such articles will help reinforce in the Parents' mind that you are an expert (You are! There's no smoke and mirrors here - you're just showing off a little of what you know)

Once the month is up, move on to a brand new one.