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Sat 30 July 2004

Raising The Bar: putting professional business standards to work in a Singing Studio: SYSTEMS & PROCEDURES

by Leanne Hoad

Three business principles which singing teachers can't afford to ignore (continued):

2. Systems & Procedures

Documenting the ways you do things (systems and procedures) at your Studio will help you clearly understand what you are doing and deliver your services successfully. It also helps the student to know what to expect.

You will be more time efficient, maximise your income and portray a professional image.

Big companies and franchises have long mastered the crucial area of documenting a system that works, and then successfully implementing it.

You know exactly what you are getting when you visit McDonalds, Bakers Delight or Leonard's AND it is consistent with each store.

They have identified and targeted their market, determined what they want and provide it every time. This creates consistency within the service

By examining how you do things, documenting it and implementing it you are on your way to a professional and successful operation.

Areas to document include:

• Your teaching method
  Document what you teach. It will clarify in your mind what you are teaching and highlight any gaps.
• Lesson structure & progress
  It is mandatory for teachers in educational institutions to have lesson plans. Private studios should not be any different.
  A record of each lesson will avoid memory lapses by teachers, maximise student progress and facilitate smooth handover of students between teachers if and when required.
• Policies
  •  Cancellation policies
  •  Students who smoke (how to deal with them)
  •  Abused voices
  •  Parent feedback
  •  Enrolment form
  •  Terms and Conditions
  •  Payment terms
  •  Making up for missed lessons
  •  Copyright and licensing
  •  Borrowing music
  •  Physical contact with students during lessons
  •  Auditioning/accepting students
  •  Students who do not practice between lessons
  •  Duty of Care towards sick students
• Administration
  •  Enquiry procedure and follow up with promotional material
  •  Lesson confirmation letters
  •  Occupation Health and Safety guidelines
  •  Keeping students updated about in-house concerts, industry auditions, performance opportunities via newsletters, regular handouts or email
• Financial management
  Organised finances are essential for your financial well being, the growth of your business and for your students to know where they stand.
  
  Financial software programmes are essential for all businesses to keep finances in order. Computer generated Receipts, or at worst, handwritten receipts, are essential because:
  
  •  you could be acting illegally
  If you take cash under the counter (cash economy or black market). 'Cash under the counter' doesn't give our industry a good name. Encourages the 'back yard' perception towards singing teachers which is still strongly prevalent.
  
  •  Illegal operating gives our industry a bad name and reflects badly on the entire industry
  
  •  It prevents those students who are professional voice users from claiming lesson fees as a legitimate tax deduction
  
  •  It help students understand the lesson fee structure and helps them to budget for their lesson fees esp. over an extended period of time
  

Consider documented procedures for the following:

•  Issuing Accounts and receipts and payment handling
Tax Invoices (for those who have an ABN) or Receipts for those who don't are mandatory.

Watch this space for the final entry in the "Raising The Bar" series, Facilities & Technology...

Thu 29 July 2004

Search For A Star & Battle Of The Bands

Leanne Hoad Singing Studio is one of the proud sponsors of this long-running Adelaide competition.

The entry fee for guests and competitors is $17.00 for a 3 course meal, the show (competition) and includes competitors registration.

$20,000 worth of prizes to be won! and proceeds go to the Make A Wish Foundation.

The competition raised $21,000.00 last year for this worthwhile charity. The competition, now in its 7th year, has raised over $170,000.00 for various charities to date.

Judged by 6 professionals from the industry including myself (Leanne Hoad)

Anyone is welcome to enter the heats including bands, instrumentalists, dancers, actors, and of course solo or a group of singers

Competition Dates:

Notes to competitors:

•  The song or item is of your choice and to be no longer than 5 minutes-simply take your backing track along
•  3 - 4 competitors from each heat are chosen to compete in the semi finals. A different song is required at each heat, semi final and Grand Final
• Judging will be marked primarily on performance and technique, taking into consideration presentation and originality
• Refer PDF Information Sheet for more detail

For more information or to register contact Emily or Tony Rocca on (08) 8239 2235.

Wed 28 July 2004

Raising The Bar: putting professional business standards to work in a Singing Studio: MARKETING & PROMOTIONS

by Leanne Hoad

Three business principles which singing teachers can't afford to ignore:

1. Marketing & Promotions

The broader public will not know how good you are or what you have to offer unless you tell them.

Being good at what you do is not enough for the word to spread to the wider public. Some teachers have the misconception that simply being good and having student successes automatically qualifies them for a high profile, recognition, and perhaps even media exposure.

In fact, operating in this manner limits your reach to your peers and a small local client base. It won't reach the broader public, or beyond, without some conscious and consistent marketing effort.

You market your business to inform people about what you do and how your products and services can be of use to them.

How do you go about letting people know you exist? Have a marketing campaign and put promotions into place.

A good marketing campaign includes:

Watch this space for Systems and Procedures...

Tue 27 July 2004

Raising The Bar: putting professional business standards to work in a Singing Studio: INTRODUCTION

by Leanne Hoad

Introduction

Private singing studios in Australia are typically small operations run by keen, technically sound, teachers who have limited exposure to, and training in, the commercial aspects of running a successful business.

This often means that these studios operate on tight budgets, with a limited capacity for a certain number of students and inadequate technology and facilities. This is regarded as normal within the industry yet presents a detrimental image to students and the general public who are regularly exposed to world-class standards in every other industry.

In general, most small businesses operate on similar key principles which, if understood and correctly implemented by the profession of singing teachers, can lead to thriving teaching studios and a greatly enhanced profile for the industry as a whole.

Over the next week, three areas such as marketing and promotions, systems and procedures, facilities and technology will be covered. They are not rocket science but it is crucial to get them right in order to operate professionally and to generate this perception in clients' minds and within public consciousness.

PDF version of the Poster Presentation handout

Raising The Bar: putting professional business standards to work in a Singing Studio

presented at the ANATS (Australian Association of Teachers of Singing) National Conference, Sydney in July 2004

Sun 25 July 2004

Congratulations to...

• Michael Checuti, runner-up in the recent grand final of Search for a Singer. Well done to LHSS students Luci Lovell and Amy Davis who also made it through to the grand finals. Amy Davis won the audience choice award.
• LHSS student Sarah Griffin who, at the recent Port Pirie Country Music Competition won: the Junior Gospel section, Group Section, Overall Junior Entertainer sections and the Jock Birrell Memorial Trophy. She also came third in Junior Vocal. 
  Well done Sarah for placing in all the junior sections.
• Sarah was chosen to participate in a short course at the Tamworth Singing College from July 2 - 9 while she was attending the Tamworth Country Music Festival. During this time she was also chosen to compere the Sponsors & Industry Concert and the Public Concert

All the best...

to the 19 LHSS students competing at the Balaklava Eisteddfod next Saturday 31 July in the vocal, contemporary and music theatre sections.

PDF version of the recent Balaklava Poster

click to download

Well done...

To the 30 performers who performed at the LHSS Performance Concert No 3 last Friday night.

It was a great opportunity for first time performers and the Balaklava entrants to practice perform their songs in front in public.

PDF version of the Performance Concert No 3 PROGRAMME

click to download

Tue 20 July 2004

'Table for 8' Christmas In July fundraising lunch for Variety Club Bash at The Alma Hotel, Magill Road, Norwood

This afternoon I attended a fundraising lunch for the Variety Club bash. It included an 'Idol' segment for which I was on the judges table with Anne 'Willsy' Wills, Barry Noble and Neil Humphries.

It was lots of fun complete with an Elvis impersonator (invited guest), Christmas songs and acts and plenty of fund raising plus a charity auction.

Sun 18 July 2004

ANATS Singing Teachers Conference, Sydney: Day 4

The final day of the Conference included a multimedia session (singing while being recorded live facing a video camera) and a practical workshop on child voice.

The afternoon involved a panel-led discussion on stage, in which I had been invited to participate prior to the Conference, about Business and Ethics in running a Private Singing Studio.

All Conference photos can be viewed on the ANATS website here

Sat 17 July 2004

ANATS Singing Teachers Conference, Sydney: Day 3

Today was spent in a contemporary masterclass learning about speech level singing followed by a "Pop singing for young singers" masterclass in the afternoon.

I also enjoyed the afternoon's lecture on the Suzuki method of nurturing the developing voice.

The evening consisted of a dinner cruise on Sydney Harbour

Fri 16 July 2004

ANATS Singing Teachers Conference, Sydney: Day 2

Today was spent in lectures and seminars.

The morning consisted of a workshop on Young Voice Teaching and a Masterclass in Opera and Classical Singing.

The afternoon began with a panel-based discussion on different approaches to teaching people to sing followed by a great session on Jazz.

Prior to the Conference, several singing teachers were invited to present posters on a subject of their choice. Brief abstracts were submitted to the Organising Committee proposing a topic. Mine was accepted along with several others.

I prepared a poster aimed at encouraging all singing teachers to improve their businesses from a commercial perspective i.e. operating professionally. An image of the poster is shown on the RHS of this page. Click the link to view a larger version.

I'm also really enjoying getting to know many of the singing teachers from around the country who, to this point, I've only really known by name.

In the evening, some of the contemporary music-oriented singing teachers gathered informally at a local cafe in Sydney for a get-to-know-you meal and some fun.

More tomorrow...

Thu 15 July 2004

ANATS Singing Teachers Conference, Sydney: Day 1

I am currently in Sydney, NSW at the ANATS National Conference 2004.

Allison Bourke and Katie Packer, teachers from the Studio, are here as well.

The Conference officially begins in earnest tomorrow morning after tonight's registration and drinks.

I had dinner with a couple of the Conference speakers at Darling Harbour last night, Peter Hunt (UK) and Di Hunter-Hughes (NSW). We had a great time getting to know each other, talking shop and seeing the sights of Sydney.

I have spent the day catching up with a singing teacher from NSW. We toured her studio facilities and spent the day sharing our experiences as singing teachers and principals.

More later...

Wed 7 July 2004

Singing Teachers Conference

ANATS (Australian National Association of Teachers of Singing) are holding their annual conference this month in Sydney from 15 - 18 July.

It will be an exciting time for all singing teachers who participate. The knowledge which the international and national guests impart will be revolutionary for many teachers, particularly those new to the teaching of teaching.

LHSS staff Katie Packer, Allison Bourke and myself (Leanne Hoad) are attending.

I am giving a Poster Presentation titled The Business of Singing where I will cover the business components of a singing studio such as marketing and promotions, facilities and technology, and marketing and promotions. I'll upload it to this news page soon.

In addition, myself and three other singing teachers will be on a panel to discuss  Business and Ethics in the Singing Studio. Some of the issues we will discuss are:

• legal responsibilities including intellectual property in relation to music scores, sheet music, recordings, public performance

• relationships with related professionals such as ENTs and speech pathologists

• how we deal with other singing teachers

• how we advertise and promote ourselves

• does working in a private studio, in schools, and in tertiary institutions create different demands

What do you do at a singing teachers conference?

On the plane on the way to the conference my neighbour often asks "Where are you going". On hearing the response "to a singing conference", their immediate reaction is "what do you do at one of those?"

Well, thanks for asking! :-)

I find the most fascinating aspect of a conference is learning about the science behind how the singing voice is produced.

There are techniques and skills involved in singing. Understanding the anatomy and physiology certainly helps to understand how we produce various sounds. Once this knowledge is gained, the teacher can be better informed and hopefully achieve better results from their students.

Meeting other singing teachers is also a lot of fun. Networking and speaking to like-minded teachers from around the country gives me ideas on how to run my own Studio, relate to students, and deal with the administration and marketing side of a business.

I will be keeping a running diary during the conference so keep watching this space!