September 2024 Group Lesson Layout

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September 28th, 2024 I hosted my first ever group lesson with my voice and guitar students in my studio. I find that group lessons are valuable in a private music studio because they build a sense of community with your students. When we teach lessons, we see students one on one. Group lessons allow my students to meet others who have a common interest in music! Curious how it went? Read about my set up below!

This group lesson is not like any ordinary group lesson, it was a reward! In June, I gave students a Summer Bingo Practice Card. The prize for one bingo was an invitation to my group lesson pizza and ice cream party. As a teacher, I wanted my students to get as many bingos as possible so I added a raffle portion to the group lesson. Any additional bingo earned was an extra raffle ticket in the drawing. 

This caused students to work hard and practice over the summer as many of my students earned a blackout bingo card. I would ask my students about their bingo process every week so they would not forget about it! Summer is a tough time to practice as there is the lack of the school routine so the bingo card created a lot of motivation for students to practice!

When September came, it was time to prep. I ordered Domino’s Pizza, ice cream was on sale at Pick ‘N Save and I ordered raffle prizes! I asked my students about their favorite pizza. The top choices were cheese and pepperoni. In addition to that I asked students about their favorite ice cream flavors, the top choices were: chocolate, vanilla, strawberry and mint chip. 

Group lesson was set up open mic style. Students came in, got their raffle tickets and there was a piece of paper for them to sign up and choose their spot in the order of performance. Many students did not learn a new song for group lesson, but showcased something they worked on over the summer. Once they were settled, we started with pizza and discussed what it meant to be a good audience member. Students agreed to follow their expectations and be a good audience member to others. In order to create a bigger sense of community, I did allow students to sing along with each other’s performance which is not normally part of being a quiet audience member. 

Students came up one by one and performed their pieces for the group. We had a variety of pop songs, musical theatre pieces and more! Every two performers, I would pull out a raffle prize. In order to make the prizes more exciting, I wrapped them like presents so students did not know what they were getting! Throughout the summer, students asked what kind of prizes there would be and I would only tell them that all the prizes were musical related! That is something everyone had in common! I had a total of 17 prizes. Some of the students favorite prizes from the bunch were: a water bottle with a bluetooth speaker, a music necklace, a guitar pick puncher, Olivia Rodrigo posters, a Taylor Swift pillow, a pitch pipe, a guitar strap the holds guitar picks and so much more!

When all the performances and raffle prizes were finished, I had students come up for ice cream to close off the night. As they left I gave everyone a party favor to create an inclusive environment because not everyone got a raffle prize. Students left with a can of grape soda and some of my small merch including: stickers, pens, and wristbands wrapped in a giftbag with a note from me!

Overall, the group lesson was extremely valuable and students had fun meeting other students who have the passion for music! They were able to see what others were working on and have a low pressure performance to gain more exposure to playing their pieces in front of a crowd. 

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