Transcript Snapshot 050 – Sarah Boyd
Transcript for Snapshot 050 – Sarah Boyd
Andrea 00:02
Hey, it’s Andrea with Music Studio Startup, the podcast about the business of teaching music. Learn from the startup stories of music teachers who are doing incredible things with their studios. Be inspired by creative musicians who are branching out and thriving as entrepreneurs. Be empowered by the insights of experts who will help you grow your own studio. Let’s get started. Welcome back. We’re running our summer podcast series called Studio Snapshots. Rather than the in-depth, process-oriented interviews you’re used to hearing, these rapid-fire interviews give us a glimpse into a guest’s studio at a moment in time. They’re part reflection, part anticipation of the future, and fully a celebration of where these teachers are today. Today, I’m talking to Sarah Boyd. Here’s Sarah’s snapshot. Hi, Sarah. Welcome to the podcast. Today, we are doing a studio snapshot, which is kind of a rapid-fire interview. And to kick us off, can you introduce yourself and tell us briefly about your studio?
Sarah Boyd 01:08
Hi. Thank you so much for having me. My name is Sarah Boyd. I’m located in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, which is a suburb of Metro Detroit. I’ve been teaching actually since I was a freshman in high school, but formally, my studio has now been in business since 2010, and I have about 30 students every year. I’m a private teacher with individual lessons as well as plenty of partner lessons.
Andrea 01:34
All right. And what is something you are celebrating from the last school year?
Sarah Boyd 01:38
Last year I had a first where I had a student who has taught her own students for several years, she’s a junior in high school, give her own recital of her students.
Andrea 01:48
Oh, wow.
Sarah Boyd 01:49
And it was the first time that I attended. I was the grandma of the piano recital. And I saw all of her students perform beautiful solos, duets, creative projects. She had a program printed. She had a reception, and it was an awesome full-circle moment because I have taught this particular student since she was five years old, and this was, you know, big moment for her. She’s-
Andrea 02:16
Yeah
Sarah Boyd 02:16
… entering her senior year with me this year.
Andrea 02:18
That’s incredible, yeah, and you can really see how what you have exemplified in your studio, like, to set up a recital and do all those things, like has really passed on, and that’s amazing.
Sarah Boyd 02:30
I think it was probably one of my most favorite recitals I’ve ever attended.
Andrea 02:35
How stressed were you?
Sarah Boyd 02:37
Right. I was feeling great the whole time.
Andrea 02:39
That’s amazing. How were you challenged last year?
Sarah Boyd 02:42
So one challenge I experienced, well, it’s kind of a theme in my life. I take on a lot, and I don’t always plan out exactly how I’m going to get from point A to point B, because I love projects. And I’ll be completely honest, I started my NCTM through the national certification through MTNA, and it’s been a long time goal of mine, but I am going to be applying for an extension because last year it was a big challenge for me to finish the projects while I was teaching. I realized that even though I set up myself for success with having a plan and breaking it down into small parts, I really didn’t find time to schedule it into my week.
Andrea 03:27
Hmm.
Sarah Boyd 03:28
And it was a theme throughout the year of always realizing, “Oh, I did not get to it this week.” So really this summer I’ve spent quite a bit of time reevaluating how can I actually place time in my week to finish this, because it definitely is a goal and I will finish it. But I also will give myself the time it takes.
Andrea 03:48
Yeah. Did you take any risks or go outside your comfort zone last year?
Sarah Boyd 03:52
Actually, last year was the first time that I judged for our state performance exam, and I was really honored to be invited. I’ve done some local judging and adjudicating, like some very small master class work, but this was definitely out of my comfort zone because it was for the intermediate students, and it was rapid-fire because we had 12 students in a span of about two hours with, you know, a lot of feedback to give, um, quite a bit of repertoire that actually I had not taught before, so I had to prepare for it and, like, really get comfortable with what I was going to hear. And I was really glad that I took that risk because I made some new connections.
Andrea 04:34
Ah. What do summers look like in your studio for your students and also for you?
Sarah Boyd 04:38
So for my studio, I love taking time off. Michigan is a glorious month to be for summertime up here, and really it fits with my family’s and my own family’s schedule as well. So summer is optional. My students do pay tuition from August through June, but I actually don’t teach lessons in August or in June. It’s just that our tuition is spread out over 11 equal payments. I do not receive tuition for my studio in July, so I have to plan ahead, and what I give to myself is time. So I, I feel that even though I’m not having a tuition payment in my studio in July, I am giving myself the gift of a bunch of time.
Andrea 05:20
Hmm.
Sarah Boyd 05:20
And honestly, the lessons are a la carte. So I did teach six days this summer on six different Tuesdays, and I did have about three families that wanted consistent lessons and a few other families that wanted here and there lessons when it worked for them. But when I realized a few years back, “Hey, I’m paying for my own children’s activities ahead of time,” it’s not a big ask for me to tell my own studio families, “Hey, your first payment is due in August-
Andrea 05:49
Mm-hmm
Sarah Boyd 05:49
… and lessons begin in September.” And it has worked really well for a balance of time off and also budgeting purposes of equal payments.
Andrea 05:58
What are you doing this summer to prep for the next school year?
Sarah Boyd 06:00
So I love in the summertime looking through repertoire. I love playing through repertoire, and I have four seniors this coming school year, so I’ve made them each a Notion page, and on their Notion page, we’ve listed the pieces that they’re going to include in their senior recital, as well as a few pieces that they had to, like, finish choosing from. So they had things to listen to and links to look at where they could compare, you know, “Hey, you need one more piece to fit into the classical category.”
Andrea 06:31
Hmm.
Sarah Boyd 06:32
So mainly a lot of senior recital repertoire planning, and then also at the end of the summer, we always have a piano and popsicles event where we gather, and it’s like a kickoff back into the school year. The students come, and there’s a piano outside, so they might play something that they either created this summer or that they worked on with lessons. We have popsicles. We do music games with water balloons, so also just prepping that. That’s always at the end of August.
Andrea 07:01
That sounds super fun. What app or tool has made the biggest impact in your studio or life management this year?
Sarah Boyd 07:07
This past year, I took a Notion course with the wonderful Joy Moran and Amy Chaplin, and I learned how to let Notion really help me organize my life, like the name of their webinar. And so like I mentioned, I used it for my senior recitals. I’ve begun building pages for my separate parts of my studio year, and it’s, for me, since I do also teach early childhood, I also am a business manager for my kids’ high school choir. I have several different strands that fit into my music education life, and Notion has really helped me have one central place.
Andrea 07:44
Hmm. That’s great. What’s one area of your business where you tend to get carried away or go overboard just because it’s something you really enjoy?
Sarah Boyd 07:51
I would say that I get carried away with moving and singing during lessons. So I really can’t teach a piano lesson anymore from one particular chair or with only my speaking voice. I have to remind myself sometimes to use my speaking voice because I’ll be singing to the student, and I’ll sing, “Are you ready to play?” Or, you know, we’ll be in the middle of moving and singing, and then we’ll go right into playing the piece just, like, so natural. I really love making it a music environment as much as possible and taking out the talking, really. So I probably go a little overboard on that because I love it so much. I love moving in a lesson, getting off the bench, whether it’s to the beat or just flow and through the space. It absolutely brings the student new concentration and energy. If I ever see that student kind of slumping and maybe losing focus, we are off the bench, and we start moving.
Andrea 08:50
Sounds super fun. Sounds super, like, just lively.
Sarah Boyd 08:53
Yes.
Andrea 08:54
Well, thank you for taking time to be here today. Where can listeners get in touch with you?
Sarah Boyd 08:58
You can find me on Instagram. I do love sharing behind-the-scenes moments of my lessons. My studio is called Piano Vine Studio, kind of like grapevine. Think how we are all connected. I really believe that teachers learn best when we are connected and in community and not isolated, so that’s why I named my studio Piano Vine Studio. You can find me on Instagram with that same name and find clips from my lessons and recitals, and you can also find me on that same name with my website.
Andrea 09:28
All right, Sarah. Thank you so much.
Sarah Boyd 09:29
Thank you so much for having me. It’s great to be here.
Andrea 09:33
Thanks for taking the time to be with us, Sarah. We’ll include a transcript and all the links mentioned in this episode at musicstudiostartup.com/snapshot050. The Music Studio Startup website is also filled with lots of other resources for music teachers just like you who wanna set up their studios for success this summer, including our very popular self-paced Business Building 101 course and our hub and mastermind for studio owners who want to be supported and challenged to grow as entrepreneurs. It’s not too late to join our live cohort of Business Building 101 this summer. Register at musicstudiostartup.com/businessbuilding101. That’s all for today. Thanks for listening. I’ll be back next week.