inBachs / Planning for Summer

Losing students is a natural and expected part of summer for music lesson studios…but that doesn’t mean we are helpless. Retaining students and growing a studio over summer break is exceedingly common when teachers strategically plan for enrollment dips and changes in marketing.

The key? Communicate expectations early. 

By the time June arrives, most families have already decided on their summer plans. They've signed kids up for camps, sports leagues, and vacation weeks so things get busy fast. Activities viewed as being part of the school year are easy to leave off of that calendar, which means lessons are often an easy obligation to skip. 

That's the pattern we're trying to break, but we have to break it now. 

Why this season is different

Summer gets written off as an opportunity for growth. The goal becomes survival where we try desperately to hang on to what we’ve got and hope to rebuild in September. 

However, families invest a lot of time and money into identifying summer programming for their kids. A well-designed studio offering like fun goals in ongoing private lessons, a group “camp”, or an ensemble experience can be a solid fit. The studios that show up with something specific tend to have the most success keeping students on board. 

The math is worth sitting with. Losing four students June-August at $150 per month each is $1,800 in revenue…and that's before you account for the possibility of those students not returning in the fall. 

Obviously, that stings. We need a plan.

The objection worth naming

If you’ve been in the Facebook groups or Reddit forums recently, the influx of panicked summer posts has already begun. Parents have started to inform teachers that they want to pause lessons, and the question becomes “How do I convince them to stay?” 

This can feel really overwhelming and frustrating. We pour a lot into our students and we don’t want them to lose momentum over the break. (Plus, it really stinks to lose that income.) A recent post in our free Facebook group asked “Am I being rude to think that 30 minutes one time per week is not that big of a commitment especially since we have 4 weeks off throughout the summer?”

Once a parent asks to pause, we are already behind. Internally, we feel pressure to change their mind, which is (candidly) a super uncomfortable place to be. 

Now is the time to get ahead of these conversations. Have goal-setting sessions with your student to identify fun repertoire and projects for summer. Plan an exciting studio class, camp, or workshop to keep students engaged. Set up a summer lesson package with flexible scheduling to account for travel and other activities. 

When we come into these conversations with student goals and a few solutions in mind, we are far more successful in converting a potential pause into a summer enrollment. 

As a bonus, all of those plans are a fantastic way to attract new students to the studio over the summer! By focusing on growth, we can proactively overcome potential dips in enrollment to maintain student progress and studio revenue. 

Can a studio really grow over summer? 

YES. Here are a few quick examples!

Alek left his school teaching job and set out to build a private piano studio from scratch in the summer of 2023. In 90 days, he was at $4,100 a month. That's what happens when you start summer with a specific target and work backward from it. His follow-up story is worth watching too, because the growth continued!

Mandy's situation was different. She had a working studio and wanted to grow it over the summer without burning out. She added 17 students in seven weeks by expanding what she offered: private lessons for families who wanted continuity, group classes for kids who wanted something social, and asynchronous options for the ones whose summers were super unpredictable. She met families where they were, and the studio blossomed. 

Eric took a different angle entirely. Rather than trying to preserve his existing lesson schedule through summer, he built jazz combos and group programming specifically for the season. The ensemble gave students a different way to create music and find community. New students came in through the programming itself, and it opened the door for additional fall enrollment growth! 

Three studios, three different approaches, one thing in common: they had a plan long before summer started. 

Free resource to plan ahead for summer

If you want help building that plan, we're hosting a free live workshop tomorrow: "Summer Workshop: Retain, Program & Grow Your Studio." We'll work through programming structures, marketing strategies, and how to talk to your families about summer in a way that makes staying the clear choice.

We have run this workshop twice this week, and every respondent gave it a 5 start rating! 

“I appreciated the sample phrases to use with parents when discussing summer lessons”

“Info was presented in a straightforward way with practical, real world examples.”

“Very helpful with alternative summer lessons ideas”

Click here to save your spot and join us tomorrow on the live workshop.