Having spoken to music teachers across the country, and having taught in a variety of different schools ourselves, we know the real struggles experienced in music department management. We understand the complexities of multiple teachers scheduling music lessons around ever-changing school, subject, and extracurricular restrictions, the difficulties of having oversight of the progress of hundreds of students and the hardships of streamlining billing lessons. The struggle is real – we know, we’ve experienced it!
We also know that using a music teacher management software that understands these complexities would make the lives of Heads of Departments like yourself so much easier.
We’ve compiled a list of the most common problems music schools come across when managing both music teachers and departments below. Chances are you’ll have experienced a few, if not most, of them as you manage your department. If even a few of these ring true, then ask yourself the question – why are you putting up with this?! You’re not running a music department for the fun of battling broken systems. Find a music department management platform that will take care of your admin woes so you can focus on delivering a brilliant music education experience for your students.
If you’d like to learn more about how Practice Pal can help you take control of your music department, we have a downloadable info pack that will answer all your questions.
The most common music teacher management issues schools struggle with
- Having a manual system to schedule lessons (often an excel spreadsheet or worse, pen and paper!)
- Private music teachers providing their own timetables at different times in different formats
- Using a school-wide Management Information System (MIS) that doesn’t cater for the complexities of music lesson scheduling
- Not having oversight of lesson plans or sheet music used during the lesson
- Not having an update on a student’s progression in their music lessons and music practice
- Having no record of how many lessons should have been delivered
- Having no record of how many music students the school has
- Not having oversight of bills sent and paid by students or their parents/guardians
- Not having an easy solution to provide online music lessons when required
The benefits of using a music teacher management app
There are plenty of benefits to using software to manage music teachers and departments – here’s our top three:
1. Complete music department management for schools
A music department management platform can give you a complete overview of everything happening in your music department.
With Practice Pal, for example, music schools can view a live teaching timetable (synced with all your teacher’s own timetables) for a full overview of all lessons taking place.
Practice Pal also lets you track the progress of all learners, as you can view the lesson note history of all pupils directly from your account.
2. An online music resource for teachers to organise and schedule lessons
A music teacher management platform can allow music teachers to organise and manage their own lessons, with school administrators knowing they have all the facts.
With Practice Pal, teachers get access to their own scheduling and administrative tools on Practice Pal, giving them an option to create and manage learner profiles. They are also able to view a learner’s availability (added either by themselves, or by syncing with the school’s account) and rotate learner lesson times at the click of a button. Additionally, learners and their guardians will be notified automatically if any lessons get scheduled or changed.
3. A dedicated online lesson room for teaching music
While many music teachers are used to giving in-person lessons, the Covid-19 pandemic has required most music teachers to switch to online lessons. And even with restrictions being lifted, not everyone may want (or be able to) do in-person lessons again. That’s why a secure way to teach online lessons is key.
At Practice Pal, we have a dedicated Lesson Room built for teachers to teach both in-person and remotely, built into our platform at no additional fee. The online lessons are as close to real-world practice as possible and video calls offer an audio quality unavailable on any other video conferencing platform.
As part of the lesson room, teachers are able to record clips for the learner to help them practice later on and also view the music sheet on screen as the video lesson is taking place. What’s more, there is the option to make lesson notes that are automatically shared with both the learner and their guardian to help them progress (teachers can also write private notes for your own personal records – these will not be shared with anyone .)
Most importantly, Practice Pal adheres to strict safeguarding procedures to keep everyone secure online. As a school, this gives you peace of mind that it is safe to use for both the teacher and the pupil. For more on safeguarding and security, take a look at our safeguarding walk-through video.
4. Education enhancing supervised music practice
Getting students to practice music can be difficult at any age – often a result of too many distractions and a general lack of motivation. But regular practice is crucial to a pupil’s progression, especially if that practice is supervised.
At Practice Pal, we offer learners the opportunity to upgrade to supervised practice subscriptions. Depending on subscription type, learners can practice in 15 or 30-minute chunks throughout the week, during which they receive real-time feedback from professional musicians who supervise them through each session via the Learner’s app. Learners get better at playing their instrument a lot faster, all while developing fundamental practice techniques that will benefit them throughout their lives.
For more information on how practice sessions work, watch our music practice session video walk-through.
Complete Music teacher management in one app
We know you’re keen for your music teachers and students to have a seamless experience when teaching and learning an instrument – without the administrative and organisational headaches.
