Guitar Lessons Tulsa | What Happens When a Student Shows Up Early

This content was created for Curtis Music Academy

Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Curtis Music Academy podcast. Thank you for joining me, and I hope you’re all doing fantastic. Today I wanted to address kind of what goes on in the flexible time between students’ guitar lessons Tulsa. What a student can expect if they show up early or hang out after their lesson concludes, if that makes sense. It’s not a very commonly discussed topic, and obviously the most important part of a student’s experience here is their lesson and the demeanor their instructor has and the knowledge that they can offer. But I think what a student’s experience at the music academy outside of their lesson is also an important aspect of their experience with us.

And we really want each student to know that they are valued and noticed and that we really are thrilled that they have chosen us to help them continue on their musical journey. For starters, we make every effort to greet each student at the door, whether they come through the front or side, whenever they come in. This is sort of an “all hands-on deck” role, if their instructor is free before their lesson, they will probably greet them themselves. However, our instructors often have guitar lessons Tulsa scheduled back to back, so in this case either myself as the administrative assistant, Ron, the owner of Curtis Music Academy, or, rarely, another instructor will greet the student.

If the student is early and their instructor doesn’t have other lessons scheduled before them, they will most likely just take them back into the studio that they are going to be practicing in that day. Our instructors have weekly funny questions to ask their students to start the conversation, or if it is a student they’ve had for longer, they will have a running repertoire of what to discuss and they will spend some time in casual conversation and just catching up before they begin their guitar lessons Tulsa. It is really important to us to have a personal relationship with each student, that their instructor really knows them on a personal level and enjoys getting to spend time for them and on the other hand, that each student knows their instructor as more than just a face that teaches them their instrument each week.

However, if the students’ instructor is in another lesson or is otherwise engaged, that is no problem. We have a lobby area where students and family are welcome to wait and just hang out whenever, and we generally have a selection of magazines laying around, and a collection of toys for smaller children to be entertained with. While they wait, either Ron or the administrative assistant will offer the student refreshments (there is always a variety of coffee, teas, or just water) of their choice, and will be more than happy to make them for the student and their parents if they’re there for guitar lessons Tulsa as well.

The student will be informed where their instructor is and how long they will be, and then whomever greeted the students will just make conversation with them until their instructor arrives. We always want to make our students as comfortable as possible, no matter how long they’ve been with us for. It is really important to us that each student knows and understands that we here at Curtis Music Academy care about them beyond their musical progress. We want them to feel that whenever they are at our studio (or, more recently, attending their online lessons) that they are around people who care about them and enjoy having the pleasure and the privilege of getting to spend some of their day with them, because we do recognize they have multiple other choices here in Tulsa when it comes to choosing a music teacher or a music academy.

Students are welcome to use this time to just hang out with any other students or family that may be there, or listen to some of the music being produced by the other guitar lessons Tulsa (one of my favorite parts of being the administrative assistant here is that there is always a wonderful string of piano, guitar, and vocal music to provide a soundtrack to work to). We know it can be kind of boring having to wait for it to be time for your lesson, so we do our best to make the waiting areas as fun as possible. People are welcome to wait either in our living room lobby (Curtis Music Academy is located in a renovated historic home, so the area we just as our lobby clearly used to be a living room, and it still has a fireplace and mantle), or the meeting room our staff uses (which is where the beverage stations are).

In addition to magazines and toys, we have lots of artwork and other visual decorations on our walls, and plenty of large open windows to provide as much visual enjoyment as possible while waiting for your instructor. We also have several plants growing on tables, the mantle, and windowsills. There is also often just random extra music or informational print-outs hanging around, as is common with music academies, and students are always welcome to look at these, and if they find them interesting or decide that they would like to learn to play that particular piece of music, they are welcome to take them back to their instructor when it is time for their guitar lessons Tulsa to begin.

One of the perks of each student’s learning and lesson plans being personalized to them is that there is a great deal of flexibility in what the student and instructor study together, so really the student has a great deal of say in the direction their lesson goes and what sort of material they end up covering, based on each students unique interest. So, in conclusion, feel free to arrive early for your guitar lessons Tulsa whenever you like. You can rest assured you will receive the same warm greeting you always do, and that you are welcome in the Curtis Music Academy at any time. Thank you so much for joining me.