Tulsa Music Lessons | Administrative Assistant Duties
This content was created for Curtis Music Academy
Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Curtis Music Academy podcast. Thank you so much for joining me one this hot summer afternoon. We were lucky enough here at Curtis Music Academy to get our air conditioners serviced yesterday, so it is currently nice and cool here in the studio. Today I wanted to take the opportunity to talk about my job specifically as the administrative assistant and what function I play here at Curtis Music Academy. In a nutshell, my job is to make everyone else’s day run more smoothly. I know absolutely nothing about either the guitar or the piano and would not be able to teach even a beginner Tulsa music lessons. My favorite part of the job is getting to greet and interact with students and their families before and after their lesson.
I get to greet and introduce every new student on the day of their first lesson, and have another conversation with them again afterwards about how their lesson was and if they liked their instructor, and I get to explain to them a bit more about who we are here at Curtis Music Academy. Outside of those guarantees, I get to greet repeat students if their instructor is teaching another Tulsa music lessons or doing something else when they arrive, or if I happen to cross paths with them on my way out. If any students are listening right now, there’s always free candy on the desk in the administrative office at the back of the studio, so please feel free to come and grab some.
But in general, any opportunity I have to grab tea or coffee for a student or parent, or just get to sit and chat and get to know them is my favorite part of working here at Curtis Music Academy. I get to show students and parents how much we appreciate them being here and how excited we are to have the opportunity to teach them and help them grow in their instrument. Another aspect of my job is helping new students discover Curtis Music Academy and all the awesome instructors and Tulsa music lessons we have to offer them.
There’s a lot of ways potential students find us: Google search, our YouTube videos, advertisements online, through our website, or through word of mouth from one of our other students who is loving their lessons. However, regardless of the way they find us, most students proceed to either call us to inquire further about the potential of lessons with us or, more frequently, they fill out an informational sheet on our website about themselves and what type(s) of lessons they would be interested in. After they do this, either Ron or myself will reach out to them and discuss further what they’re interested in and answer any questions they may have and work with them to find a time to schedule their $1 Tulsa music lessons so they have the opportunity to come in and experience Curtis Music Academy and decide if it is a good fit for them.
So those phone calls and logistics are generally handled by me or Ron as we try to match the student and their schedule with the instructor that we feel would best fit them in regard to which instrument they play and where they are at ability-wise with that instructor’s existing Tulsa music lessons schedule. This is always a really exciting time because we are always excited about the potential for new people to be able to experience the joys of music and being able to experience the awesome instructors here at Curtis Music Academy. In addition to adding new students to our lesson schedule, I also handle any scheduling changes, rearrangements, cancellations, all the logistical stuff of that nature.
We are always willing to accommodate cancellations or rescheduled for no charge as long as we are given at least twenty-four hours heads up beforehand (on cancellations, if we get 24 hours’ notice, we automatically refund the lesson). To put into context the amount of schedule shuffling that goes on, we generally have upwards of one hundred students shared among six instructors. So if each student and instructor requires at least one Tulsa music lessons rescheduled a month, that’s a lot of schedule shuffling. The logistics of lesson rescheduling is generally the most time-consuming part of my job just because the volume of work is so high. Another aspect of my job is general housekeeping.
Filing receipts of expenses, ensuring the studio stays clean and organized and disinfected, and making sure stocks of products like paper and Lysol and such stay full. I am also responsible, as the only person who doesn’t teach individual lessons here at Curtis Music Academy, for doing checkups with each of our students by phone or in person every few months. This is just an opportunity for me to check in with each student and/or their parents and get a sense of their feelings about their Tulsa music lessons recently, their instructor, and any recent changes or updates to their lessons, their schedule, or to Curtis Music Academy as a whole. Recently, a lot of those discussions have centered on moving lessons online during the COVID-19 crisis and how to transition back into studio lessons for those students who are ready and wanting to do so and how we will keep them safe.
But one of the benefits of these conversations is that some concerns or comments students are more comfortable saying to me if they may not be comfortable bringing them directly to their instructor in person. This allows our students to be reminded that we always value and prioritize their opinions and thoughts and allows us to constantly improve our teaching and our methods, because our students will notice and comment on things that we as instructors and administrators may never have noticed. So that’s just a bit about what I do here at Curtis Music Academy as the only non-musician employee at a music academy. Thank you so much for joining me for this episode of the Curtis Music Academy podcast.