celinelam12

[celinelam12]

My ninth week at Nousound Academy (final)

Image: Piano lessons with Kaia (left) and Alex (right)

Tasks and assignments for the week:

Assist with administrative duties at front desk:

Communicate and follow-up with clients

Schedule lessons

Update database and internal trackers

Generate invoices

Administer POS (Point of Sale) system transactions

Convert trial leads into new customers

Internship Overview:

Gone through Overview of Internship with supervisor

Internship Experience Reflections

My internship at Nousound Academy has been one of the most rewarding and motivational experiences I have had during my time as a student at LASALLE College of the Arts. I connected with my students, supervisor and other colleagues , all of whom supported my growth as a teacher.

With such supportive mentors, this experience has helped me grow a lot. Because of the lessons I learned not only from my supervisor and fellow colleagues, but from my students, too, I am confident that I will continue to grow and develop professionally in my personal endeavours.

Throughout my internship experience, I was able to develop and foster a truly positive and compassionate learning environment for my students, all through the support and mentorship of my supervisor. I was taught to deliver my class through the lens of a child and deliver it with more empathy such as by breaking things down. At first I doubted the validity as I was given the most extreme cases during briefing. Over time, I have learnt that the skill of breaking down really helps. Because I was given the most extreme cases scenarios, in the future I will be prepared .Through the application of organisation through coming up with lesson plans, consistent and vigorous practice of drafting them by  thinking conceptually, my piano teaching management skills has increased greatly, helping my future lessons with my students. Additionally, my development both planning and delivering of effective lessons and assessments directly impacted the musical developmental skills of my students.

Through engaging activities and methodologies for supportive learning, my students were able to make significant gains in their musical learning. I am confident in my delivery of  lessons, and my own growth and development. I would not have the knowledge of skills I have today if it were not for my internship experience with my students and supervisor, and I look forward to where my career in education and maybe a music corporate/management position perhaps will take me in the future.

Knowledge and experiences gained from Nousound internship

1. This whole experience feels more like a music business and teaching internship. This internship was what I hoped for as I wanted to learn more about a music business and I gained first hand experience when I worked with the different departments and got involved in every small detail – I get a much better idea now what it is like to manage a music business . Before taking on this internship, I was always interested in music business and  entrepreneurship but I am not familiar with the ins and outs in a business setting. No matter which department/area I was tasked to do for the day, which was different each day, I was helping to run a business. Ultimately, it is an opportunity to transition from a student to a professional. The skills I have gained in this internship are beneficial – a lot of soft skills, regardless of which industry I work in, soft skills are especially important. I have learned so much to take with me to future music jobs.

2. Doing this music internship helps make me feel more confident about my knowledge and abilities as I reach out to potential employers later. Keeping a record of all the tasks I did during my music internship, I could later include them in my CV. I was surprised by just how much I have learned by the end of this internship.

3. I’ve met many new people and have widened my circle of connections through networking. People I work with during my music internship will be obvious industry connections. The people I have worked with all have years of experience, when passed down to me, is invaluable.

4. With a music internship , I have gained hands-on experience. This experience will help me to shape which direction I want to take in my career.

Testimonials:

Images: 1. Alex's mum testimonial , 2. Kaia's (6 yr old) testimonial, 3. Rupa's (40 yr old) testimonial

Google Drive link for all my internship materials can be found below:

[celinelam12]

My eighth week at Nousound Academy:

Image: Front desk admin work

Tasks and assignments for the week:

1.Assist with front-desk administrative duties

Communicate and follow-up with clients

Schedule lessons

Update database and internal trackers

Exams applications

Update information on teachers’ profiles

2. Formulating lesson plans

Develop an eight-week piano program for young children

3. Presentation for employer

Conduct mock trial lesson

4. Presentation for internship supervisor

Prepare for end-of-internship review

My role as front desk administration: Reflections on the past 6 weeks

My struggles:

I needed to have a foundation in the very latest skills required for the modern music school business. I need to be quickly familiar and learn how to use the current systems in place such as keeping track of multiple sheets at once, completing complex processes and procedures like lesson scheduling systems (Google Calendar, Google Sheets), registering students (Trial form - Google forms), handle payment and sales of books/ instruments (Waive, NETS machine), check inventory and ordering of materials.

Crafting text messages to customers. I had to put a lot of consideration into the wording of the text messages that I sent out to customers. I had to try multiple times to get better at it. As admin, I was to assist with administrative duties at the front desk in front of my sales and marketing supervisor. Many times, the text I drafted out had to be corrected as it could be further improved. I had to word things differently, pay attention to tone and phrasing, and strike a good balance - taking a friendly yet firm tone.

Multi-tasking: I had to learn to juggle customer service activities and administrative tasks (refer to point 1) when you’re constantly being interrupted. When I go back to the task, I cannot lose track of details and forget something.

Being admin has taught me several things and its role it’s not to be underestimated:

Communication: How to communicate with customers- how to word things differently/phone (crafting text)/face to face, taking a friendly yet firm tone. Putting yourself in the customer's shoes. To understand information quickly and accurately, be a good listener, provide clear and concise information to the customer and be empathetic and respectful

Problem-solving skills: Learn to Multitask-juggling customer service activities and administrative tasks when you’re constantly being interrupted and react accordingly in the moment in a high-pressure environment. This brings me to my next point.

Being organised and detail orientated. I need to ensure that despite being interrupted constantly, I cannot lose track of details and make mistakes.

An understanding of the bigger picture – the entire music school eco-system. In music, we can’t work in isolation. It’s vital to know what every sector does, exactly why they do it, and the methods they employ to do it so successfully. As admin, I’ll have to liase with various departments and organisations to get a task completed such as checking with a teacher on their schedule etc.

Reflections:

As an intern I get a sort of a behind the scenes insight into the music school industry. I learn all the processes involved, learn all the different tools used, start with making customer’s interaction, promotion, planning music camps, all the things involved when running a music school, etc... Even if some of the administrative work can be mundane at times, it is useful to know what needs to be done. Being an intern for a music school usually means you get to participate in all the events taking place, this is the fun part. I won’t be as naive as before about the music centre business. This internship will definitely benefit me in the bigger picture

With the experience, guided by professionals, of putting those skills into action, I may be able to demonstrate transferable skills in event management, organisation, time-keeping, and leadership.

Internship Overview (Presentation for supervisor)

Image: Internship Overview

[celinelam12]

My seventh week at Nousound Academy

Tasks and assignments for the week:

1.Administrative duties

Communicate and follow-up with clients

Schedule lessons

Update database and internal trackers

Assist with administrative duties at front desk

Research latest COVID-19 news & regulations

Exams applications

2. Formulating lesson plans

Develop an eight-week piano program for young children

3. Piano Teaching

Conduct piano lesson

1. Compiling melodies (continuation of 8-week program)

I am tasked to start compiling a shortlist of specific melodies/tunes that can be useful as a library to be applied to the 8-week program that I have worked on previously (week 4). Based on the steps involved in my 8-week program, I have to determine what are the preliminary melodies/turns which would be useful for enhanced application of the 8-week program. I derived the melodies from nursery rhymes and used excerpts and short phrases. In addition, I composed short phrases based on what I think can be useful for kids to learn as stepping stones throughout using Musescore. The idea here is to make the learning fun for the children yet substantial. Instead of simply telling them to learn Do Re Mi, or play mundane exercises up and down the scale, better to let them exercise/practice their technique via familiar/pleasing tunes that can ignite/inspire their senses.

I labelled the steps in accordance to my 8-week program. Step 4 is teaching the Musical Alphabet. I do that by introducing the notes incrementally and provided many examples to teach the notes in a different way each time (ascending/descending/different rhythms).

I had a specific plan in mind on how to approach teaching musical alphabet. This is building upon my 8-week outline. First, I want to start off with teaching notes CDE, followed by C5 finger scale, teaching FGAB, then introducing skips, going further then C5 finger scale notes such as treble A and B and high C. Finally, scales is the last step.

List of Melodies:

Image: Eight-week melodies compilation.

[celinelam12]

My sixth week of internship at Nousound Academy

Training, tasks and assignments for the week:

1.Assist with administrative duties at front desk

Communicate and follow-up with clients

Closing sales

Administering trial lessons

Student registrations

Lesson schedulling

Update database and internal trackers

2. Develop an eight-week plano program for young children (continuation)

3. Piano teaching

Conduct relief lesson

Piano Lesson:

Image: Piano lesson with Alex

I remembered the insights learnt in the first week (learning styles in week 1) and applied throughout the weeks in my classes with Alex. Through my observations, Alex is a kinaesthetic learner. She learns best by taking notes in a creative manner, she would often rewrite the notes, and I encourage her to identify patterns, circle them, and read her notes out loud.

[celinelam12]

My fifth week of internship at Nousound Academy

Training, tasks and assignments for the week:

1.Processes for exams applications

2.Sales/Payment processes

Closing trials & securing sales

3.Take over administrative duties at front desk

Exams applications

Lesson scheduling

Confirm schedules with clients

Update database and internal trackers

4.Research latest government grants applicable to the company

5.Piano Teaching

Conduct piano lesson

Searching for grants for Small and medium-sized enterprises (SME):

I was briefed on the grants that the company has applied for in the past. I have to do research and consolidate new grants or scheme that the business is eligible for.

These are what I found:

[celinelam12]

My fourth week of internship at Nousound Academy

Training, tasks and assignments for the week:

1. Government grants applications

Research latest government grants applicable to the company

2. Sales/Payment processes

Sales funnel (Website)

Closing sale

Promotions & packages

Going through pricing/promotions/terms

3. Essential customer service skills (responding to clients)

Assist with front desk administrative duties

Assist with handling customers

Send out notifications and reminders

Edit response templates

E-mail invoices

4. Lesson scheduling

Following up with trials conducted

Procedures for cancellations

Rearrange lessons schedules

5. Updating attendance trackers

Track attendance

6. Formulating lesson plans

Develop an eight-week piano program for young children (continuation)

7.Piano teaching

Conduct piano lessons online

Conduct piano trial for a young child

8.Social Media Marketing

9. Assist production of in-house curriculum

I got feedback on:

Eight-week piano program (continuation)

Internal calendars/schedules

1. Before (week 2):

After feedback:

Image: Outline of steps for a beginner pianist

My thought process in creating this outline:

I first think of the basics concepts that I would need to impart to my students. Firstly, I will introduce finger numbers. Secondly, key groupings (black and white keys). Third, adopting the proper rounded hand shape. Fourth, teaching the musical alphabet. Fifth, teaching them basic rhythm and counting using clapping exercises. Finally, with all the skills imparted so far, play a complete melody (final goal).

2. Social Media Marketing

Image: National Day EDM

The school often creates a holiday special Electronic Direct Mail (EDM) for their Instagram posts. This time, I helped create a National Day EDM for the Nousound using my new found knowledge of Adobe Photoshop.

[celinelam12]

My third week of internship at Nousound Academy

Image: My first piano zoom class

My tasks and assignments for the week were:

1.Formulating course/lesson plans

Develop an eight-week piano program for young children (continuation)

2. Piano teaching

Conduct first piano lesson online

3.Planning

Assist with work on school’s internal calendars/schedules

4.Sales & Marketing

Cover Sales & Marketing Associate's role with supervision

5.Social Media marketing

Assist production of in-house curriculum

I got Feedback and Review on:

1.Formulating course/lesson plans

Eight-week piano program

2.Planning

Internal calendars/schedules

1. Pencil down data on school's internal calendars: Knowing when to plan music camps (during school holidays)

Step 1. I was instructed to print out a template of the school calendar provided to me. Next, I have to research on all dates of international/local school vacation and public holidays, organise them to find out the commonalities. I had to gather international school holidays as the school had many international students.

These are the dates I've jotted down:

Image: International school holidays (Jan-Feb)

Step 2. After consolidating all the relevant info (in step 1) , pencil it all down onto the school Calendar 2022 (print-out).

This is what I have gathered and annotated:

Image: Nousound Academy's Calendar (2022)

Step 3. Finally, I present to my supervisors and the higher ups so they can decide whether they want to permanently create a new version of the calendar including all/some of the data that I have collected.

There were some challenges I faced:

1. Not knowing how to present the information in a non-messy way. Because there were so many international school holidays overlapping, it is hard to mark down every single information on the calendar. Hence, I brought it up to my supervisor and we decided to use colour coding to group the commonalities. I drew arrows to point to a box that lists down the names of all schools.

2.I had trouble gathering some of the data for international school holidays for 2022 as it is nor released that early yet. I have to make do with all the information I can gather.

I was told this info is important for:

1. Planning purposes

The school will know when to plan music camps ( such as during school holidays)

2. Sales tracking

When tracking, it's good to know why there are less people registering for lessons that month - if the school is aware that it is a holiday period and most are away, it would explain the lower register rate/sales that month etc.

2. Piano teaching

Handover of students:

To make sure the handover was a smooth process, I had to attend zoom session with the previous piano teacher and introduce myself to Alex (my new student) a week pior the first lesson to get my student familiar with me. I conducted my first piano zoom lesson this week.

Before the lesson, the teacher had shared with me her teaching notes:

Image: Teaching notes for Alex

Secondly, I had to send a text that introduces myself (teacher) to the parent, in addition the zoom link:

These are the materials the previous teacher had used, I had to continue on teaching Alex from here:

Sitting in on the zoom observations lessons in the first two weeks has helped me learn how to position the camera and conduct my first piano zoom class smoothly. I remembered and applied the insights learnt in the first week such as zoom positioning, getting digital materials ready before class etc.

Different customer base: Different expectations

In addition, I was also briefed in the first few weeks that we have a different customer base here which consists of mostly expats. Most of the students learning music here come from different countries such as Korea, Sweden, UK, Scotland etc. There is a wide variety. Combining my previous experiences, I have learnt that different customer bases have different expectations. Compared to my past teaching environment where I have taught only local students and communicated with local Singaporean parents, the expectations were different. Singaporean parents are more concerned with the piano examinations and how quickly their child could get there. It is not to say expats have looser or less strict expectations. Expats are concerned in seeing incremental progress after each lesson and are invested in their child's growth in the process of learning music. The primary importance to them is that their child can get along with the teacher well. It is the number one thing for them when assessing during trial, if they would like this teacher for their child, that their child has a rapport with the teacher. They are unlikely to force their child to learn piano and it is important to them that their child has a passion for music and the teacher is able to cultivate that. This new experience is useful to my teaching career as now I have experience in teaching and communicating with both local and expat students and parents. I will know how to cater and adjust to both customer base needs now that I have experience teaching both local and expats students and parents.

[celinelam12]

My second week of internship at Nousound Academy

There are a few aspects of my daily schedule which includes training, tasks and observation. Training is the segment where my respective supervisor for a department will teach me what I need to know. Tasks is the segment where the supervisor would task me to apply what I have learnt. Observation is the part where I sit in to watch how senior teachers conduct their lessons. Some times the supervisor might do some class simulations to teach me reliable ways of engaging students as their teacher.

Training, tasks and assignments for the week:

1. Formulating course/lesson plans

Outlining course plan for prospective customers

Develop an eight-week piano program for young children

Outline a trial lesson for piano

2. Methods for teaching piano

Discuss objectives and methods for piano curriculum

Develop and structure piano curriculum

3. Administrative:

Tracking attendance

4. Social media marketing & creating in-house curriculum materials for the school

Social media platforms (Broadcasting)

Create an Instagram post using Photo Shop

5. Standard Operating Procedures

Procedures for opening and closing

Research latest COVID-19 safe management measures

6. Lesson scheduling

Internal calendars/schedules

Customer Service (WhatsApp) Receiving messages/inquiries Response management Formality, phrasing, and tone

Observations/Simulations:

Online class observations

Condense and discuss

Trial lesson simulations

I got Feedback and Review on:

Eight-week piano program

1. My first assignment: Develop an eight-week piano program for young children

My first assignment was to reflect and research what I thought would be the most essential first step that a young child needs to learn on piano.

I had to Imagine pitching an 8-week and 12 week/lesson piano program for young beginners (aged 4 to 6). By the end of that 8-week program, I need to demonstrate to the parents that all the essential basic piano skills have been imparted successfully to the child.

If one of my short-term goals would be for the kid to play a simple melody using all the fingers on right hand, what would I think are all the little things which need to be taught to that child first, so that they can fully grasp the concept of and achieve that goal of using all five fingers to play Do-Re-Mi-Fa-So?

This was what I’ve submitted. I did the 8- week lesson plan according to how I was taught during my training in my previous company. I also completed the 12-week lesson plan during the discussion of objectives and methods for piano curriculum with the guidance of another piano teacher:

Image: 8 & 12 week lesson plan

The feedback I’ve gotten:

I had to learn how to pitch a piano programme to a parent in a more convincing manner. I have learnt today that I cannot do so by simply showing them an eight-week lesson plan filled with technical terms as they may not understand it. I have to pitch in a more understandable way by simplifying and focusing on the goals and objectives instead. For example, change how I write – “Introduction to parts of the piano” to a specific goal -“Get the child acquainted and comfortable with the piano”.

The lesson plan that I have done up to this point is still useful and more for teacher’s reference/teacher’s notes but not for pitching to a parent. I was expected to continually fine tune my lesson plan. This time, I was to make another lesson plan, this time trial lesson plan, following the feedback given.

2. Trial Lesson Plan:

I was to do a simulation of the lesson plan and demonstrate how I would execute this with my supervisor. I was commended for my good work for the newest version of the lesson plan as I applied the concepts I have learnt in the first week of my internship such as giving out simple instructions to follow, and making a solid lesson plan that I could tweak according to each child’s needs.

In addition, I was lucky to be given an opportunity to conduct a short introductory piano lesson to a child beginner after creating this. This gave me a real-life chance to try out the trial lesson plan I have crafted.

3. Social media marketing & creating in-house curriculum materials for the school

I produced in house curriculum materials for the school:

Image: Billionaire ukulele score

I have learnt how to use Adobe Photoshop. It was my first time learning it and I am glad that I was taught how to during my internship. I learnt to use Adobe Photoshop to create lead sheets, insert lyrics and chords for ukulele, and then add and edit images to make it colourful and bright, so that it is visually appealing for the kids. Photoshop would be useful for me when I want to make my own scores in the future.

[celinelam12]

My first week of internship at Nousound Academy

My internship began on the 2nd of June. I was to report to work five days a week at a music school called Nousound Academy.

During my orientation, I was briefed on my schedule and the roles of my internship. I was told that I would be shadowing a different staff member each day.  I learnt about how the respective departments within a music school work including piano teaching, sales and marketing, inventory and procurement of materials.

I was briefed on :

1. Workflows and procedures including: -

Sales procedures and price listings

Scheduling lessons

Trials and Registration on Google calendar, Google forms

Procedures for opening and closing

SOPs

House rules

Sanitisation (COVID-19)

Managing inventories

Housekeeping matters

2. Essential customer service skills

3. Client incentive programmes

4, Communication skills for conducting successful trial

5. Formulating lesson plans

6. Methods for teaching piano

All these are important as they are a key part of administrative duties which I will be doing.

Additionally, I will be in charge of social media marketing and creating in-house curriculum materials for the school.

I am expected to do note-taking and journaling throughout my internship. At the end of each day, I have to submit daily internship reports that details my progress and activities. I got frequent feedback on the first week on my reports, and had learnt to create a more concise way of reporting. This is an important organisational skill that I could carry into many different areas professionally.

Through sit-in classes,  I got to train with senior teachers. The purpose is to find inspiration in different pedagogical approaches, incorporate ideas and hone my personal teaching style. Because the first two weeks of my internship coincided with the circuit breaker period (online phase), I was to observe online lessons on Zoom. At every end of each class, I had discussions with the respective teacher on what I have learned and observed.

Piano Teaching

Key Insights

Some key insights I’ve gleaned in regards to teaching are the different learning styles and the usefulness of creating a student profile. Below are my observations understudying a teacher conducting zoom lessons.

Piano teaching via zoom: The challenges of teaching piano via zoom.

Children can be broadly divided by their learning styles

1. Audio

If a child is an auditory learner, the teacher can prepare YouTube videos on zoom to keep them engaged.

2. Visual

When the teacher presents a score on zoom, visual learners tend to lean forward and peer at the screen with interest. Without materials presented, they get bored and distracted easily. The teacher needs to have scores ready on digital formats and be ready to ‘share screen’ anytime during the lesson. This will all be a smooth process if a teacher has prepared the digital resources in advance for ease.

3. Kinaesthetic

Conclusions:

It was very hard to conduct music lessons over zoom for young children. The challenge of online classes was that it was difficult to sustain a child’s attention. Hence, I have learned that we have to consider the learning style of each child. Are they visual, auditory, or kinesthetic learners?

My observations were that online lessons require a lot of navigating around. You have to teach and toggle between different pages, sharing scores or videos. That can be distracting to the teacher as it's too much multitasking to juggle navigating and being present when teaching.

How do we improve this? By creating different student profiles and being prepared in advance for lessons. With many students, it is easy to lose track of such specific information of each student’s learning style. I could adopt a similar practice of teachers here who use Google Sheets and use it as my own teaching notes.

Sales and marketing (How I market myself as a piano teacher)

Briefing : These are the key points that my supervisor has made. These are second hand knowledge.

Trial lessons: how to sell myself as a piano teacher when given the opportunity to conduct trial classes.

Sales interrelates with piano teaching. I learned communication skills for conducting successful trials, essential customer relations skills such as understanding the needs and wants of the customer, parent-teacher and student-teacher relations. All these concepts are interwoven and boils down to these:

Parents look at my ability to deliver instructions to their child effectively in addition to my technical skills.

A solid lesson plan that could be customizable according to each child’s needs is needed.

Give out simple and concise instructions for young children to follow

For example:

Clap

Say out the rhythm while clapping

Play

The learning ability and pace of each child varies widely:

For example, some children are even confused with differentiating between their left and right hand. Playing the piano actually involves some level of multi-tasking such as eyes and hands coordination. This includes playing the notes correctly while referring to the score simultaneously. This is no easy task for young children. The whole process may feel confusing and even intimidating to them as it involves different channels of their mind at the same time. The learning pace of each child is different. Therefore, the learning plan should be adjusted accordingly.

Other interesting points:

As an observer of the zoom lesson conducted by an experienced piano teacher, I have learnt how to position a camera effectively.

I had a chance to see how other music lessons (drums, ukulele, guitar) were conducted.

My observations and key take away for the first week:

More personalised experience for each child is needed. We have to make adjustments for each child, communicate to the parents and be honest about the feedback about the child’s strengths and weaknesses in order to help the child improve and also make it a good learning experience for them.

I was assigned a very good supervisor. These were the experiences he shared with me and I found these tips to be very useful. With my previous experience as a piano teacher, and what I have learned from my supervisor who has worked in the music industry for more than 10 years, I have learned through his experiences and it has added to my current knowledge. I wasn’t starting from scratch, with my previous experience that I brought with me, I believe that my learning from this internship can be faster. Given a chance to conduct a trial lesson, I will know how to apply these points.