Why I Stopped Making Kids Earn Their Way Into a Band | EP 293

In today's episode, I talk about something your teachers probably do hundreds of times a week without thinking twice: they stop the music. It looks like good teaching. But after a conversation with Kelly Bennett from Valencia School of Music, I'm starting to wonder if all that stopping and correcting takes away one of the most important skills a young musician can learn, which is how to recover from a mistake and keep going. Key ideas from this episode: In a private lesson, it's start, stop, correct. In a band, time keeps moving, and that changes how kids learn. Making a mistake and recovering from one are two very different things, and we underestimate the second one. Kids naturally sync up with each other, often without a single word of instruction. Repetition through looping can do a lot of the teaching for you. Private lessons are valuable, but maybe they shouldn't be the default starting point for every child. In this episode, you'll learn: Why a kid who gets lost in a band and jumps back in may be learning more than a kid who gets corrected in a lesson What happened when I put two beginner drummers in the same band (I expected a nightmare) How "the almighty loop" gets kids locked into the groove without the teacher saying anything A simple way to gamify repetition so kids beg to play the same four bars 17 times Six things your teachers can try before they stop the music A quick listening exercise you can do outside your lesson rooms this week that might change how you see your school davesimonsmusic.com

In this episode, I break down why the group class pitch that makes perfect sense in your head falls flat the second it comes out of your mouth on a call. It's not your program. It's timing and messaging, and most schools get both wrong before they even realize it. Key ideas covered: Why every parent already has a "movie" playing in their head before they call you Why explaining your group class too early kills the sale The exact questions that get a parent to reveal what they're really buying Why arguing for group classes is the fastest way to lose the sale entirely In this episode, you'll learn: The one question to ask before you ever mention group classes on a call How to find the real emotional reason a parent is calling your school, not just the surface reason The single line that gets a parent to want your groups more than private lessons Why "does this sound like something your child would enjoy" beats "are you ready to sign up" How to remove risk from the decision without discounting your program The business math behind group classes that most owners never run davesimonsmusic.com

For years, I had one problem at my music school that drove me crazy. I could always tell which kids were most likely to quit, and it wasn't the ones who hated music. It was the ones who never got the chance to feel like a musician before they ran out of patience. In this episode, I break down why bands keep kids enrolled in a way private lessons never will, and why I built an entire program around putting total beginners in a band on day one. A few of the ideas we dig into: Why bands create identity in a way private lessons simply can't The real reason kids quit lessons before they ever make it to a band How I redesigned songs so a total beginner could contribute in their first rehearsal Why "fun and engaging lessons" might be the wrong thing to be selling In this episode, you'll learn: Why the kids who need a band program the most are usually the ones who never make it there How to design a beginner band experience that doesn't require months of lessons first A simple songwriting shift that lets kids of very different skill levels play together successfully Why giving a child a sense of ownership over a song changes how attached they are to the program How a band program can quietly solve three different problems in your school at once Why your marketing might be undercutting your own private lessons without you realizing it

In today's episode, I sit down with Kelly Bennett, co-owner of Valencia School of Music in Westfield, New Jersey, to talk about something a lot of school owners get wrong about their youngest students. Kelly has been running her Kidzrock program since 2019, and right now she has around 40 kids enrolled with another 15 to 20 sitting on a waitlist. We dig into exactly how she built that, and honestly, about ten minutes into this conversation I was taking notes on my own program. Here's what we cover: Why Kelly stopped selling music lessons and started selling something completely different The phone script her staff uses to redirect private lesson calls toward the right program Her "1000 eyes" approach to marketing without a big ad budget Why time never stops in a group class, and what that teaches kids that private lessons cannot The real reason classes stay empty, and it's rarely the program itself In this episode, you'll learn: The exact reframe that changes how parents respond to your pitch, and why "we sell lessons" is the wrong message A simple phone tactic to guide families toward the program that actually fits their kid's age How to build guerrilla marketing that costs nothing but consistency The teacher training timeline Kelly swears by, and why three months beats three days One phrase Kelly has every class memorize that changes how kids handle mistakes Why the real fix for empty classes is rarely the curriculum davesimonsmusic.com

In this episode, I talk about something that completely changed how I run my music school: the war room. If you've ever felt like you're constantly reacting instead of actually leading your business, putting out fires instead of planning ahead, this one's for you. I break down why that reactionary mode works fine when your school is small, and why it starts to fall apart as things get more complex. Then I walk you through the exact system I use to fix it, and no, it's not another app. Key ideas covered in this episode: Why reactionary management feels fine early on but becomes a real problem as your school grows The difference between the "digital front lines" of your business and true strategic thinking A simple three-part notebook system for organizing every project on your mind Why mixing growth projects with operational ones keeps your business balanced instead of burned out In this episode, you'll learn: How to do a full brain dump of every project you've been avoiding, and actually make sense of it A simple way to use AI to sort your messy notes into clear business categories How to estimate time for any project so it stops feeling impossible to start The exact method I use to decide which project to prioritize each week Why physically leaving your school once or twice a week sharpens your thinking How to build a habit that protects you from burnout before it happens

In this episode, I talk about something that happens in almost every music school at some point. A great teacher, sometimes your best one, tells you no. You ask them to take on something new, and they push back, and it catches you off guard. I dig into why that happens, and what it actually reveals about the kind of leader your teachers think you are. Because a "no" is rarely about the task itself. A few of the key ideas I cover: Why asking a teacher "would you like to do this?" almost always gets you a no The difference between the barbershop model and a mission-based music school Why respecting boundaries isn't always the full answer How to ask for something in a way that actually gets a yes In this episode, you'll learn: Why your best teacher saying no might be a leadership problem, not a personality problem The exact question that turns a request into an obvious no every time How to tell if you're secretly running a barbershop instead of a mission-based school A simple mission statement framework that changes how your team responds to you Why being a stronger leader has nothing to do with being stricter What to say to a teacher instead of "would you like to," so they actually say yes davesimonsmusic.com

In this episode, I sit down with John Kozicki and Mandy York, hosts of the Rock School Proprietor podcast, and we get into something every music school owner deals with whether they realize it or not. How do you keep growing when your teaching philosophy and someone else's look nothing alike? John runs a punk rock brick-and-mortar school in Detroit. Mandy is a classically trained Music Together licensee. On paper they should not get along. In practice, they have built a friendship and a podcast around learning from each other, and I think their conversation will change how you think about your own studio. Here is what we cover: How two studio owners with completely opposite backgrounds found common ground Why parents deserve ongoing education, not just a sales pitch at enrollment Whether the traditional lesson approach should really come first What to do when a big franchise moves in down the street Letting go of guilt around pricing and profit In this episode, you'll learn: Why treating parents as students too can transform how families understand the value of lessons A simple reframe that helps kids fall in love with playing before you ever hand them a method book Why panicking when School of Rock or Bach to Rock opens nearby is the wrong move, and what to do instead How group and ensemble experiences build musicianship in ways solo lessons cannot The mindset shift that lets you stop feeling guilty about running a profitable school Why your business itself can be one of the most creative things you ever build davesimonsmusic.com

In this episode, I sit down with Brady Davies, who went from teaching zero instruments himself to building nine music schools and eventually merging his company with Ensemble Performing Arts. We talk about the moment his wife brought 80 piano students into their living room, the pricing mistake that cost him money for years without him realizing it, and the churn numbers he now watches like a hawk to keep his schools healthy. This one is for any school owner who feels maxed out, unsure if it's time to expand, raise prices, or bring in more help. Brady doesn't sugarcoat the hard parts. He talks openly about the fear of signing his first lease, the friction he and his wife worked through as business partners, and the belief he had to unlearn about what a music school could actually be worth. A few of the big ideas we cover: Why being at full capacity is a sign you're underpriced, not a problem to solve with more square footage The smarter way to test a new location before sinking money into a full buildout How tracking churn, school-wide and teacher-by-teacher, reveals exactly where you're losing students Why the strongest loyalty a family can have isn't to a teacher, it's to your school's culture In this episode, you'll learn: How to test a price increase without scaring off your current families A simple way to open a second or third location without betting the farm on it What churn rate actually signals about your teachers, and how to fix it before it costs you students Why credentials don't always predict which teachers keep kids enrolled How to build the kind of loyalty that makes it hard for a teacher to poach your families What it really takes to step back from the day-to-day and let your school run without you davesimonsmusic.com

In this episode, I talk about the real reason so many students quietly lose interest in lessons, and why it has nothing to do with talent, motivation, or how good the teaching is. I share the story of a student named Marcus, a kid who went from showing off Queen bass lines to watching the clock, and what that pattern taught me about a structural problem hiding inside almost every private lesson. If you've ever had a parent tell you their kid "just won't practice," this episode gets at what's actually going on underneath that. Key ideas covered in this episode: Why better teaching, better communication, and practice incentives don't fix declining engagement The real difference between kids who stick around and kids who quietly fade out Why most "group classes" aren't actually solving the problem they think they're solving How reframing the very first lesson changed retention at my own school In this episode, you'll learn: Why a private lesson is one of the most intimidating settings a young beginner will ever walk into, and what that means for retention The one shared trait among the students who kept showing up prepared, without being nagged Why most group classes are secretly just "six private lessons happening in the same room" A simple shift you can make on day one that changes how a beginner experiences their first months of lessons What changed for my students the moment they had a real performance instead of a recital How this approach became a referral engine without me ever asking for referrals davesimonsmusic.com

In today's episode, I talk about the moment I realized the biggest obstacle to student retention was never the child's effort. It was the model I built my whole school around. I share how I stumbled onto the fix almost by accident, while trying to solve a completely different problem in my studio. Here's what I get into: Why music lessons are the only youth enrichment activity built around a homework requirement The real difference between adult accountability and peer accountability, and why it matters so much for a child's motivation The accidental discovery that came from trying to serve kids under seven How repositioning the private lesson as a destination instead of a starting point changed my retention and my bottom line In this episode, you'll learn: Why the practice problem was never really about practice at all What every other youth activity understands about motivation that most music schools miss How a program I built to solve a completely unrelated problem ended up fixing my biggest retention issue Why I was nervous to tell parents there was no at home practice requirement, and why it became my strongest selling point How shifting to a group first model helped solve my teacher shortage without me even trying A simple structural shift you can make in your own school to build identity, community, and retention from day one davesimonsmusic.com