My Music Staff

Couldn't run my music school without it

Pluspunten:

It is extremely simple and easy to use. I only use the Students, Family and Calendar portions of it, and it serves well beyond what I need it for. So easy to view schedule and filter and organize it based on location, teacher, student, etc. i LOVE , as do the parents, the 24-hour in advance automatic reminders auto-texted or e-mailed (your choice).

Minpunten:

Besides a couple of very minor workflow impedances, it would be nice to integrate the calendar with an existing website, rather than only having the option to do so with the current website.

If you have a private teaching studio...you need this.

Opmerkingen: Overall I am super happy with MyMusicStaff. It is not an expensive tool to use and does everything I wanted it to do and a lot more.

Pluspunten:

There are a lot of things I love about MyMusicStaff but the one thing that is the best is the ability to automatically bill families in the beginning of the month. It is the greatest thing. I used to do it by remembering myself or the families and I would always feel like I am undercharging or overcharging. But this way I know that it is exactly right. It is so easy to set it and forget it and see that money coming in every month.

Minpunten:

Sometimes it seems like the software is a little glitchy. Sometimes it charges twice and you have to do some tricks to get the amount that the family owes you to be correct. When the software works, it really works well but then when it does not it is kind of a pain to get it to be correct.

Looks great on the website, doesn't it?

Opmerkingen: I was SO excited to find this service. But I've been SO disappointed in them, and can't wait to transfer everything to a new service later this year.

Pluspunten:

MMS promises to handle all of your music studio needs, from scheduling to billing to communications, and indeed, it has modules for all of those plus repertory records, lending library management, downloadable/playable resources, and even mileage. So if you want software that LOOKS like it does everything, you've found it!

Minpunten:

None of these modules seem actually to have been tested by actual music teachers. Scheduling is ridiculously complicated, especially when students want to cancel or reschedule. Billing leads to a minimum of five confused emails from parents each month because of MMS's bizarre policies regarding past-due payments and account balances. Emails cannot be sent to students and parents simultaneously—they're automatically BCC'ed, leading to confusing message threads and miscommunications. Even the lesson notes and blog features are poorly handled—they don't auto-save, so an accidental tab closure can lead to the loss of an entire lesson's worth of notes, and formatting is bizarrely non-standard. (Don't even think about cutting and pasting.)

Ideally for anyone managing a small music school

Opmerkingen: Really positive. Support staff are great and there is plenty of resources to problem solve any booking requirements. It’s nice to see that the software is still being updated and invested in which makes me hopefully for the tools it will provide in the near future.

Pluspunten:

It has features that I didn’t realise I would need. It’s the best blends of resources for music teachers and management software.

Minpunten:

The experience on phones feels clunky and difficult to navigate. All my staff use it on their phones and would prefer an app that is more condensed for just their day of teaching.

Does everything you need for a great price

Opmerkingen: I've found that the software fits my needs. I have looked around extensively to see if there is anything out there better and currently there isn't. There are similar platforms but they are more expensive. I also like how it specifically caters to music teachers rather than a generic software for all industries.

Pluspunten:

It does everything I need it to do in terms of scheduling, billing and expenses and has other features that I use sometimes such as lesson notes, file sharing, newsletters and lending library. It also has a website included, blog and online signup.

Minpunten:

It would be good if students were able to edit/comment on their lesson notes. Also if there could be a blog or newsletter that is not public but only accessible by your clients with the ability for them to comment.