How to Choose the Best Music School Management Software for Your Business

If your music school is spending too much time on administrative tasks that could easily be automated, it may be time to find a more efficient solution.

With the right class management software, you'll be able to run your school more efficiently and focus more on the areas of your teaching business that you've been neglecting.

However, finding music school software that matches your budget and unique needs the best, can be a challenging task.

Don't know where to start? You’ve come to the right place.

In this article, we’ve outlined some of the most important features to look for in a music school management system.

We’ve also taken a closer look at some of the ways that Teach ‘n Go can make the management of your music studio or school easier than ever before.

Quick Recap: What Is School Management Software?

Simply put, school management software is an online platform or tool that is specifically designed for educational institutions.

These systems are built to help schools manage their day-to-day processes so that they can run more efficiently.

This includes streamlining the management of:

✅  Billing and invoicing.

✅  Lesson scheduling.

✅  Creating timetables.

✅  Online registration.

✅  Attendance tracking.

Therefore, the main purpose of school management software is to automate tedious processes to ensure the smoother running of a teaching business.

This gives both administrators and educators better oversight of the music school and more time to focus on delivering high-quality lessons.

Before You Begin, Make a Checklist

To help you refine your search, make a list of your school’s unique requirements and what it would need from a management tool.

In the checklist below, we’ve provided a list of questions to help you get started.

• Is it specifically designed for music schools?
• Can you use it to streamline scheduling services?
• Does it automate your processes?
• Is it easy to use?
• Will it help my music school with billing and invoicing?
• Do they offer customer and technical support?
• Do you see yourself and the management team using it in the long run?
• Is it cloud-based?
• Does it have a music teaching app to download?
• Can you afford it?
• Is it customizable?

Now, let's explore each point in detail so that you can get a better picture of what kind of software would work best for your music school

1. Designed for Music Schools

Even though there are plenty of top software options available out there, you should choose one that was designed with a music school’s needs in mind.

You wouldn’t want to go through the effort of introducing a new management tool only to find out that it doesn’t have key features needed to support a music school’s unique processes.

From class management to attendance history and tracking students’ progress, the best software allows you to see what's happening in your music school business at any time.

💡 Top Tip:

Since you need a system for a music school, the ideal software should e.g. have a 'Repertoire Tracker Add-On' feature to help you track the music your students learn and perform.

2. Streamlined Scheduling

Most music schools manage their scheduling processes with:

🗓  Complicated Excel spreadsheets.

🗓  Physical diaries or magnet boards.

Although this has worked for the past few decades, they often result in schedules becoming disorganized and difficult to keep track of.

Luckily, school management software is specifically designed to streamline scheduling.

Not only will they be able to help you schedule music lessons and manage your timetables, but in doing so, they will also make each teacher and administrator’s life easier.

💡 Top Tip:

Most online music school management software allows your business to scale with them.

This is extremely useful because as your music school grows, you'll end up scheduling more and more lessons.

Make sure that your software will be able to manage all of that in the future.

We’ll go into more detail about how important scalability is in school management software a bit later in this article.

3. Automated

If you want to boost enrolments and maintain a positive reputation, you need to be as efficient as possible. More often than not, most schools find themselves drowning in administrative paperwork.

Not to mention invoicing or sending online payments which are crucial, yet so repetitive and time-consuming.

Effective music school software is designed to automate these processes so that you can spend your time on more important tasks.

Some of the key processes you can automate with school management software include:

💪  Generating invoices and payment reminders.

💪  Tracking overdue payments.

💪  Gaining a quick overview of upcoming classes.

💪  Easily coordinating events and lessons.

💪  Creating custom class notes.

When you replace slow, manual processes with an automated workflow, you’ll end up improving student and teacher experiences, as well as boosting ROI.

4. Billing and Invoicing

One of the most important features of school management software is its ability to help administrators generate invoices and collect fees.

An efficient billing system will help minimize mistakes in the billing process and allow you to keep track of what has been paid and what is owed.

Many music school management systems also allow you to schedule payment reminders and custom fees for different students.

By automating this process, you won’t need to worry about manually sending payment reminders or forgetting to send parents their invoices.

5. Dedicated Customer Support

When looking for the right software, make sure that you check the level of support the company offers.

Reach out to their support team and see how fast they respond to your query. This will give you a better idea of how they treat their customers and whether they follow up.

Don’t forget to see if the company offers any self-help resources on their website, such as tutorials or step-by-step guides.

Not only are these resources valuable when you first implement the software, but they can also make your life much easier if you experience any technical difficulties in the future.

💡 Top Tip:

It’s also a good idea to see whether the company provides any onboarding support.

Implementing new software at a school can be daunting, but the best providers make sure that the transition is seamless and that their customers are set up for success from the start.

6. Scalability

Another important factor to consider is whether a learning management system will be able to accommodate your needs as your music teaching business grows.

As your music school gets bigger and moves forward, you’ll need tools to support your expansion—while keeping the costs as low as possible.

You don't want music school software that will struggle to manage increased student and teacher records, or be unable to schedule more lessons and events in the future.

Before making a final decision, ask the company whether their music school management software will offer the same level of functionality irrespective of student numbers or data.

This will help you avoid the pain of transferring all of your records and training staff to use a new system, only having to replace it with another one further down the line.

7. Easy-to-Use

More important than anything, music school software should be user-friendly. This key feature will save management, students, and teachers a considerable amount of time.

When software is easy to use, everyone will be able to familiarize themselves with it sooner and get the hang of using it in no time.

You may think that the more features a school management system has, the better it will serve you.

Wrong: too many features may actually make your work more time-consuming and users could end up getting confused by complex processes.

When wanting to choose the right school management software, simplicity is key.

For example, when we designed Teach 'n Go, we focused on what schools and training businesses need and left out all the clutter and complexity.

Our user-friendly platform keeps you in the loop with what's happening in your teaching business and streamlines:

📚  Lesson scheduling.

📚  Class management.

📚  Attendance tracking.

📚  Course pricing and billing.

8. Cloud-Based

Nowadays, we carry the world in our pockets. Everyone is looking for a mobile-friendly solution in (almost) every software.

Keep in mind that your music staff and students are always on the move, which means they need a tool to look through their schedules and get other important updates while on the go.

In addition to being user-friendly, the best music school software should be mobile-friendly and more importantly, cloud-based.

This will allow everyone at your music school to access the information and features that they need, regardless of whether they are working remotely or in person.

Cloud-based software allows music teachers to have their class notes or timetables at their fingertips, and students to know when and where they have to be for all of their lessons.

9. Cost-Effective for Music Schools

One of the most important things to consider before choosing a school management system is its affordability.

Many music schools have to navigate tight budgets and are often affected by funding cuts. This is why making sure you get the best value for money should be your top priority.

A crucial first step is to do your research and choose one with a top subscription plan at a cost-effective price.

The software should come with complete access and control over integrations in addition to all the add-ons.

💡 Top Tip:

Always read product reviews and testimonials and double-check you're paying only for the features you will be using.

10. Customizable

Every music school is unique. That's why you need to find a software solution that’s the right fit for your school’s unique processes before making an investment.

You should be able to customize the software to fit your operations and create simple workflows that management, teachers, and music students can adopt to be more productive.

This is how your school's processes will improve and you'll be able to maximize profits.

Plus, customizing your music school management software means fewer mistakes and more control over your business.

As a result, your music school will be ready to overcome different challenges and stand out from the others in the industry.

To understand how to tailor a system to fully match your music school's needs and workflow, think about the following questions:

🤔  What are our workflow needs?

🤔  Which are non-negotiable features?

🤔  How many users do we have?

Over to You 👋

Thanks to digital advances in the EdTech sector, schools can say goodbye to old ways of recording data and manually running their day-to-day processes.

With school management software like Teach ‘n Go, you’ll be able to manage everything from teacher and class scheduling, to invoices, class notes and student management.

Our dedicated student and parent portal will also help you improve communication across your music school—allowing you to spend less time on admin and more on growing your business.

As an all-in-one solution, Teach ‘n Go is able to grow with your school to meet its future needs, as well as allow educational institutions to:

🎓  Monitor, manage and assess student behavior in the classroom.

🎓  Update lesson records to ensure everyone is on the same page.

🎓  Create professional calendars for teachers and students to see their lessons in real-time.

🎓  Gain a quick overview of late payments and easily send reminders.

🎓  Send group emails or text messages.

Our software is guaranteed to make life easier at your music school and help your business nurture relationships with both existing and new customers.

To find out more about our music school software, get in touch with us today for a 7-day free trial or make an online booking for a demo.

You’ll have access to all of Teach ‘n Go’s premium features and be able to cancel at any time—no credit card required.