Recensioni su My Music Staff

Couldn't run my music school without it

Aspetti positivi:

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).

Aspetti negativi:

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.

Ideally for anyone managing a small music school

Commenti: 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.

Aspetti positivi:

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

Aspetti negativi:

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.

Yay! MMS!

Commenti: Online and phone support & the 1-on-1 live training are excellent.The HELP area is nice. Downloads are fun and informative.

Aspetti positivi:

Calendar, ease of website design, online resources, repertoire, expenses, etc. This is a great program. I never used the "old" version, but the online complaints just remind me of the 2009 Facebook crowd whining about the new versions thru the years. We don't throw sheep at each other anymore or play Mafia wars either. lol

Aspetti negativi:

Lesson Notes: Can't add jpg PLEASE! It looks like an email template, can't be like one?Repertoire: Can't just look at final design, have to go into Edit mode. Can't add jpg. OMG, PLEASE!FONTS and SIZING and PARAGRAPHs in lesson notes AND emails. OMG why are they all over the place? If I change my mind and ctrl-x and ctrl-v, all of a sudden, everything is wonky. I can start a blank lesson note and immediately change the font size to legible (instead of teeny). If I need to insert or edit whatever, bam, it's back to the teeny font size.

Looks great on the website, doesn't it?

Commenti: 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.

Aspetti positivi:

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!

Aspetti negativi:

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.)

Best thing I did for myself and my students

Commenti: My tax returns have been made so much easier. Much less maths and fewer spreadsheets.

Aspetti positivi:

I love the way it automates everything! Everything is clear functions very well. I have found it a great way to streamline the accounting and admin side of running a one-person music teaching studio, as well as provide my students with all the info and resources they need all in one place.

Aspetti negativi:

I wish there was a way the system could automatically calculate daily mileage based on lesson location - inputting this is the most tedious part of doing admin.I also don't like that the calendar groups appointments together/doesn't space out appointments equally if there is missing time between eg. a 9am booking on Wednesday will be next to a 2pm booking on Thursday if the Thursday morning is not booked.

A Must-Have

Commenti: Overall, MMS has made organization, scheduling, and communication with studio families easier!

Aspetti positivi:

This is an all-in-one platform for running your music studio! Before finding My Music Staff, I was using 3 different spreadsheets, 2 paper notebooks, a phone to-do list, and a paper planner to run my business. MMS consolidated this down to one affordable program that is customized to the needs of a music teacher. I love it!

Aspetti negativi:

I do occasionally encounter technological issues, or notice that there is a task I would like to achieve that I do not know how to accomplish. When this happens, the answer is not always intuitive. (For perspective, I am of the millennial generation, and consider myself technologically savvy enough to independently learn most computer programs oriented for the workplace).

A phone APP

Aspetti positivi:

its nice but sometimes tedious to make changes across multiple families

Aspetti negativi:

there is no phone app for this. As I am always on the go I have to constantly login on my phone, it would be nice if you guys made an app for iPhone

Go for it

Commenti: It has made my teaching more smooth and it is clear to my parents how much they owe and whether or not their payment was received. It’s helped me be more professional, but mainly it has saved hours and hours a month collecting.

Aspetti positivi:

It is a game changer that MMS creates an automatic invoice each month for each of my students, emails parents the invoice with a link to pay electronically , and then reminds them to pay X amount of days later. I don’t spend nearly the time I did collecting money. I love it!

Aspetti negativi:

The website it includes is barebones and not very functional.

One of our greatest investments.

Commenti: Overall I am incredibly happy.

Aspetti positivi:

The software is easy to use and very convenient

Aspetti negativi:

The website it offers is not so great. I could do without it.

Amazing program!

Commenti: Incredible time saver. My private lessons studio is much more organized now that I use it

Aspetti positivi:

I am a huge fan of the automatically generated invoices. In the past I spent many hours doing these by hand every month and I always ended up with an error here and there.

Aspetti negativi:

Nothing really, however there are many features that I don’t bother with at all such as lesson notes and student communication

My Music Staff review first year

Commenti: I definitely have been having a great experience with My Music Staff. Especially their actual staff members. I spoke with [SENSITIVE CONTENT] recently and she did a phenomenal job at helping me fix my accounting issues and invoicing issues. She was very easy to talk to you she listened to my concerns and questions that I had and took time to teach me how to fix my accounting problems. I had several students accounts that had it inputs put in the wrong way for discounts etc. and she was able to quickly spot what the problems were as well as allow me the time to fix them and explain why not to do what I did before and how to properly and put the information I need to moving forward and why. I told her I think it would be nice if My Music Staff will give her a bonus to make videos on how to create invoices and teaching users how to utilize accounting and how all of the features work together to help balance out the accounting page and create invoices all of the ends and outs! She would be great at that as well!

Aspetti positivi:

It’s really kind of hard to pinpoint what specifically I like because there’s a lot of features that I do like such as being able to schedule, pull reports, upload videos for our students, upload link sent of the learning material for our students, payroll etc

Aspetti negativi:

I don’t like that I’m not able to use PayPal and stripe at the same time to except payments. I do have parents who like to pay through PayPal as well but I have to utilize a different source to receive those payments because only stripe or PayPal can be used one at a time. I wish that it was also a lot easier to understand how to utilize the invoice an account features. I have gotten pretty confused and had to call in and ask questions several times in order to really get the hang of it. It can be a bit confusing without that additional coaching to understand how to bill clients. I’ve had moments where my numbers were off because I gave an additional discount or I build them incorrectly and didn’t understand how I did it or why.

My assistant for my studio

Commenti: My experience has been great! I can't attest to the customer service as I've never had to use it! But that says something, doesn't it?

Aspetti positivi:

I really like how this software program allows me to stay organized and gives me a very professional look with my clients. From invoices to curriculum to client information to the dreaded year end taxes, I am able to keep detailed information and have it right at my finger tips when needed. My personal studio has 40 students with 26 different families to account to and communicate with. I use My Music Staff to set up a structured personal invoice system for each family, keep track of all lessons (attended or unattended), list all curriculum items each student is working on plus all festival and competition participation and results, any loaned music books I've given each student, and keep detailed notes on how each student is progressing. My Music Staff allows me to keep all my expenses (music books, office supplies, mileage, etc) in an organized, detailed system so April is no longer a huge headache for me! I also keep my waiting list of families looking to get into lessons so I no longer have the problem of the lost email or phone number when I get an opening in my studio.There are more possibilities with the program (website link, clients being able to link in) that I have not pursued yet but am looking forward to in the future. I have had a lot of comments from my clients about how impressed they are with how organized my studio is. I appreciate that this program allows me to come across as the professional I aim to be and hope to be perceived in my community.

Aspetti negativi:

I get frustrated with some of the backtracking I have to do to personalize the calendar and the invoices. But, I don't see how that would be avoided as my studio is unique and each year is different. I do appreciate that I can personalize each student and each year.

2 months in- loving it!

Commenti: The customer service is exceptional. It's really like having a 'staff.' Responses are prompt and answer the question asked, usually along with additional suggestions. The staff checks in about once a month to see if you need help with anything. They are great at anticipating what you might need. For example, during the Corona shutdown they were quick to get online teaching platforms integrated with their scheduling program. They went above and beyond by offering tutorials about getting started teaching online for those of us who had never done it before.

Aspetti positivi:

I have been using My Music Staff for a couple of months now. My favorite feature is the auto billing from the calendar. Students can change times or cancel lessons themselves which eliminates a lot of the administrative work. I love that I can email students or parents or both seamlessly. I use the online resources feature to upload audio or video customized for each student. It's easy to email notes to parents or students and also maintain private notes for myself. I also like that there is an easy check box for when students pay at the lesson. Just check the box, no need to enter a payment. I like the setting that a cancelled lesson automatically creates an open 'makeup' spot in my schedule that ask students can see and claim.

Aspetti negativi:

I offer tiered pricing for families. So the first student in a family is full priced, the 2nd is discounted, and the 3rd is more discounted than the 2nd. There isn't a good way to do that on this site. I can assign different prices per student, but if the 'first' child in the family cancels, but child 2 and 3 still do lessons, I have to manually adjust the price. I also don't like that the invoicing shows a balance owed all month long, although it does adjust as needed. For example, my students pay at the end of the month. But on the first of the month, it shows that they owe for the full month. They won't get an invoice until the end of the month, But if they (or I) check their account before then, I would prefer to see a current balance for lessons taken, not lessons taken and scheduled.

My Music Staff Falling Behind

Commenti: We've been using MMS for over 4 years now. When we first found this program it was the all-in-one solution we were looking for but unfortunately, as the years have progressed, the site has gotten much slower to work with, updates made are off-point and not helpful and the program is falling behind in offering features that are standard with others. Most noticeable is the lack of an activity feed or notification system. While other customer management and team work platforms have made this piece a base offering, My Music Staff has no way to indicate who is making changes in the database, when changes are made or a way to be notified. They occasionally roll out new features which are of little use. The Beta Attendance update, still in Beta after more than a year has more steps than the original method and makes the routine more cumbersome instead of streamlining. Despite being around since 2013, My Music Staff is still lacking an application made specifically for your phone further hindering their usability. While we'd really like to continue using this program, the lack of investment to keep up with development and customer needs puts it on the verge of being outdated.

Aspetti positivi:

Ease of set it and forget it weekly lesson management and invoicing for clients.Calendar is user friendly

Aspetti negativi:

Not responsive to feedback, input. No feed or alert for user changes in any way makes it extremely difficult to track if a teacher makes a change or someone has changed something that will impact your client's billing.The adjustments they do make seem to glitch the system at times.

You Need This in Your Life!

Commenti: Customer support is very helpful!

Aspetti positivi:

I don't generate invoices until I have my schedule set. Once I have my schedule for the month/semester/etc figured out, I create invoices and send them to parents. I love that this program makes it easy to create and send invoices based on the schedule. What used to take me HOURS now takes minutes. I also like how it tracks payments, adjustments, etc in the program so that even parents can see. No more angry parents claiming they paid when they simply forgot; they can see everything. My studio size doubled because I am so much more organized with everything. I also love that students can see notes that I've taken, assignments, download music, etc. I also send out mass messages for my upcoming concerts which is posted on the group studio page. ALSO I love that it automatically sends reminder texts and emails. I rarely have students forget to come to their lessons anymore (and when they do, I just remind them of my cancellation policy, so I never lose any dollars). I love this program. Just amazing. I will never use anything else.

Aspetti negativi:

I wish there was an phone app that would allow me to work offline. I frequently work in practice rooms that block out cell phone signal, so I can't load students' notes when I teach. Also, It took forever to figure out how to navigate through the site at first. Lastly, I wish I could figure out how to automatically send my students their lesson schedule for the month (not essential since it is listed in the invoice, but I would like to have the kids get a list of lesson times in the email).

MMS is a solid product which covers most of the bases

Commenti: MMS has made scheduling quite efficient. It is fairly easy to navigate once you get used to it. We have been using it for a long time and I know there are features I haven't even gotten to yet. I don't think we've worked with the support team much as we've been able to figure things out. I would be very interested in taking a live class if it were offered just to appreciate the full potential of the software.

Aspetti positivi:

I especially like the attendance notes. It informs our students (parents) what is to be expected at the next lesson. This is especially good for parents who are not particularly musical, to remind the child specifics of the practice material. I also like the auto reminder sent for next day classes. This gives the student an opportunity to cancel class in time to qualify for a make up class. And, if a class had been verbally cancelled, but the teacher did not log it as such, (s)he is reminded that the class has been cancelled.

Aspetti negativi:

I wish there was an entry to list the specific instrument being taught at each class. We can list the instrument in the student information section, but it'd be more convenient if it were right there on the calendar. Many instructors teach multiple disciplines and knowing which is being taught at a given class would make it easier for us to book the right room and/or the right substitute.

Music Dancing Feet Partnership and My Music Staff - Life has become easier for both staff and pupils

Commenti: The main benefit that we have found has been increased reliability of pupil attendance and an enhanced way of keeping track of lessons that need to be caught up.
It has made invoicing easier for both us as a business and for the pupils to see what they owe at a glance.
The Music Dancing Feet Partnership have been really pleased to have joined in partnership with My Music Staff, I would like to say thank you from all of our pupils and staff for making our lives easier.

Aspetti positivi:

The ease of use to link with pupils. With the ability to create lessons notes as you teach and email them for assistance with practice is a great benefit for both teacher and pupil. The Lesson reminders. the lesson reminder have a two fold benefit in that they reduce the number of no shows for lessons and ensure that pupils remember to let you know if they cannot attend to allow you the scope to offer other lessons to them and to fill their slot; it also gets a lot of correspondence to you in advance of the lesson so that you can have other material ready for the lesson in advance. Invoicing. This has proven to be a very reliable package for invoicing. Student records. A very easy way of keeping all notes up to date and to hand. Library facility I haven't had much call to use this yet but on the occasion that I have lent music out it is an invaluable way of keeping track of who has what. Blog This is an area that is looking to be exploited later in the year.

Aspetti negativi:

I have not really found any down sides to the software.

A Game Changer for All Private Music Teachers

Commenti: MMS has made running my own private studio a breeze. Everything I need for my studio is in one place, and the automation eliminates my need to spend hours at the computer or have a secretary. I can't imagine having to manage my studio any other way.

Aspetti positivi:

I love the billing process with My Music Staff! Before using MMS, I spent hours creating and sending invoices and then I would have to chase down payments every month. Now it creates and sends the invoices automatically each month and parents pay me on time, because they receive reminders and it is so easy for them to push a button and pay online. I was so surprised in my first month with MMS when parents were sending me payments while I was out enjoying my time off with family - I completely forgot that invoices had gone out already, and I was able to sit back and let MMS do all the work.

Aspetti negativi:

The only improvements that could be made to MMS is in the website section. I love the design and look of MMS, and that is one of the reasons I chose to use it. It looks so much better and it is so much easier to use than some of their competitors like Music Teacher's Helper. I even love the designs of MMS's ads on facebook and instagram, and the designs of their new printables. While the design for MMS is the best I have seen, the website template designs are not good. The designs look outdated and the personalization features are no where near Wordpress, Squarespace, or other website design companies. This issue is not a big deal breaker for me, because so many of the other features on MMS are fantastic, however it is the only section of MMS that I don't use.

Awesome software. I couldn't live without MMS!

Commenti: I've solved so many business problems with MyMusicStaff which have allowed me to spend less time on administrative work and more time teaching my students! I recommend this software to my other teacher friends all the time. This software is such a good value for the price and I love how they really put teachers' needs first!

Aspetti positivi:

The things I like most about MyMusicStaff are: - The ability for me to send professional-looking invoices to all of my students, ensuring that everyone pays me the correct amount and streamlining my billing process - The ability for students to reschedule their own lessons in the Student Portal - The ability to manage my schedule, leave lesson notes, track progress, handle billing, and use the practice timer all in one place

Aspetti negativi:

It takes a lot of time to manage on a daily basis, and sometimes it takes me several clicks to get where I need to go. For example, when navigating to the student view to view my Studio News posts, I have to... 1. Click on the 'Students' tab on the left 2. Click on one of my students' names 3. Navigate all the way to the right to where it says 'Student Portal' 4. Click on 'View As Student' 5. Wait for the student view to load 6. Click on the 'News and Blog Posts' bar And finally, see what I wanted to see. The email interface for writing emails within MMS is also a little bit weird. The user interface gets better and better all the time, though, and the staff is very good at responding to suggestions!

Much More Than I Expected!

Commenti: Part of my music teaching is done in a school that requires a rotating timetable so the students skip a different class each week for their music lesson. For years I tried communicating these times to students and parents in many ways, none of which seemed effective as there was a great deal of confusion and absenteeism. I searched frequently for some kind of notification system such as the one my dentist uses, but they were all very prohibitively expensive. One day, toward the end of 2014, one my searches turned up My Music Staff, which could send automated email event reminders for a low monthly fee. After using it for a while, I found unexpected features such as keeping track of attendance, make-up credits, lesson notes, providing downloads for students, an online student/parent portal, a sign-up widget, as well as integrated billing to be indispensable for the way I’m now able to run my studio.

Aspetti positivi:

What I like most about My Music Staff is the Lesson Notes function as it enables seamless continuity from lesson to lesson with each student, which, to me, is most the most important aspect of teaching.

Aspetti negativi:

As each feature in My Music Staff is likeable in its own way, the only reason why I like the Expense Tracker the least is because I use different accounting software and, therefore, have no need for it.

Easy to use!

Commenti: I use MMS daily and it is a crucial resource for the success of my studio. The price point is fantastic. Overall I am a very pleased customer.

Aspetti positivi:

I have used my Music Staff software for almost 3 years. I've tried other programs but I believe that MMS is the BEST resource for your money!

Aspetti negativi:

The only issues I've run into are just minor in detail. I kinda would like there to be an app and maybe a better functionality on mobile devices.

My Music Staff Simplified My Life!

Commenti: My Music Staff has allowed me to run an efficient business. Students play more because they are more engaged. Parents are happy because invoicing runs efficiently which also results in better cashflow for me as I'm not chasing people for money all the time!

Aspetti positivi:

It's incredibly easy to use and automatically allows you to present your business as that of a professional who cares about what they do. Invoicing is easy and professional and parents find it easy to pay me which makes my life a lot easier! My students love it because they they can engage with me in ways they previously couldn't allowing me to be their tutor for more than just 30 minutes a week. Parents love it because they know what's happening, can contact me easily and feel part of the child's musical journey. Plus it's really affordable. I attract and retain more students because of My Music Staff so it pays for itself.

Aspetti negativi:

I would like to be able to change the colouring of the website after logging in to match my own 'corporate' colours but that's a small thing.

My first 10 months with My Music Staff.

Commenti: Very happy to be on board. I was a member of Music Teachers Helper for more than 10 years but latterly I found that it became a little over complicated for me to follow.

Aspetti positivi:

The software was well explained and it was easy to try the basics out from the beginning. It is best to explore a little at a time initially, and gradually knowledge of optimising your system will build up, organising timetable/billing/etc concerts and parents are welcome. It is clear that help is easily at hand if you need assistance with questions.

Aspetti negativi:

I have run a website before and I was looking forward to doing it again with MMS. I’m still learning how to use all things available on MMS……and I have had some snags setting up parental access ..however I haven’t tried out all the ‘help’ yet. I have learnt to love the ‘video music”.. just

Life saver!

Commenti: Overally, My Music Staff completely streams my music teaching, making it so much easier to look up attendance, lesson notes, what repertoire they are working on or have requested, who has borrowed books, and most importantly, the invoicing saves me hours of work and has resulted in me getting paid on time - less manually chasing up parents who haven't paid. More parents are paying attention to what I have asked the students to do at home, whereas they never consulted the music diaries I used to write their assignments in. I couldn't live without it!

Aspetti positivi:

My Music Staff saves me SO much time! Automated billing and late payment reminders means I receive an income on time (and saves me hours each month when I used to manually create invoices for every student, sometimes late!), plus the central storage of notes means I don't have to rely on students bringing their music diaries along, which more often than not were forgotten at home.

Aspetti negativi:

Some aspects of the billing are fiddly and took a lot of trial and error to work out, such as trying to invoice for lesson books separately to lessons and not have the invoice coming out as already being paid when it wasn't.

Best Bang for the Buck

Commenti: One of the biggest draws for me was the price. I get a *lot* of functionality for a price that doesn't break the bank. As a (very!) small business trying to keep afloat, this means a lot.

Aspetti positivi:

I have tried many types of music studio management software; online, offline, big, little and in-between. My Music Staff is the best, hands down. The price is extremely reasonable, with no increases for larger studios. I can communicate with my students and parents easily, and put together invoices with just a few clicks. I find it intuitive, and their customer support is very helpful and responsive. I can access it on multiple devices, so my students' needs are taken care of no matter where I am. I recommend it to all music studios, large and small.

Aspetti negativi:

I wish there were more default choices, and I would like to see it a bit easier to create invoices for semester/yearly based tuition.