Planning the Perfect Workshop
Posted on 23rd February 2015 at 14:30
Maria and the Music Workshop Company Team are gearing up for the Rhinegold Music Education Expo, which will take place on March 12th and 13th at London’s Barbican Centre. This year we’re excited to be holding consultation sessions for clients, helping you get the most out of your music workshops.
We particularly love creating bespoke projects, understanding your needs and making a music workshop that absolutely fits the bill. The finished event should be an enjoyable and straightforward experience, so we’ve put together a simple guide for anyone planning a music workshop, based on our experience of things that sometimes get missed and cause hiccups on the day!
Planning and Design
You will find that the more notice you can allow for the design and planning of a workshop, the easier it will be. We often accommodate workshops at short notice, but ideally prefer a month to prepare for a workshop. This gives us time to get to the heart of what you need and fit in with every aspect, from topic and curriculum to students, instruments and scheduling.
Who Should Call Us?
It’s easiest for us when your enquiry comes directly from the decision maker, whether that’s the Head of Music, Head Teacher or another project leader. We always aim to respond to enquiries within one working day. With any bespoke project, we plan each element to suit and it can be difficult to assess exactly what is required without speaking to the right person.
The more information you can give us on enquiry, the more detailed our proposal can be. For example, if you want the workshop on a specific day, let us know. How many groups or participants will be involved? What outcomes do you want? Is the focus on a multi-cultural day, G.C.S.E. coursework, or Arts Week, or do you want the workshop linked to a theme or topic of study?
Confirmation and Contracts
Our workshops are confirmed by email with contracts, and terms and conditions emailed out.
If you are waiting for confirmation of funding, or need time to assess the number of potential participants, workshop dates can be held for you, but workshops do then need to be booked within one month of the original enquiry.
The Workshop Space
To hold an effective workshop, we need enough space for all the participants to sit in a circle.
Remember, workshop noise levels can be quite high (particularly for Samba!) so it’s important to be somewhere where other people won’t be disturbed. It’s also best to be somewhere that others won’t disturb the workshop. This can be challenging to be in a hall at the centre of a school where people are walking in and out, so plan your workshop space carefully. However, we will always do our best to accommodate the facilities you have.
We do need to be made aware of any venue challenges. For example, if the space we’ll be using for the workshop is only accessible by stairs and there is no lift, it’s important to know so we can get any heavy equipment in place.
Fees and Invoicing
All our prices are fully inclusive and include the musicians’ time, planning, set up, the duration of the workshop, use of instruments (where supplied), travel, administration and public liability insurance.
Our quotes are valid until the end of the following academic year.
Workshops are usually invoiced after the date, but if it makes the payment process easier we can supply the invoice in advance. Payment is due within 14 days, as specified in our terms and conditions. We ask to be made aware if you are not able to meet the 14-day payment terms, which can be the case if payments for your school are issued centrally by the local authority. It is useful for us to have the contact details of the bursar or finance manager, so we can liaise directly regarding payment.
If you reach the end of the financial year with money left to spend, we can invoice you in advance for a workshop you book for later in the academic year. This means you can count the invoice in one financial year, for a workshop in the next.
Workshop Day – Final Thoughts
It’s the small things that make a difference to the smooth running of a workshop on the day, so here are a few things that help us:
Please ensure the school office know about the workshop. It can be confusing for a musician to turn up and feel they’re not expected.
Please ensure there is somewhere for the musician to unload instruments, preferably close to the workshop space.
It takes about 30 minutes for the musician to get unloaded and set up, so if the workshop co-ordinator is not able to meet the musician, please arrange for someone else to show them the workshop space and allow them to get unloaded.
Help in unloading the instruments is always appreciated.
Access to the staff room for hot drinks and toilets is also appreciated.
We look forward to seeing you at the Expo if you can make it. Meanwhile if you’d like to book a consultation or speak to us about booking a workshop, contact us for a chat.
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