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Is this racist or brilliant advertising? This will go out soon to parents and teachers in my areas (high end, affluent, educated area). Let me know what you think-

Asian Americans-
Have the highest college graduation rate of any ethnic group.
Constitute over 30% of Ivy League students.
Dominate many of the high paying positions in finance, medicine, academia, engineering, and business.
Almost NEVER suffer from ADHD.

Why is this happening? A groundbreaking new book entitled “Top of the Class: How Asian Parents Raise High Achievers- and How You can Too” gives us valuable insights. Learning piano is listed as one of the most important aspects of the author’s childhood education. The discipline of practice combined with the reasoning skills inherent in music gave them the ability to succeed in college, grad school, and in their demanding careers (medicine and law).

Why not give your child the “piano advantage” this summer? I am currently accepting piano students for June and July. Here are some reasons to study piano with me-

1. Flexible summer schedule- Take up to six lessons and then decide if you want to keep taking in the fall.
2. Great facilities- beautiful home studio with a Steinway grand, an organ, and a full size practice keyboard (as well as Adam “the piano cat”).
3. Variety of pieces- broadway, jazz, classical, Disney. Your child will learn to play everything from “My Favorite Things” to “Fur Elise” to “Maple Leaf Rag.”


After this, I give out my contact information.

Gladwell's Outliers would suggest that the cultural heritage is what enables achievement in piano AND the other fields, rather than the piano study leading to the other accomplishments. There's an interesting discussion on cultures with long exposure to rice farming, which teaches somewhat different types of effort and values than other types of farming do.

To be honest, were I a parent looking for a teacher for my kids this type advertisement would offend me.

Perhaps you could re-word it making all the claims about piano leading to high achievement without tying it to a stereotyped racial group.

That would still not impress me but it might be effective for some.

In general, if you have to ask if it's racist, you can assume someone will think so. I think it's great to advertise ways that music lessons can be beneficial to a child. I don't think it's necessary to bring in nationality or cultural issues in the process.

I had an interview with one parent/ student of mixed (all-Asian) culture, which included Chinese. The mother (who was not the Chinese parent) told me I would be lucky to have her son because he was half-Chinese, and I should know what that meant. When I looked at her blankly, she told me that Chinese were always best in piano. She said it in a way that seemed like she was "reminding" me, and waiting for me to say, "Oh, yeah!"

I didn't not take the student, for other reasons, but I wonder what sort of burden she's putting on him. I did not know how to answer.

I think it is important to actually read what I wrote. I didn't say that Asians are genetically more brilliant because they were asian. Rather, I said that the musical culture they expose their children makes them do better educationally and professionally.

The comment about ADHD should strike a nerve with some people. Many parents are afraid of their kids turning into "Ritalin zombies"

gregb
This my not be racist, but it is naive and has a whiff of scare tactics (ADHD bit). You don't want to project such an image.

The trick is to not be to overt. You don't want to come out and say - "Hey, your kid will be an idiot who plays video games all day and smokes pot if he doesn't play piano!" Also, you don't want to simply state "Hey, look at Tommy Chan over there, He's a doctor and he had piano when he was a kid" Instead, you want to be subtle, yet slightly controversial in your advertising. Make them feel that if they don't buy a product it will be bad (without actually saying this).

I'll let you know how this ad works.

Welcome to the forum, greg.

The problem is that most of your prospective audience will NOT read what you wrote closely or carefully, and so it is possible they could have a similar negative reaction to your ad.

Like others here, I wonder if you could not tweak your ad to emphasize the documented educational benefits of piano lessons in general and not start off with the whole "why are Asians so successful?" argument. You could later, if you want, offer as a supporting detail the importance of piano/music in Asian households and how that might be related to high achievement for Asians, without suggesting that this is your main point. jmho.

I hate this kind of misleading advertising. You're basically saying study with me, and your kid will get into Ivy league schools, get a high paying jobs, won't get ADHD, etc.

Sure if you read carefully, that's not exactly what you're saying, but I bet you're counting on people not reading your ad carefully.

I guess it depends on what type of students/parents you want to attract. I'd try to advertise to people who want their kids to learn piano.

Racist? I don't know.

Greg,

I you offer such a long text for advertising, I'm pretty certain that noone will bother to read it! I actually didn't read it through that closely. I stopped at the word "Asian Americans".

I'm not an Asian American so this doesn't concern me.

Plus I can't see any link between a 'race' and achievement, thus I'm actually a little offended by your ad.

I'd just have this bit:
'Learning piano is listed as one of the most important aspects of childhood education by the author of “Top of the Class: How Asian Parents Raise High Achievers- and How You can Too” . The discipline of practice combined with the reasoning skills inherent in music gave them the ability to succeed in college, grad school, and in their demanding careers (medicine and law). '

They can work out the rest for themselves.

Ditto what Monica said. Also, I'd add that as a parent of a child with ADHD (who has taken piano since she was 7), that line about ADD annoys me.

Monica,

I think this makes sense. Most of the others suggested that I not run the ad due to some being offended by it.

Most people don't want their kids to learn piano for the sake of learning piano. They want their kids to succeed and not wind up like one of the "bad kids."

I am not really interested in learning whether the ad is moral or immoral. Rather, I just want to get new students.

I personally don't buy the assertion that Asian are better in learning piano than any other ethinic groups, they simply just put more time and effort into it, that's all.

I do believe that playing piano helps a child's brain development in some way, but the link between (not)playing piano and ADHD is new to me.

Regarding attracting students, you could have an open house at your home studio, you need to advertise THAT well. At the party, you can play some showy pieces for the parents to see that you've got the chops, you then play some simple stuff like "Twinkle twinkle little star" and invite the little hesitant Johny and Betsy to sit on the bench to try, now this is your shining moment to show your skills in interacting with little kids. If you do well, I guarantee you would have kids sign up on the spot, and with the words of mouth, you will have a full studio in no time. Be well prepared, we all know the cliche that the first impression is the last impression.

Good luck to you!

Just thinking out loud.

And realizing how risky giving advice here is - certainly most of mine recently has not been seen as helpful. <g>

But you're advertising for students with the claim that piano leads to all sorts of wonderful side effects. Fine so far.

And you have wonderful facilities and a perfect schedule. Even better.

But, are you any good at teaching piano?

I'm thinking you might want to blow your own horn here a little - er, sorry, forgot I wasn't on the trombone forum.

Shouldn't you say something about your credentials? Maybe your education, experience, professional association membership, number of Tchaik Comp winners you've produced, the fact that you moved your Steinway singlehanded, you studied with Horowitz, whatever. Heck, if you gigged with Lawrence Welk I'd be impressed.

It might just be me, but given the style of the rest of your advertisement, that seems like a rather jarring omission.

I think that there is a study that fewer kids develop ADHD, if they are in music. I am an ADHD skeptic, by the way. I think that it is mainly caused by poor diet, too many video games, and lazy parents who don't challenge their children.

Here is the revised ad (sent on a mass email)-

A groundbreaking book entitled “Top of the Class: How Asian Parents Raise High Achievers- and How You can Too” explains why Asian Americans have the highest college graduation rates, get into Ivy League schools, almost never suffer from ADHD, and dominate many of the highest paying professions. What is one of the documented reasons for this astounding success?-Learning music at an early age.

Why not give your child the “piano advantage” this summer? I am currently accepting piano students for June and July. Here are some reasons to study piano with me-

1. Flexible summer schedule- Take up to six lessons and then decide if you want to keep taking in the fall.
2. Great facilities- beautiful home studio with a Steinway grand, an organ, and a full size practice keyboard (as well as Adam “the piano cat”).
3. Variety of pieces- broadway, jazz, classical, Disney. Your child will learn to play everything from “My Favorite Things” to “Fur Elise” to “Maple Leaf Rag.”


This ad seems better because it emphasizes what the book says about Asian success. If somebody calls me a racist, then I can just say that I am quoting a book (which was written by asians).

Far more professional sounding.

Now TimR just gave the best advice! You can do all the tricks you want in attracting students, but in the end, it is how good you are as a piano teacher that counts!

Ah. Okay, didn't realize that was your premise.

I disagree. Those are not the reasons I sent my kids to lessons, nor those of other adults I've talked to. I have a theory about why parents send their kids to piano lessons, but I don't have data to back it up.

So I'll just reword your statement above. "I, ______ (state your name) am targeting the demographic that sends their kids to piano lessons BECAUSE they believe piano will somehow magically increase their success at other of life's endeavors."

If that segment of the population of parents is large, then you may not be so far off base with your advertising style.

If that segment is small, as I suspect but can't prove, then you should consider some of the suggestions made here.

The size of that segment may vary from place to place.

You're on the right track with the approach of "identify the customer base, give them what they want." I'm not convinced you are right about that, but who knows? Kenny G did it, and he's the richest musician I know. Er, know of, I've never met him.

Tim,

That is a good question. Here is my view of advertising.

The point of an ad is not to convince someone to take lessons from you. I try to get prospective students to call me, email me, or fill out the contact form on my website. Then, during the phone call, I talk about my teaching, credentials, the success of my students, etc.

I find that too many teachers waste time by wordy ads that talk about certifications no one outside of piano has ever heard of. Nobody outside piano knows about MTNA, etc.

It's tacky. Be careful. You may not enjoy dealing with the kind of parents that advertisment attracts.