Email Tips and Templates
What greeting should you use? Do you address them by first or last name? Are you nervous about asking for a trial lesson? Don’t know how to negotiate for more financial aid? Want to request more information from your dream school but don’t want to sound too desperate? These email tips and templates are for you!
Some general tips:
Begin with Hello
The norm in your home country might be to begin an email with “Dear [name]” or “Greetings [name] but in my experience, the most common salutation in the States is to begin simply with “Hello [name]”. Follow that up with a sentence that acknowledges their time or schedule such as “I hope you are doing well!” or “I hope you are having a fantastic beginning of the semester”.
First or Last Name?
If you are writing a reply to someone’s email, look at what they sign off with. Does it say “Best wishes, Kathy”, or “Best wishes, Professor Gilbert”? Address your recipient with that name or title.
If you are the person who is instigating contact, err on the side of caution and address the recipient with their title and last name, such as “Professor Gilbert” or “Dr. Gilbert”. After you’ve gotten a reply, do as we suggested above!
Be Succinct
Music school faculty are often extremely busy people——they are juggling their professional performances, rehearsals, practice, commissions, administrative work, etc. along with their teaching. So, when asking for a trial lesson, be clear and to the point. This is not the place to tell them your life story——a sentence or two about your background is enough when first establishing contact. Tell them more about yourself in your lesson!
Help Them Out with Scheduling!
In your first email, list all your available dates and times for the proposed trial lesson! It might seem a tad official and transactional but your potential teacher’s hectic schedule will thank you for it.
No Reply is Normal
Don’t worry if they don’t reply. Faculty’s inboxes get easily overwhelmed during the semester and they might have simply missed or forgotten about your email! Send a short, courteous follow-up if you don’t receive a reply in a week or so… reply to your email with something along the lines of “Hello Professor [last name]! I just wanted to bump this up your inbox——looking forward to meeting you!”.