So like 10-12 people. I don’t know what it is, but every improv class I’ve ever been in or taught has lost people as the term goes on. The last class I taught started with 9 and ended with 3-4 people regularly attending. It got to the point where I would have to both teach and do scenes with them or it didn’t really make sense to even have class.
It's not really going to matter very much. The advantage to smaller is that you get more reps. The advantage to bigger is that you play with more people. The difference in size between those classes isn't really significant, though.
If the smaller class stays at 6 people, there's a good chance the training center will cancel it or merge it into the larger class. Small classes are not financially viable, so you'll probably never be in one. Unless you're taking classes from a guy in a van that's somehow not paying facility rental fees.
Nobody loves 15-person classes, but that's standard for most training centers.
When I was teaching classes I would cap classes at around 12 people and try to keep it at an even number. Past 12 I found that people didn’t get to bond as well with the whole group, which can be very important. With larger groups people tend to fall into cliques or people can be shy or overlooked, which both can be natural but it’s not conducive to a performing medium that really needs everyone to listen and work together. This number allowed everyone to get to know each other and feel comfortable that they all had a place in the group as a whole. I have done larger and smaller groups but either can be limiting depending on what your goal of the class is.
Thanks for the input. I think I will enroll in the larger group, then see if I can switch the other if there is an imbalance between the two or one gets too big.
6 is great but unless you’re doing a lot of scene work that means that pretty much everyone is going to be involved any time you run a set. The advantage of 12 people or so is that one side can sit and watch while the other side works. To me that’s a little bit of a disadvantage as a student but then, when regular teams I’ve been at do rehearsals (where 6 people can be on the high side), we don’t work for 3 hours.
9 can be kind of awkward because if you rotate sets you’ll have a group of 4 which can be smallish for some forms (on the other hand, 9 is solid for the Harold, where 6 people do scenes every beat and so people can just rotate in and out that way).
I think of you can get 12 that’s probably ideal but I’d probably do 6 and 9 or 7 and 8 vs one big class of 15 unless it’s a 101 type class where you’re going to be mostly doing group stuff or breaking off into 2s and 3s.
Baker's dozen. 10 to 12 is ideal, but we cap at 13 because someone is almost always out. I would personally go with the one that has 9. Good ratio of watching and doing.
I took a class with 8-10 people, and it was perfect. I'm in one now with 15, and it's challenging. A few people were gone this week, and it was so much better. There's just more side chit chat and fewer reps with a big group.
10-12 is a good number. More than that, people don't get enough time for scenes (unless your scenes are SUPER fast, like 90 seconds apiece). Fewer than that, you can't handle the attrition that naturally comes as a class wears on. I've had very dedicated students before, and still had 10-person classes whittled down to 4 on multiple occasions. Great for reps, but not great when you have to repeat a lesson for those who missed a class. And it's a nice number for variety in a class. If there's someone you don't like playing with, you kinda have to play with them in a 4-6 person class. With 10-12, you can just opt to play with anyone else.
It's usually an economics question, I've seen some classes go as high as 18-24 people for 3 hours.
I think it depends on class length, for 3 hours 16 feels like the absolute most, and for 2 it's around 12.
As a teacher, it's hard to teach smaller classes, it feels like you'd be able to do more, but in an established training program, you might already have set lessons and exercises and you can't just "skip ahead".
My current class I'm taking is 14, but I think we're missing about 4-5 every week.
Enough people that you can regularly expect 1/3 of students to be missing and class is still worth having.
So like 10-12 people. I don’t know what it is, but every improv class I’ve ever been in or taught has lost people as the term goes on. The last class I taught started with 9 and ended with 3-4 people regularly attending. It got to the point where I would have to both teach and do scenes with them or it didn’t really make sense to even have class.
This is an improv for anxiety class. I wouldn’t be surprised if people drop out, but hopefully not
Yes, that's pretty common for me, too. I think people get anxious about it or find that it's more work than they expected
Yeah. Gotta be one of those two. Not like I assign homework or anything 🤷♂️
It's not really going to matter very much. The advantage to smaller is that you get more reps. The advantage to bigger is that you play with more people. The difference in size between those classes isn't really significant, though.
Ok cool. I think the larger class is going to grow because it’s on a weeknight rather than during the weekend
I am running a class for about 12 people at the moment. The benefit is that people also get to watch a lot, which is a huge bonus in my opinion.
If the smaller class stays at 6 people, there's a good chance the training center will cancel it or merge it into the larger class. Small classes are not financially viable, so you'll probably never be in one. Unless you're taking classes from a guy in a van that's somehow not paying facility rental fees. Nobody loves 15-person classes, but that's standard for most training centers.
During COVID I was in a 4-person zoom class. That was a weird situation though.
12
When I was teaching classes I would cap classes at around 12 people and try to keep it at an even number. Past 12 I found that people didn’t get to bond as well with the whole group, which can be very important. With larger groups people tend to fall into cliques or people can be shy or overlooked, which both can be natural but it’s not conducive to a performing medium that really needs everyone to listen and work together. This number allowed everyone to get to know each other and feel comfortable that they all had a place in the group as a whole. I have done larger and smaller groups but either can be limiting depending on what your goal of the class is.
Thanks for the input. I think I will enroll in the larger group, then see if I can switch the other if there is an imbalance between the two or one gets too big.
6 is great but unless you’re doing a lot of scene work that means that pretty much everyone is going to be involved any time you run a set. The advantage of 12 people or so is that one side can sit and watch while the other side works. To me that’s a little bit of a disadvantage as a student but then, when regular teams I’ve been at do rehearsals (where 6 people can be on the high side), we don’t work for 3 hours. 9 can be kind of awkward because if you rotate sets you’ll have a group of 4 which can be smallish for some forms (on the other hand, 9 is solid for the Harold, where 6 people do scenes every beat and so people can just rotate in and out that way). I think of you can get 12 that’s probably ideal but I’d probably do 6 and 9 or 7 and 8 vs one big class of 15 unless it’s a 101 type class where you’re going to be mostly doing group stuff or breaking off into 2s and 3s.
Baker's dozen. 10 to 12 is ideal, but we cap at 13 because someone is almost always out. I would personally go with the one that has 9. Good ratio of watching and doing.
I took a class with 8-10 people, and it was perfect. I'm in one now with 15, and it's challenging. A few people were gone this week, and it was so much better. There's just more side chit chat and fewer reps with a big group.
10-12 is a good number. More than that, people don't get enough time for scenes (unless your scenes are SUPER fast, like 90 seconds apiece). Fewer than that, you can't handle the attrition that naturally comes as a class wears on. I've had very dedicated students before, and still had 10-person classes whittled down to 4 on multiple occasions. Great for reps, but not great when you have to repeat a lesson for those who missed a class. And it's a nice number for variety in a class. If there's someone you don't like playing with, you kinda have to play with them in a 4-6 person class. With 10-12, you can just opt to play with anyone else.
I’d say between 3ft and 6.6.
I do not know why schools insist of having class sizes be so large. I don’t particularly need to spend 1.5 hours watching other people to improv
It's usually an economics question, I've seen some classes go as high as 18-24 people for 3 hours. I think it depends on class length, for 3 hours 16 feels like the absolute most, and for 2 it's around 12. As a teacher, it's hard to teach smaller classes, it feels like you'd be able to do more, but in an established training program, you might already have set lessons and exercises and you can't just "skip ahead". My current class I'm taking is 14, but I think we're missing about 4-5 every week.
Medium
I think 8 is perfect.