Money Money Money

[IvoryTickler]

I am a professional pianist and trombonist and just started teaching piano.  I am charging $22 for one 45-minute piano lesson - trying to equal $30 an hour.  Is this reasonable compared to teachers who charge per semester?  I collect for all of the lessons in one month on the first lesson of the month.  How do teachers decide what to charge for lessons?  

[louellen]

How much you charge depends on where you live and how much competition there is for students.  Here most teachers get about $14 for a half-hour lesson, so that is close to your figure.  In a larger city, especially a college town, you could get a lot more.  The local guitar teacher gets $25 for 40 minutes, since he has no known competition.

You're smart to charge once a month -- saves lesson time and disagreements with parents.

Good luck!

[kateb]

Also figure out how much you are really making (if you are in the U.S.!) after Uncle Sam and Social Security take their parts.

Of course, it will be somewhat hard to do if your competition hasn't done that as well.

But a very good, extremely dedicated, talented and pedagogically gifted piano teacher should -- in my opinion-- definitely be able to make a good living at it were they to do it full time.

So, my advice would be, figure how much you would need to charge if this was your full time job--teaching 30-35 hours a week with 5 hours for planning and bookeeping--and then charge that. Take into account things such as health insurance that you would have to pay for yourself.

This system will take care of the regional/urban/rural question, since the cost of living is higher in cities.

Also--make sure the parents can hear results, which they most certainly will if you require a written excuse from a parent if the student fails to practice at least 30 full minutes 5 days a week (longer for older students.) I have instigated this rule recently, and it works wonders!!! (Students are politely asked to find a different teacher if they repeatedly come to a lesson with a written excuse.)

Kate

[julia_stewart]

Hi,

There's a great website not only sells a wide selection of piano music by mail-order, but has terrific articles all about the business of teaching piano.  You might check it out.  It's https://www.pianolane.com.

Julia

[pianoannie]

Kate, this is an interesting idea you present.  What do you do if a student arrives at lessons, did not meet the practice requirement, and did not have the written excuse?  Do you find that most parents actually cooperate with this rule?  I have some parents who generally forget to even sign the practice log, so I'm not sure they'd write an excuse for lack of practice.  But it does sound like it has some potential!!

[kateb]

I tell the parents that they need to bring one next time. Now, if the parents come in and verbally give me an excuse, I've been taking that too. The main thing is that there is a tally of how many excuses we had.

This has recently been a bit problematic in that it really stresses both kids and parents out. But I don't want to stop doing it because otherwise, the excuses can really get out of control. If anyone has an idea for a happy medium system, that'd be great!

I am very lenient with this rule during the summer months, but do plan to start it up again in the fall.

[louellen]

That is an interesting idea, the excuse from the parent.  Lately I've noticed, however, that nearly all of my students are practicing on a regular basis, and I think it's partly because we have so much fun at the lesson, partly because I track their lessons so I'm well prepared, and partly because they often hear each other play songs they want to learn.  So I don't have to mention practicing.  It just happens.

[MzrtMusic]

Well, I'm only 16, and I've only been teaching for about two years, but my general experience has been that if you make the lessons fun, the kids will want to practice. I have one student, and she just loves to play hymns. So, I got her a couple of hymn books, and we use that as our sole lesson plans. Another students loves Disney (c) songs. For the younger students, I like Beanstalk's or Music for Little Mozarts. If you bring it to their level, and make if more like play than practice, you won't have any problem. Also, if a student isn't practicing, make sure that you really encourage them to play just 10 minutes a day. They sit down to do that, and then they generally get carried away. Music is such a wonderful gift, that it's a shame and a crime to make it fit in a little box, and make everyone do everything the same way. Isn't music about expressing yourself?

Anyway... My main keys are:
Find music the students enjoys
Make it fun
DOn't be to picky about EVERY little thing

Also, I live in a very rural area, and there aren't many other teachers around... My teacher, and that's about it. Anyway. I charge $5 for a half-hour.!

[kateb]

Regarding the written excuse for weeks without practice:
If my students hated practicing, I expect they would quit. They are actually very enthusiastic about lessons now that they are held accountable for practicing.

They are in sports, scouts, dance, and piano, and the week can easily whiz by without more than a practice or two unless they get in the habit of making it an every day thing. The best way I've found that IIII can have any influence on making practice a habit (since I am not a live-in piano teacher) is to require that they keep records of when they practice.

Their lack of practice time was NOT a matter of not liking their lessons nor of not liking the music. It was a matter of their being extremely busy.