First questions to ask.....

[dinosaurtales]

I have never taught before, but my teacher thinks I'd be great, and I've always been curious.  So I made up some flyers and took them down to the elementary school close by.  When school starts next week I need to be prepared to get some calls from curious parents.  They'll probably quiz me like crazy, but can you think of other pertinent things I should find out from them besides how old is he/she, have they ever played before and for how long, are there other musicians in the family?  I don't want to grill them, but I'd like a basic idea of what I would be dealing with to start.  What do you guys do?

[NetherMagic]

DinosaurTales what kinda lessons are you going to be offering?  Private or in the school?  I think that those questions are fairly good for on-the-phone asking (btw you forgot to ask when they are free).  I think that questions about what their sons/daughters like about music, preferred music styles etc, should be asked during the first class or auditions if you require any.

[dinosaurtales]

Thanks, NetherMagic.  I intend to teach at home, and no auditions.  I'm not that *fancy*.  I am going to guess mostly I'll have an initial phone conversation, then mom will want to come in for the first lesson with junior.  So I need to figure out a good *get acquainted* scheme, too.  After that, I'll probably discourage mom from hanging around.  I am aiming to fill a specific time slot, so I'll probably lose a bunch that conflict out, but I don't want lessons randomly scattered around the week, and then I don't have a life.  So do you teach?  Lots, or beginnners, or what?

[NetherMagic]

No well technically I'm qualified to teach, but after all I'm 15 and only getting my first whiskers haha   so you know you wouldn't feel good letting your child learn from some "immature teenager"

Although I have substituted beginner lessons before, it's really a piece of cake.  The hardest part is keeping your student's interest up, really.  Technicality you can just assign some piece to your student to work throughout the week.

[amp]

Sometimes parents are so happy to get their kids lessons that they will not quiz you. Also, you are probably convient to lots of people. It might be nice to have your teacher as a reference.

What method are you thinking of using?

Please don't be fooled, I teach kids piano, and it is not a piece of cake. If you follow a method and are organized you will be succesful. But, intellectually it can be very stimulating. Finding the right piece, techic excersizes,  decicing how to best suit your students. Eventually, the student will not need you coaching them to keep interest, they will play piano for it's intrinsic value to them.

Good luck! From the forum you sound very passionate about piano, and to me that is the number one of any teacher!

[la_carrenio2003]

Ask them if they have an instrument at home, and what kind of instrument is it, giving piano lessons to kids without a piano or with a synthezator -don't know how to write that word- is not such a good idea. Maybe they have some relatives or friends or neighbors with piano who could facilitate the kid's practice.The parents will pay and after a while they will demand for results, and without daily practicing there's no way to obtain that. Ask whose idea it was, the kid's or their: there are parents who force the kids to study music, that's awful. And finally ask what other extra activities they have , school apart. If they only have a sport, you can take them, but ask and you'll see how sometimes kid's life can turn into a living hell of practices and homeworks...