Starting a Teaching Studio

[ethereal25]

Hello out there to all you teachers. 

I was hoping you'd be able to share your experiences and stories with the rest of us aspiring teachers.

For those that have set up their own private studio, in their home or similar, how did YOU go about? I've scoured the web, and found very little about how people went about this. One aspect I'm particularly interested in, is how you survived while setting up a student base large enough to support yourself on? And also how you went about recruiting said students in the first place.

If anyone answers, please know that you have a young aspiring teacher's greatest appreciation.

Sincerely,
Eli

[ethereal25]

Anybody? Anybody at all? 

[maykapar1]

Hi ethereal25,
I'm a part-time teacher so I'm probably not the best one to answer your question.  I live in a large metropolitan area where there are hundreds of excellent piano teachers.  Quite frankly, I don't have the courage to quit my day job to find out if I actually could support myself through teaching alone. 
A few thoughts on finding students:  If you meet the membership requirements, join the registered music teachers' association.  Often your contact info will be available through a "teacher locator" service on the association website.  My own teacher also refers students to me if she is not able to find space for them.  Sometimes my students' parents recommend me to their friends' parents.  I have had someone ask for my card while at the music store, after I helped them choose some music.  [Somehow they can tell if you are a teacher.]  Other teachers have moved away or stopped teaching, and I have inherited some of their students.  It does help to know the other teachers in your area for this to happen.  Colleagues of mine have said that one of the most successful methods of advertising has been to put pamphlets on the doorsteps in your neighbourhood.  I believe it might be easier to establish yourself more quickly in a smaller center, where there may be fewer qualified teachers competing for students.
Apart from all that, teach to the best of your ability, and always keep learning.  It is impossible to know everything.  The most difficult aspect of the work will not be the teaching, it will be dealing with the parents.  Also, check out this website for a wealth of information on piano teaching:  www.marthabeth.com  She has a section on business practices for the private music studio.  Best wishes to you, and I hope a full-time teacher will also respond.
   

[jamesplayspiano]

Hi ethereal25,

1. Fliers can be great- just make sure you have permission first. Possible locations include bulletin boards in music stores (both stores that sell CDs and stores that sell instruments), bulletin boards in other public places such as libraries and college campuses (hit the "general" boards AND the boards in the music building), and even on cars, again WITH permission. I once got permission of a church to put fliers on the cars of the parking lot during a service. Granted, it was my church and I put on the flier that I was a member of that church. Also: coffee shops, book stores, pawn shops (people often buy instruments there, and so lessons might be on their mind) and especially other "artsy" places you might find around town, such as a local dance studio or art gallery.

2. In addition to fliers, make up a bunch of business cards and bring them with you when you go to put out fliers. Many places have (either in addition to a bulletin board or instead of it) a rack or other dedicated area for business cards. You might be able to leave some of both. When you go into the music stores, try to find a manager and talk to him/her about your studio and your qualifications. Many music stores (that sell instruments) get calls from people asking if they know of any local teachers. Ask the manager if you could be put on their "list" of people that they refer such calls to.

3. College music professors often get calls from people asking about private teachers. (This can happen even if someone is looking for a teacher for a 5-year-old. The caller knows the professor may not teach outside of the school, but they figure the professor might know of someone who does). Get to know your local piano prof and ask if you can be on his/her referral list.

4. Many areas have local websites that allow you to list yourself as an available teacher.

5. Schools! Depending on what ages you prefer to teach, you can get to know music teachers in area elementary, jr. high, and high schools, and find students in a few ways. They may offer an after-school program that you could be a part of, or it may be as simple as getting to know the teachers so they can refer people to you who ask them about lessons. Ask the teacher if you could send a flier home with their students, or better yet, see if you could come by and visit one or more classes! Depending on the situation, this could conceivably represent a conflict of sorts (a "business" coming by and making a pitch to students) but it also may not. Couldn't hurt to try!

6. Keep an eye open for churches and other organizations that do fundraisers involving silent auctions and other giveaways. These groups often go to businesses looking for donations for their auctions. You could offer to give them a gift certificate, say, for one month of free lessons, valued at such-and-such dollars. If someone gets some awesome lessons for a month, there's a good chance want more after that!

BTW, if you want you could offer a "first lesson is free" kind of thing, on all your fliers. In fact, you could literally create fliers that say "FREE PIANO LESSON." They could go on to explain that it's literally a free lesson, and that you're hoping that once they take from you they'll want to take more.

Hope this helps!

[lostinidlewonder]

Some ideas:

- You need quality instruments in your studio to attract people to your studio i.e a grand piano.

- Increase your student base by offering lessons in their homes, school, churches etc.

- Get to know other teachers in the area and network with them with emails, newsletters, student concerts etc.

- Advertise, advertise, advertise and music schools, internet, newspaper, public message boards etc. You could encourage students to recruit other students for you and then give them a discount in their lessons for doing so.

- Do solo concerts and promote yourself as a performer and teacher.

- Offer teaching service that is better than everyone else. Be confident in your teaching product, be flexible, be able to teach a broad range of styles (Classical, Jazz, current music etc) for examinations or enjoyment. For example I have had to teach Lady Ga Ga a number of times urg! Don't teach out of books unless it is the best option (mostly young children need structure), some teachers teach EVERYONE out of a single book page by page step by step and nothing else until that book is complete. "Only by the Book teachers" are boring and mediocre imo.

- Know how to teach children well, they will be the most difficult students to deal with and by far the most frequent.
 
- Be friendly and approachable. All your clients have to like you.

- Learn about how to run and manage business.




It is hard at first but ALL businesses start out like this. We live in the age of Information so teaching will be paid for much more readily than in previous ages. If you have a teaching product that produces results and the students enjoy lessons with you then you have something special, but you need to keep the ball rolling. Students come and go all the time, you cant just sit back and teach every day you need to actively work on every facet of your business not just the service.