Music Lessons- Need Opinions from Families and Teachers

[SDSorority]

Hi all. So I have another thread going about how I was passed up for a promotion (long story), and in all of this, I think I have decided to go back to teaching music lessons as my sole form of income (with another side project that is not yet bringing in any money but will I hope).

Here is my question:

For music lesson teachers (any instrument or voice)- What does your typical schedule look like on a weekly basis? How much do you charge? How do you make sure kids pay and show up and all of that business?

For families that take music lessons (any instrument or voice)- How much do you typically pay? How long are your lessons? What keeps you going back to that teacher? Do they come to your house or do you go to theirs/the school?

ANY INFORMATION ANY ONE CAN GIVE WOULD BE GREAT. I have a Music Education and Flute Performance Bachelor's Degree and have been teaching private music lessons since 2000 to flute (all levels) and clarinet (beginner) students. Right now, I have a full time job so I can only teach on the weekends (only doing Saturday mornings from my home) at $15 per half-hour lesson... I teach 6 kids. In order for me to quit my job (WHICH I WANT TO DO AFTER BEING SCREWED OVER THIS PAST WEEK...ugh), I need to be able to take on 25 half-hour students. Generally when my kids take lessons from me, they don't quit and go to other teachers. I tend to keep them until they graduate.

That said, I'll take any opinions and advice and anything else you'll give me!!

TIA!!

 

[StephMK]

This is a good time of year to start up since school will be starting soon. Can you ask local schools if you can send home flyers? Put up posters? Our district has a music night when parents can talk to the local music stores, band directors, etc.

Put the word out to your current students, chances are they might have friends interested also. I have not done private lessons for my kids but $15 a 1/2 hr sounds very reasonable. The private teachers I know all have the kids come to their house. Also look for local homeschooling groups. That would be a way to get more daytime hours. You could also supplement as a preschool music teacher if you like little kids. The one my kids went to had a music teacher 2x a week, 9-12.

A neighbor that used to teach oboe also played in local symphonies - is that an option to supplement income? Good luck, I think it would be great to be self employed & set up your own business!

 

[alaskamusketeer]

My daughter takes both piano and voice lessons. For the piano lessons we pay $20 for half an hour. For voice we pay $60 dollars an hour. We go to the teachers homes for both lessons. We have paid anywhere from $15 to $30/half hour for piano. Her voice lessons are from a person who is a professional opera performer/voice teacher. We live in Alaska and I'm not sure how prices compare to other areas of the country.

 

[lovesmurfs]

Hi all. So I have another thread going about how I was passed up for a promotion (long story), and in all of this, I think I have decided to go back to teaching music lessons as my sole form of income (with another side project that is not yet bringing in any money but will I hope).

Here is my question:

For music lesson teachers (any instrument or voice)- What does your typical schedule look like on a weekly basis? How much do you charge? How do you make sure kids pay and show up and all of that business?

For families that take music lessons (any instrument or voice)- How much do you typically pay? How long are your lessons? What keeps you going back to that teacher? Do they come to your house or do you go to theirs/the school?

ANY INFORMATION ANY ONE CAN GIVE WOULD BE GREAT. I have a Music Education and Flute Performance Bachelor's Degree and have been teaching private music lessons since 2000 to flute (all levels) and clarinet (beginner) students. Right now, I have a full time job so I can only teach on the weekends (only doing Saturday mornings from my home) at $15 per half-hour lesson... I teach 6 kids. In order for me to quit my job (WHICH I WANT TO DO AFTER BEING SCREWED OVER THIS PAST WEEK...ugh), I need to be able to take on 25 half-hour students. Generally when my kids take lessons from me, they don't quit and go to other teachers. I tend to keep them until they graduate.

That said, I'll take any opinions and advice and anything else you'll give me!!

TIA!!

Best wishes!! It can be tough to try to make up your full-time income. Remember that you'll be saving money through less gas, fewer clothes, etc.

1. We're in the Chicago suburbs. We pay $20/half hour for DD11's viola lessons (private house). More advanced students take a full hour lesson for $40. DS16 takes electric bass lessons at a local music store for $22/half hour.

2. Getting started and marketing. Make up flyers and business cards and visit and develop relationships with local middle and high school band directors. If you're not already, I would recommend playing in a local community band or orchestra. You might want to offer free master classes at local schools to get your name out more broadly. Volunteer to judge at regional or all-state competitions.

Do not forget to keep 25-30% for taxes and send your estimated taxes quarterly. Remember that your income will drop dramatically in the summer and during breaks.

Is there any way to move to part-time at your position? You won't be able to teach during school hours anyway, and it would put less pressure to meet the 25 student minimum you've set.

Good luck!

 

[laurafergie]

We pay $25 for 45 min piano (half hour lesson and 15 min of theory instruction) We got to her house. She is a professor in the music dept at the local university.

Once thing you may consider is advertising that you will come to them for a little more. I know quite a few homeschooling doctor type families that do this option.

 

[lyonking3]

I'm a coach, and it's all about the value of your time. I thinks it's reasonable to charge up to $60 an hour especailly since for the most part the lesson will be one on one. Different story I think if teaching a group (a few kids).

Provide a quality product, word of mouth will spread, and you'll have more business.

YOu could start out lower in price and as business picks up, raise prices. But I think it best to charge from 55-60 per hour.

Top quality (Pros) will charge about $100 an hour.

 

[lisabarr]

We just started DD with Clarinet and it is 80 a month, 1x per week at a music store with a $30 registration fee (junk if you ask me). I may be looking around to find someone who will come to the house.

My son has a chess coach who comes to the house. He charges $40 an hour.

OT: Parents who have teachers coming to the house or going to theirs, please, please do a background check. My DD first piano teacher's husband was on the sexual offender list. We didn't find out for almost 6 months after I did a zip code search and he came up. Lessons were at her house and I always stayed. We also had a serious problem with a male chess coach who came to our house. I don't want to get into it here, but it was major! Always stay with your child and do not think you are safe because you are in the other room.

 

[Sadie22]

We had two excellent private clarinet teachers over the years. 30 minute lessons usually ran longer. $15-$20 per half hour. Lessons at their house. Piano lessons $20 per half hour at church. Advertising was always word of mouth through the school music teachers or church music director.

 

[tinkermom23]

We live in a small town and typically pay less for services than what I read about here on the Dis.

Our Piano teacher is great! She has a small studio which is not in her home. Lessons are 1/2 hour and once a week. We pay $13 per lesson. Summer lessons are optional. We pay for the Theory books but she supplies all the Lesson books and reuses them for other students. We have 3 recitals a year.
She is super-flexible and relaxed. We are so lucky to have her!!! She is also the pianist at our church. DS10 has been taking piano lessons from her for 3 years.

There is another woman who comes to our school twice a week and gives lessons after school there. It works especially well for those who are using the after-school program as they can just go right to their lessons. I don't know what she charges or what arraignments she has with the school though. She uses the band room.

 

[robsmom]

We pay about $20 per half hour for my son's piano lessons. I can remember my parents paying $15 for 45 minutes 30yrs ago!. I would follow-up on the though from the prior poster regarding kids in an afterschool program. I use a private day care facility for after-care and I would love love love it if they had some music teachers and others come to the center. For parents who work and have to put their child in care, it would be much nicer if music, dance, karate, etc. could be done durng this time. This would allow more evening time for family time. If the daycare has a small rooom you could use, you might be able to convince them to take a small cut of what is charged. They could also do the billing as they are collecting money every week from their customers anyway. You could approach 2 or 3 centers in your area and got to each one for a day or two depending on the demand.

 

[Priorityonecb]

Our daughters piano/trumpet teacher also runs his own business and he makes a great living providing piano/trumpet/guitar and voice lessons. He built a studio above his garage that is just beautiful. We pay him $20 per half hour lesson, paid on the 1st of the month for the following month. He does recitals at a local church four times a year to give the kids that experience. Good luck!

 

[Pembo]

My mom taught piano lessons for years at our house. She charged $3 for a half hour....those were the days. She taught Mon - Thurs from 3-6 and no weekends. The piano was in our basement and students would come in through the garage, right down the stairs.

FF to today...ds takes trumpet for $15/30 mins and the other ds has guitar lessons for $17.50/30 mins.

GL

 

[bclplyr]

We just started DD with Clarinet and it is 80 a month, 1x per week at a music store with a $30 registration fee (junk if you ask me). I may be looking around to find someone who will come to the house.

My son has a chess coach who comes to the house. He charges $40 an hour.

Tangential, but I wanted to comment on whose house...

While I currently don't have any clarinet students, I've had a few in the past and have done both with them - coming to me vs. me going to them. I strongly prefer for them to come to me.

It's mainly because all my music equipment is here. Books, CDs, instruments, reeds, repair supplies, etc. Sometimes I even raid DH's French horn stuff Also, if a student forgot/can't find his music for that week, there's a chance I have an extra copy lying around (and yes, the student I taught at her own house misplaced her weekly music more than once!). Or I can at least grab some new-to-her music and turn it into a sight-reading session. I often pull out a CD to demonstrate what I'm trying to teach, or as a last-minute thing for them to borrow.

While I know very little about chess, I'm assuming that the teacher isn't lugging around a bunch of equipment. That makes it a bit easier for the teacher to do the traveling.

To the OP - good luck on your endeavor!

 

[bclplyr]

You might want to try out Music Teacher's Helper: http://www.musicteachershelper.com/ It's an online studio management site.

I haven't gotten to use it extensively as I'm between students, but so far I like it. I love that it's built specifically for private music teachers. The "Lending Library" and "Repertoire Tracker" features look very promising!

I need to give my site some TLC but here it is: http://bclplyr.musicteachershelper.com/

 

[FoundMyPrince]

"For families that take music lessons (any instrument or voice)- How much do you typically pay? How long are your lessons? What keeps you going back to that teacher? Do they come to your house or do you go to theirs/the school?"

DD10 takes piano lessons - has for just over a year. The teacher charges $17/half an hour plus the cost of books. However, DH mows the piano teacher's yard and they have basically bartered out the cost of lessons and yard mowing twice a month. DD takes lessons at the teacher's home. DD likes her teacher, plus there are no other teachers that we know of in this area (there is a teacher about 30 miles away, but that is a bit inconvenient).

*we are in Missouri in case the rates seem to vary by region.

 

[jerseygirl81]

When my ds was taking guitar lessons his teacher would give us a free lesson for any referrals who signed up for lessons with him, that could help drum up a little business. Linda

 

[drinkme]

My dd takes voice and I pay $30 per 1/2 hour. We get our cc charged at the beginning of the month for the upcoming lessons. The lessons are at the voice coaches' studio near our home.

I would think that having students come to your house would be better. You would have all of your music there, and anything else you might need. I can't imagine lugging that all around town.

Oh, and we live in Chicago.

 

[MomToOne]

Do you by any chance have a private school in your area with an after school program? Our school allows a voice teacher, guitar teacher and piano teacher to all come in and give students private lessons after school. The guitar teacher charges $100/month for lessons once a week (a bit steep if you ask me, but he's fully booked). I don't remember if that's for 30 minutes or an hour though I suspect it's 30 minutes. The school gets nothing in the way of income from this, they just allow it as a service to the parents and to give kids an extra option in the after school program.

I'd start with non-religious private schools, since that's just what I'm familar with as far as having this type of program. I'm not sure if the religious schools would be open to this sort of thing or not.

You would have to get a background check through the school to do this, but the school should have that process down pat.

 

[tar heel]

We pay $50 a month for 2 half-hour lessons. If my son were weekly, we would pay a little less per lesson -- $90 a month. His teacher teaches piano, guitar and voice. He's been doing piano for years and is now working on voice, too.

Why do we stay? He likes the teacher and she has been able to keep him interested. She is flexible and encourages him to work on things he loves. She has taught for years as her sole income and is very precise about due dates, lesson times, etc. If you're late, you miss part of your lesson. She does let you make up when you are sick or let her know ahead of time that you have a conflict. My son was on a waiting list for about a year before he got in her program.

 

[SoarinMom]

My DS takes clarinet lessons and pays 45 an hour . We go to the teachers house and pay at the beginning of the month for the whole month. Some teachers teach at the schools during band and after school