Yikes, June is almost over already!! I’d better hurry up and post about these new (to me) links from around the blogosphere!
It’s time to get another Forum Q&A going!! Let’s talk about business structure options for teaching studios. Despite having a music degree, I still know very, very little about setting up a business. I doesn’t seem right…I wish one of my college courses had covered this topic at some point. :/
Do you have a solo proprietorship, partnership, an LLC, or a corporation? What are the benefits of each option? Do you have a separate bank account set up to manage studio income and expenses? Do you hire an accountant or bookkeeping services to help with the accounts and taxes? What other business advice can you offer?
I hope you can help me out — and hopefully other readers will benefit too! Update: Here is my follow-up post.
Today I’m proud to take you on the penny tour… 🙂
My husband and I feel so blessed to have found this adorable old house to rent. Continue reading “Tour of My Teaching Studio”
You saw the sneak peek photo yesterday…..now here’s the full scoop on my recent piano purchase!
I’ve been shopping on Craigslist for quite some time, and I learned that a lot of piano shopping is about personal preference. My husband and I looked at an absolutely breathtaking Knabe from the 1920’s, for example, but as soon as I played a few notes I knew it wasn’t the piano for me. Somehow, it just didn’t grab me. I wanted to find something that I would love to sit down and play.
Then, we looked at a 5’7” Kawai…..
The owner was asking $3500. It was built in 1966, and the inside parts and the finish are all in original condition. I could see it probably needed a little bit of work, but I really, really liked the touch. It was fun to play!
I hired a registered piano technician to inspect the piano for me before I bought it. The technician confirmed that it does need some work, but we were able to talk the owner down to $2500. My new piano was delivered last Friday!
Sorry the photos are a bit grainy…I used the camera in my iPod Touch.
Hello, fellow piano teachers!
I hope you’ve missed me during my blogging hiatus. 🙂 My husband and I are now happily moved to northwest Ohio, where we are renting a lovely old three-bedroom house within walking distance of downtown. We have so much more space here versus our one-bedroom apartment back in Michigan, and let me tell you – this house was made for running a piano studio! Lots of photos are coming soon, so stay tuned.
So, what have I been up to the last few days/weeks?
I do have one sneak peek photo to show you for now……………
These are exciting times! I feel like I have so much to share. I hope you’ll stay tuned. 🙂
Joy
Well, unfortunately we didn’t get many responses to the last two week’s Forum Q&As about group lessons! I guess nobody wants to share their secrets. Just kidding. =) We did get a few good responses, which you can check out here and here. It’s not too late to add your comments, if you are willing to enlighten us. =)
This week’s topic is a fun one! Please share: How did you become a piano teacher? Tell us all about it. Here are a few prompt questions to get you thinking back to those early days:
How did you start teaching piano? Who was your first student? Who inspired you to be a piano teacher? Did you always know you would be a piano teacher? Did you have a mentor? What kind of piano did you teach on?
If any of you have your own blog, feel free to share your story there and leave a link here in the comments. I can’t wait to hear your stories! I’ve just put mine in the comments. =)
Photo Credit: kevin mullet | CC 2.0
Hello, all!
Over the weekend, I started packing up my sheet music library into boxes since we’re going to be moving in a month or two. All I can say is, I need to downsize!! I have a lot of used music that people have given me over the past few years. It makes for a great lending library, but it sure takes up a lot of room! As backwards as it seems, I’m going to save going through my music until after we move. =)
I’ve also begun looking into advertising piano lessons, since I will definitely need to do some of that in order to find new students. I’ve found a number of free ways to advertise online, and have compiled a list of links below. The first step to online advertising is definitely to create a website for your piano studio. If you haven’t already, I would recommend checking out the user friendly Weebly.com. If you have a studio website already, then you are ready to try out the links below!
Create a Google Places page
I recently discovered that local businesses can create their own Google Places page for completely free. Click here for a very nice example of a Google Places page. You can click here to get started listing your own studio business.
Free Teacher Directories
I don’t know about you, but I only use the teacher directories that are free. I don’t know which ones are worth paying for, so I play it safe and stick with the free ones! I suppose the chances of a student coming across some of these sites is somewhat slim, but when it’s free it’s worth a shot. Here are the ones I found: Continue reading “Studio Marketing: Advertising on the Internet”
Greetings! Today I have two important announcements:
Andrea & Trevor Dow from yesterday’s interview have kindly agreed to sponsor a giveaway of Episode 1 of The Adventures of Fearless Fortissimo! This pdf is a $19.95 value and contains Early Elementary, Elementary, and Intermediate Level versions of the pieces, accompanied by a three page comic. Once you’ve purchased the pdf, you are free to print off as many copies as needed for use with your students! Read more about The Adventures of Fearless Fortissimo piano music for boys by clicking here.
To enter to win, leave a comment on this post!
You may earn one additional entry in the giveaway by sharing the link to this giveaway on your blog or on your facebook page. Be sure to leave an additional comment on this post to let me know you’ve done this, so that you get your extra entry.
The winner will be chosen via random number generator. Enter before Thursday, May 19, 2011 @ midnight for your chance to win!
Today I have a fabulous interview for you, from a husband & wife team who runs a 350-student music school in Canada! Meet Andrea & Trevor Dow.
And now for the interview!
* * * * *
Joy: Please tell us about your piano and/or teaching background!
Andrea: I was heavily involved in piano and singing lessons from the age of 4. I started teaching piano lessons when I was 18. I had a rusty old Toyota Corolla packed with supplies and I drove to my students’ homes in between my university classes and on weekends. This quickly morphed into a full-time job when I graduated with my B.Mus and within three years I had a studio of 350 students and a teaching staff of 14. My husband, Trevor, and I created the Piano Pals Early Learning Program (a preschool piano program for students ages 3-5 that teaches both beginning piano skills as well as kindergarten math concepts), which has been extremely successful at our own studio and is currently in development to be available to other teachers online. Right now I teach upper-level piano and singing lessons while managing our studio, and together with my husband we create online materials for piano teachers with the goal of bringing them the same amount of success we have created with our own studio. We co-authored the teaching e-book “Piano Hands Shouldn’t Flip Burgers” last year, are active bloggers, and most recently launched our newest venture with www.pianomusicforboys.com.
What is the most unique thing about your studio/music school? Continue reading “Interview: Andrea & Trevor Dow and their Piano Music For Boys”
I forgot to put up the week’s new Forum Q&A post yesterday, so here it is a day late! Sorry about that…I think the term paper for my music history class is draining all my brain cells. =D
It was so fun to read the variety of approaches teachers use when it comes to summer lessons for last week’s Forum Q&A! I hope you had as much fun reading about them as I did. I just added my own comment which describes a new method I’m going to try next summer (2012), so please check it out and let me know what you think.
This week, though, we are going to discuss methods of obtaining and getting reimbursed for student materials! I’m curious to know….
First of all: Do you tell students to go purchase the new books/materials they need, or do you go and get them yourself?
Secondly, if you purchase them yourself, how do you go about getting reimbursement? Is the cost of books/materials covered in your tuition rate? Or do you charge a yearly or semesterly fee to cover books and materials? Or do you add the cost of the books to that month’s invoice for tuition?
I’m trying to decide how to go about dealing with getting books when I start my independent studio in the fall, so I’d love to hear what method works for you!
Photo Credit: woodleywonderworks | CC 2.0
Okay, so I’ve been thinking about this topic for a few weeks now, and today I’m spilling all! Sorry about the length. =)
Don’t Make My Mistake!
When I first began teaching, I created a mental list of all the things I felt were essential for a new student should know. I thought very carefully about what to say in order to cover all these topics with my student during the very first lesson. “The List” included things like:
These are all important things, of course. But I hadn’t really stopped to consider what the student might be feeling at that very moment on my piano bench. I jabbered away cheerily through my long, long list, anxious that my student would learn all the right things the right way from the very first day.
Do you remember what it was like at your very first piano lesson as a kid? Usually, new students are anxious, curious, unsure, maybe nervous — and usually they are very excited to play the piano. They might tell you they can play Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star for you which their mother taught them by rote. Or they might show off that they figured out Mary Had a Little Lamb by ear. Or they might not know how to play anything at all, but they are definitely sitting on your piano bench practically drooling, anxious to get their fingers on those beautiful, shiny keys!
So what do you do? What do you do about all this crazy excitement, energy, and motivation that is radiating from this student? Continue reading “Rethinking The Student’s First Lesson”
I had so much fun reading about what kind of pianos you all have on last week’s Forum Q&A! And many of you with blogs posted photos of your piano too. If you haven’t seen all the comments, click here and scroll down to check them out.
This week, let’s talk about something less fun…..studio policies (haha, just kidding). It’s interesting to hear how different teachers approach summertime. Some teachers want their summer off. Others want to keep teaching, or really need the income throughout the whole year. It can also depend on the students you have. One of my piano professors tried to require weekly summer lessons, but for years students/parents gave her trouble about it. Now, she requires them each to take just 6 lessons at some point during the summer. I’m sure everyone has ideas about this matter! So, tell us about your situation:
What are your current policies regarding summer lessons? Required or optional? Week, bi-weekly, or other? Regular tuition rates, or discounted?
If you don’t require students to take lessons all summer, have you found other ways to keep your income the same throughout the year?
I’m looking forward to hearing your thoughts! Add your comment below.
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