Top 5 Considerations to Set the Best Tuition Price in Your Music Teaching Studio

Setting pricing is something important to running any business. But where do we start, as music teachers?

My opinion is that there needs to be a balance between charging a rate that is low enough to be fair and reasonable, that students are willing to pay, and also charging a fee that is high enough that it reflects our experience and expertise, so students value what they are getting, and that sets you apart from other less-experienced teachers. You also want to be covering your own costs, plus making a profit.

How can we, as music teachers, go about setting our tuition costs? Where do we even start? Here are

the top five factors to consider, to help you set the best tuition price for your music studio:

1. Consider the market where you live. Supply and demand. What people are willing to pay will differ by location, and will be impacted by how saturated the area is with teachers of your instrument, and how high the demand for teachers is. If you are new to an area, or are just getting started, you can start by doing a little "market research". Go ahead and contact a few teachers, tell them who you are and that you're trying to get a feel for the going rates in the area, and straight up ask them how much they charge. In my experience, I've haven't found a teacher who wasn't willing to help by giving me this helpful information. Use this as a starting place to get familiar with the going rate, and what people are willing to pay in your area. I don't recommend significantly underselling other teachers, because this can lower your own credibility (from a student's perspective: "Hmm, I wonder why this teacher charges so much less? She must be less experienced. Maybe she doesn't know what she's doing?"). It also makes it harder to raise your rates later to the market rate.

2. Consider your teaching experience and educational background. As you are looking at the pricing of other teachers in your area, look to those with similar education and experience as you. This can help you set your prices in an appropriate range.

3. Consider your own costs. This varies widely from studio to studio. Having a projected budget makes it easier to get an idea of what you need to make in order to be successful. I'll cover this more in a future post, but it will also guide your goals and business decisions as well.

Ask yourself these questions:
Do you rent a studio space?
Do you drive to your students' homes? (In the past, when I've driven to students' homes, I always charged an extra fee for my driving costs.)
What are your expenses, or projected expenses? What is your biggest expense, or projected expense, for your music studio?

4. Consider what other student fees your tuition fee will cover. What exactly is included in what the students pay for tuition? Is it tuition only? Recital hall rental fees, membership dues, materials fees, etc.? Some teachers choose to have a separate materials fee or recital fee. If you include these all in tuition, take that into account as you set your price (and let your students know it's included, so they recognize the value they're getting!). What other expenses will you need to cover, while still making a profit for yourself?

5. Consider whether you will charge by individual lesson, monthly fee, or a semester fee. This decision is a very individual one, and I think any choice can work for a number of reasons. Ultimately, it's up to you as the teacher to decide what works for you. When setting your pricing, you'll need to take your "billing cycle" into consideration.

Charge by Lesson
If you are charging per individual lesson, there may be months when you make more, for example if there are five weeks in the month, and some months when you make less, such as when holidays occur. Decide if you are okay with this. Overall, it should more or less even out, you'll just need to be aware if it's a month where you'll make less and plan accordingly.

Monthly Fee
If you are charging a monthly fee regardless of how many lessons there are, you may have some months with fewer lessons due to holidays, and some months with more, but you'll be making the same amount each month and it's predictable. This predictability can be nice, and the regular amount can be easier on your students to remember.

Semester Fee
Another option is to charge per semester, and give an option to pay all up front (some offer a discount for this), or to split it up over several months. One advantage to charging by semester is that once students have paid up front, you don't have to worry about billing for the course of the semester. Also, it's nice to know they've paid in advance and have committed to those months of lessons.

As you take these five points into consideration while setting your tuition prices in your music studio, I'm confident you'll be on the right track to both cover your own costs and make a profit, while being at an appropriate market rate.

What other factors have you taken into consideration while setting your pricing? Please comment below to let us all know!

Teaching Music to Adult Students

I have a confession. I really love teaching adult students! I love all adult learners, but this post is specifically addressing beginning and intermediate adult students. It’s refreshing and motivating and exciting to me to see them grow and learn. Adult students are truly motivated to learn in a way different from kids. They have the advantage of maturity and perspective that come from having more years on this planet. I’ve found, though, that adult learners also encounter unique challenges, which kids do not. I’d like to take a minute (just sit right there), I'll tell you how we as teachers can help.

• Lack of time. Adults can be very busy. Most of those whom I’ve taught are working full time, or are college students, or both. Many have families of their own to take care of. 

Set realistic practice goals. Because I know it’s challenging to even get started at something that is either completely brand new, or has been neglected for a long time, my first thought when an adult approaches me asking for lessons is, “Yaaay!! Good for you!!!!!!” I automatically have so, so much respect for these people. So, I really want to help them be successful and to love it.

With each student’s unique situation and schedule, I try to find a balance between high standards and attainable, realistic goals. I have to recognize that an adult student’s reachable, attainable goal for practice frequency may not be the same as a child student. And that’s okay. We take it week by week and adjust according to their needs and demands that week, and set a realistic goal for how many days they will practice that particular week. This may be different this week than it was last week, but it’s important for them to gain encouragement from seeing themselves reaching their goals. It is important to also try to set goals to make them stretch, of course, but just keep in mind that if it stretches them too far, they may get frustrated or stressed. So try to find that balance for each individual student, because the last thing we adults need is more stress.

Be flexible with lesson frequency. I work with each student’s needs and goals individually to determine how frequently we meet. I’ve had adult students come weekly, biweekly, or monthly. In the case of less frequent lessons, make a plan to follow up with the student between lessons, such as writing an email or text, or making a quick phone call to make sure they are doing okay and see what questions they have. It’s essential for the student to still feel supported by you between lessons. I find the student is more likely to practice consistently all month long (and not just the days right before the lesson), if they know they will be held accountable more often and have me following up with them.

Another option, which may suit some situations, would be to offer a lesson online in between the in-person lessons. There are many available video conferencing options, such as Skype or Google Hangout. I’ve recently learned of JamKazam, which is intended for groups of musicians to be able to rehearse remotely as if in the same room. I have yet to try it out, but if it solves the issues of sound delay and allows for the teacher and student to play together simultaneously, then this may be something of value for teaching as well. If any of you have already tried it out for teaching, please let me know of your experiences.

• Student gets frustrated, impatient, or is too hard on themselves. This often is a result of the student’s musical ear being developed beyond their actual technical playing ability. This can lead to the student having feelings of frustration, or even embarrassment about their sound (I’ll get to that second one later).

Help them see/feel their own success. One of my main goals with adult students is to keep that spark for learning alive. Something motivated them and pushed them to change up their routine and budget and comfortable life and start violin lessons. I don’t want them to ever lose site of that. I really, really want to keep them motivated, and keep them excited, which comes from helping them see and feel their own success.

When I was twenty-one, I started learning German. I had learned French and American Sign Language before, but this time was different. This time, I was going to do service abroad as a missionary for my church. I had 9 weeks to learn German. All of it. The entire language. One time, when I was feeling especially frustrated that I would never, ever learn German, my wise teacher explained to me the importance of taking a moment to not focus on what I hadn’t learned yet, but to see how far I had already come. In doing so, I realized that, yes, I had actually made tremendous progress. I had begun knowing absolutely no German, and after just a few short weeks (and a lot of hard work), I could carry on conversations and even understand native speakers.

My point in relaying that story is that we need to help all our students to see how far they’ve already come, which can give encouragement in place of frustration. [“Hey, six months ago you weren’t even taking lessons, and now you’ve learned this many pieces!! And you’ve improved this and that (be specific).”] Help them to set small goals and help them recognize when they have met them. And celebrate the small victories with them!!

Offer Rewards and Incentives. Rewards and incentives will definitely come in a different form than with young students. Why not encourage the adult student to set a goal that will make them stretch, and once they’ve reached it, they get to treat themselves to something special, whatever that may be. This can help keep them motivated and encouraged to see their progress.

• The student is embarrassed or self-conscious of playing in front of others.

Give lots of opportunities to perform. A student can gain confidence by performing over and over in low-stress situations, such as a group performance class, at recitals, in rest homes or assisted living centers. The more they do it, the more comfortable and confident they will become, as long as you keep it positive and low-stress.

Play duets with the teacher (or other advanced player). I always feel more confident when playing with someone else, which may be why I love chamber music so much. Playing with someone who is more advanced can build confidence, as the overall tone will be better, and the confidence of the teacher may rub off on the student.

Perform for kids. This one may sound strange, but it stems from my experience learning foreign languages. I found that the most patient and nonjudgmental teachers were, in fact, children. They would tell me straight up that I was saying something wrong and had no problem correcting me, but they did so with complete sincerity and caring. Although they were blunt, it was never in a way that made me feel self-conscious. Anyway, I think performing for children can be a great chance to learn and improve confidence in a friendly environment where it’s safe to make mistakes.

So, these are just a few ideas to help adult students be successful. What other challenges have you seen adult students face? And what have you been able to do to help them?

Number Finger Puppets - Free Printable to Teach Finger Numbers to Music Students!

I'm so excited for this post! I have a new printable that is so stinkin' cute, I just can't handle it!

These finger puppets are so cute and just perfect for teaching young students the finger numbers for their instrument. They could be used for any instrument, really. I included numbers 1-5 so they can be used for piano or other instruments that use five fingers, but instruments that use fewer finger numbers, such as strings, can simply use the ones they need.

I have two sizes of these finger puppets - small for the student and large for the teacher/parent - and there are both color as well as black and white options for each size.

Click below to download:

Small Black and White

Small Color

Large Black and White

Large Color

I recommend printing your own set on cardstock, cutting them out, and then laminating them for durability. You can then fasten them with a staple, or perhaps there's a glue out there that will stick together laminated surfaces. If you choose not to laminate, of course glue or tape would hold the back together.

I had in mind that the student could perhaps use the black and white version to color and make their own.

So how exactly could these be used?

Finger Taps. I like to do a game called Finger Taps. For violin, since we use 4 fingers, I have the student tap the appropriate finger against their thumb as I call out a number. For piano or other five-finger instruments, you can have the student tap the piano, a chair, or tabletop. I mix it up and get faster as we go. Sometimes, I give the student a chance to call out the numbers and we both tap together. You could slowly remove one finger puppet at a time until they don't have the extra help.

Copy Cat. This is actually the same as Finger Taps, but a little more advanced.

Basically, you will do a series of finger taps while saying the finger numbers out loud. For example, "Four-one-three", tapping each finger as you say its number. The student will then have a turn to copy what you do. Then you can make it more difficult as the student progresses by increasing the speed and/or the number of fingers you do in each sequence.

These are only a couple ideas for how to use these finger puppets to teach finger numbers to your music students. How would you use these? What other games could you play with these to reinforce finger numbers? What other uses can you find for them? Please leave a comment below!

Violin String Names for Young Beginners | Printable Coloring Page

I've recently started to make some fun coloring pages for my young beginners as a take-home reenforcement for what they have been learning in the lessons. These are partly just for fun, but there is some educational benefit as well.

I'd like to share a free printable coloring page with you today. This coloring page helps teach the letter names of the violin strings using animals for each string, as follows:

G: Giraffe

D: Dolphin

A: Ape

E: Eagle

I chose these particular animals because I thought they would be familiar to most young kids. (I decided against using an eastern quoll.)

I also chose animals with beginning sounds similar to how the name of the actual letter sounds. For example, I chose giraffe (instead of gorilla) because it has a soft "G" at the beginning, similar to the way the name of the letter "G" is pronounced. I chose eagle (instead of elephant) because the beginning sound is a long "E", like we would pronounce the name of the letter. This seems to pose less confusion to very young pre-reading students who are not as familiar with alternative sounds that letters can make.

Additionally, I chose animals that might be useful in explaining the size relationship of the strings. For example, giraffes are very big and tall! Just like the G is the biggest string. Eagles are the smallest of those four animals, and E string is the smallest string. Also, Eagles fly way up high in the sky, and the E string note is way up high.

I hope your students enjoy this as much as mine have. I don't know any young kids who don't love coloring, and this is a great way to reenforce what was taught in the lesson and help the kids remember the names of the strings. Click here to download your own violin strings coloring page!

Enjoy!

DIY Nonslip Violin Foot Chart for Beginners

Hi, everyone! I'm excited to share this tutorial with you.

When I was four years old and just starting out on violin, I remember my mom cutting up a cardboard box and tracing my feet in rest and play position so I could know just where to put them.

A nice thing about using a foot chart for young beginners, besides teaching the placement of the feet, is that it also helps creates a visible and tangible "boundary" for them. It's easy for kids to understand this is their violin mat, and that's where the students sits or stands during lessons and practice time. I think it helps with staying focused on the task at hand by not allowing them to get distracted and wander (especially with short attention spans of youngsters).

A disadvantage I saw first hand with the cardboard box route was that it was slippery. Whether on carpet or another surface, it can slip and slide, which is very dangerous.

As I thought about what would be a good solution, I decided to use a yoga mat! These are made for the very purpose of not allowing slippage!!

I went to my local Ross store and got a cute orange yoga mat on clearance for $8.50. It has zebra stripes on one side, but is plain orange on the reverse.

I figured out it was long enough to cut into three equal "almost" squares. They're about 24"x22.66".

Then I needed a model, so I found the closest, wiggliest three-year-old I could and traced her cute little feet with a permanent marker.

And that's it!

I love how it turned out. It's easy to roll up and transport to lessons, if needed, although I have one here in my studio to use. But I find some students are just so excited about their mat and their feet traced on it, that they like to bring their own to lessons.

And it's not slippery!

And it's cute and orange, not sad cardboard brown!

So I got three mats out of this one yoga mat, which means each mat only cost me under $3!

A note about positioning feet: Some teachers like rest position to be parallel feet, then the student has to "unzip" the fit to make the toes point outward, then move the left foot forward to play position. I learned as a young student to have my rest position feet not be parallel, but to already have the toes point outward and the heels touching. I've decided to continue teaching it this way because it makes sense to me to eliminate the extra "unzipping" step. I just wanted to put this note in here as an explanation, in case it differs from what you've used. Either way works great and it's up to you as the teacher to decide.

Go make your own and post pictures so I can see their cuteness. If I were feeling very adventurous, I might even let the student have at it with markers and decorate it themselves. Maybe on another day when fewer wiggles are involved.

Music Teachers Book Club September 2014

For my Music Teachers Book Club in June/July 2014, we read Principles of Violin Playing & Teaching by Ivan Galamian.

The next book we are reading for August/September 2014 is Nurtured by Love by Schinichi Suzuki.

Feel free to read along too and comment here with your thoughts on what you learned. How does it apply to your teaching? What was new to you? What did you agree or disagree with? I look forward to

hearing your thoughts.

Printable Music Award Certificates - Blank Template

I've had a request to make my printable music recital certificates with a blank line, so the teacher can
write in what the certificate is for. What a great idea! Now these can be used for anything, from passing off a level, to completing a music festival. The possibilities are endless, and they're free, so why not go ahead and print 'em and use 'em all up. Your students will love them, I'm sure.  Who doesn't love getting recognition for a job well done??

You can still download the original recital award certificates here or under the printables tab.

Below are the links to the new printable music award certificates with a blank line to fill in yourself to indicate what it is for (also available under the printables tab). I hope you enjoy!

Outstanding Performance Award Certificate

Certificate of Excellence Music Award

Bravo Music Award Certificate

Bravo Music Award Certificate

Music Teachers Book Club June 2014

Well, I finally did it! I organized a Violin Teachers Book Club!

I've been wanting to do this for a looooong time (years!), and life finally slowed down a second for me

to get it together.

Here's how I've worked it out: I invited a small group of fellow violin teachers (really, it could be any instrument) to join me. Together, we voted on some suggested books on the subjects of violin playing and pedagogy, and chose the top pick as our selection to read for this month. On an upcoming day, we'll join together after reading it, and talk about our thoughts and questions and what we learned. I feel it's also going to be a great opportunity to network and become closer friends.

If you'd like to join me, I'll post the information for our reading selections as we go along so you can read as well. Then I'll post some of the highlights of our book club discussion afterward.

For this month, we are reading Principles of Violin Playing & Teaching by Ivan Galamian.

Feel free to join in the discussion by posting your comments on the reading below! I'd love to hear from you and learn from your expertise!

Music Composition with Found Objects, Part 2 - Group Music Lesson Plan Idea

The blog post to date with by far the most views is my post on Music Composition with Found Objects - Group Music Lesson Plan Idea.  Check it out!  It's a very fun way to help your students find music all
around them.

I want to add an update now.  In the original post, I linked to some youtube videos of John Cage's "Water Walk".  I've since been exposed to some awesome, fun, upbeat videos of my husband's friend making music with found objects in various locations, which he calls a "Beat Scout".  These videos are very easily accessible for a young audience and will help your students get really excited about making music with found objects and searching for music all around.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Fun!  I love these so much.  Even my three-year-old kid asks all the time to listen to Beat Scouts! :) If you are interested in checking out the rest of his videos, click here for his channel.

So, I just wanted to add this to the original lesson plan and I hope you and your students can have some fun with them!

DVD Case Wipe-off Boards for Music Group Lesson Activities

I really enjoy teaching group lessons.  It's really fun for kids to learn about music theory and composers and other topics in a group setting.

I just finished making these awesome Wipe-off Boards out of old DVD cases.  These "boards" have so many possibilities for the classroom or group lessons.  I think they are super rad!

There are so many ways to use these!  Just swap out the liner inside to fit your needs.  I printed the insert double sided, so its easily interchangeable.

So to make one yourself, just print out the sheets below, cut them to size, and insert in an empty DVD case.  Then give yourself a high five because you're done!  Best teacher award goes to you.

DVD Case Wipe-off Board Printable Insert 1
DVD Case Wipe-off Board Printable Insert 2

Then you can use the inside of the case to store the markers and eraser.  Love it!

I hope you have fun with these!  Feel free to share any ideas you have for learning activities and games to do with these.  Leave a comment below!