Questions for those who have taught private lessons at home/school/music storer

[Steve Clark]

I'm gathering information on how music schools/music stores, rather than formal training at college or university, structure lessons/scheduling. There is a possibility of a new school opening in my town that I may be involved in organizing so I'm trying to understand the teaching of music outside of a formal college or university.

For example some music stores/schools rent the room to the teacher. Others sell packages of lessons that are prepaid in sometimes overly complicated ways. If you've worked in a music store/school teaching privately how was this arranged regarding fees/room rental/ scheduling of lessons?

If you teach privately what would draw you back to teaching in a music store/school setting? Better pay? Convenience of not having to find students? Would if work if there was a central organization that fielded phone calls for lessons as well as marketing of lessons and you still taught at home?

I find that a number of private teachers in this town stop teaching in the summer in parallel with high school schedule. Is this a common practice? It would be hard for a school to function of 2 months of the year a large percentage of student's disappear for the summer.

Finally what sort of rates are charged for lessons? Especially if it's a room rental situation in the music school. School charges $XX for a lesson and pays the teacher $XX.

Thanks for reading.

[fstasiak]

Hey Steve,
I’ve worked (and still work) for a number of schools and organizations around Southern Ontario. A posh private school, the back of a music shop, a rented studio, out of my home, etc…

I liked the financial security of teaching for an organization rather than privately out of my home. The student (parent) would sign a contract, commit to a regular schedule, and pre pay for a few weeks (months, a school semester, whatever).
This way, if a student was to stop showing up to lessons, I would still have a pay check rather than a hole in my schedule. I’ve had many students at my home studio over the years that had to quit abruptly (parents lost job, student lost interest, or someone got sick…). It’s kind of hard to budget for the next month when your income can unexpectedly drop.

Another upside to teaching at a school was that I didn’t have to struggle to find students to fill my hours. The down side is that the schools often take a large cut of the fee. Also, at a school, you’re stuck with whatever students that the school finds for you. They may be dragged there by their parents, or it may be a part of their curriculum. Either way, it may be a chore to teach them (Something that I never feel with my students in my home studio).

The private school, 15% of my hourly rate.
Back of music store, 50% of the student’s fees.
Rented studio, $8/hour.

Also, the rates should depend on the qualifications of the teacher. At the music store where I teach many of the teachers have a Masters degree (sometimes more), and almost all have an undergraduate diploma. So the school has no moral problem with charging $44/hour. Unfortunately, since there is a huge pool of highly qualified and underemployed musicians here in London, the store can get away with keeping 50%.