Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Teachers Forum Rates - At Home vs. Travelling

Sorry, all! I'm "new" here (was on here a couple years back, but couldn't remember my user name, etc. so re-registered). I don't have a lot of time to search around first, or else I would, but I need some input on a quick question. I have my ARCT Performer's (as far as you can go, excluding university training, in Canada), and taught about 6 students on the side for a few years while I was working on my own piano degree. I haven't really been in the piano world for the past couple years as I have been working full time in another field and getting training for that.

Anyways, I have been asked to teach one student, who is 6 years old. I am told that in my area $20 - $30 for a half hour lesson is the going rate. I am coming in at $20, as I have been out of the game for some time, and do not have much university training in music (1 semester's worth). However, this student is about a 25 minute bus trip from where I work, and 25 minutes back. (I live another 45 minutes from my work in the opposite direction, but I'm calculating to and from my work as I would be going to and leaving from there regardless, as I would be teaching her after I finish there).

This is all a lot of background to ask, what do I charge for my commute? I have been told anywhere between $25 - $35 for a lesson (meaning an additional $5 - $15 for my 50 min in total commute). What do you recommend? They definitely want lessons at their house, which is fair - they have a grand piano - I sold mine when I got married and moved here and now am stuck with an electric for the time being until we get a place large enough in a couple years for me to at least bring my upright down from my parents'. What is "fair" for me to charge? Thanks!

Welcome back!

So, if I understand you correctly, you're expending 90 minutes of time (perhaps longer if you have to wait for the bus service) for $20. That's $13.34/hr. Very generous of you. On the other hand, they would probably balk at $60/lesson, even though that's what $20/half hour works out to.

Oh, don't forget bus fare!

Why not suggest $45/lesson and be willing to settle for a bit less?

Good luck and let us know how it works out.

I was wondering how badly you want this student? Can you eventually find some other students closer, or that will come to you? In the long run, if you get closer students, you'll wish you had room in your schedule not being taken up by that one really far away student.

I don't travel to teach at all, and in the short term it had me worrying as I turned down quite a few teaching opportunities. But now that I have a nearly full schedule of students coming to me I'm quite happy (and grateful that my wife was initially the one to encourage this!)

Thanks for replying, guys!

I agree that taking students closer to home would be ideal. I don't have any right now because we just came to the city last fall, and I knew we would be moving around a bit. We're actually moving at the end of the month, but only 5 minutes away, so I could have advertised after all! The reason I want/should take this student is because she is actually my bosses' daughter - that and I already agreed. If the connection wasn't already there, I would probably say it's just too far. That is partially also why I am so concerned about my rate. If it was just some stranger, I'd say x-amount or find someone else.

The student is currently finishing up her yearly lessons with another instructor/method, so I won't be stepping in until that is finished, so we'll see what happens I guess. (I was supposed to get the call yesterday to work out the details - hence my mad dash for answers!) I think I'm just going to be honest and tell her that my usual rate is $20/half hour or $40/hour, but it's more when I need to travel to someone else's home. I can also tell her that I have only taught from my home before so this is a new scenario for me, so I asked around to see what is fair for a traveling rate and have been quoted anywhere from $25 - $45 for the added hour of commuting (I have a monthly bus pass, so that's not an issue). And I guess we'll just negotiate and work it out from there. Teaching people you know (when you currently have no studio policy up and running since I have only home-taught before) can be quite tricky! I'll keep you posted! Thanks again!

I think you need to be paid for the time getting to and from this place. Maybe $60/hour? Either that, or get more students in the same area so you get more $$ from each trip.

When I was young, naive and desperate for money, I used to go to the house of two sisters to teach them. I say naive because I didn't charge for the commute, only for the lessons. They were a good 45min drive from my house!! They were, however, only 15mins drive from my partner's house so most weeks I went there afterward, but after I while I really resented the way I was being taken for granted. If I had the time over, I'd definitely charge for the commute. I think $45 would be fair to charge. Nowadays, I teach from home and at a private school (10-11 students a day). I would never consider travelling to individual students' houses as the commute cuts into the time available to teach other students.

I would ask your boss if their daughter has any friends in the area that might be interested in lessons. You may even offer to give her a free lesson if her friend signs up. It's an extra 50 minutes commute for you, and you want to charge $20/half hour. That means you shoudl be charging $60 for a lesson.

Why not charge an extra $15, so $35 per lesson? If you explain that you charge $20/half hour and that the commute would mean you couldn't teach for an hour of prime time, then then $35 seems like a deal! And that seems reasonable enough. Usually parents requesting that you teach in their home are willing to pay a higher premium for the convenience. And if you can get more kids in the area to take up lessons, then you can still feel OK charging them $35/half hour because that's still nowhere near what it would cost to cover your commute.