Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Teachers Forum Saturday teaching

Those of you who teach on Saturdays, do you charge a premium? Why or why not? Actually, I'm giving serious thought to adding one day to my teaching schedule, 8 - 2 on Saturdays (since I have group lessons once a month, but later in the PM, plus recital coordinator for the community).

Thanks for your comments.

Students/parents, if you're taking lessons on Saturday, does your teacher/school charge a premium?

I have always taught Saturdays, and have never charged a premium - in fact it never even occurred to me to do so.

I'm starting a monthly group lesson, which students will have a choice of Friday afternoon or Saturday morning. I've never had anyone ask about Saturday lessons, and most kids are playing soccer or doing family activities on that day.

Have you had some interest from your end, John?

Been teaching Saturdays for a year now. No premium. I don't see why there would be one. It's the same a lesson during the week and in fact more convenient for me anyway.

Ben, my wife is a union member. If she works on the weekend, she gets time and a half. That's why it crossed my mind in the first place.

(added) I do discount lessons which take place before school lets out.

I do teach on Saturdays, for the same fees. However, because there are many recitals, festivals, and competitions on Saturdays, those students need to be flexible with their scheduling. For most MTAC functions, if I enter students, I need to help out at the event.

I'd much rather teach on Sundays, but no takers.

I don't teach on Saturdays, but many of my co-teachers do, and they all say that absenteeism is higher than on any other day.

I refuse to teach on Saturday or Sunday. I need to recharge for the week.

I teach some lessons on Saturdays and I charge the same as I do during the week. The students who have Saturday lessons have been in those spots for several years and have parents who work full time.

If anything comes up like a competition, festival etc. they aren't too hard to move around.

Take Care, Lou

I've always taught Saturdays and charge the same as I do during the week. My own lessons take place on Sunday - and I'm not charged anything extra for a Sunday.

Saturday is my busiest day, and I charge the normal rate.

Most of my students have two working parents which means lessons before 5pm during the week are simply not possible. As a result, I have a choice - I can either teach late into the evening or teach on Saturdays. My wife works a lot of Saturdays, so the choice was easy - teach Saturdays and end my teaching day during the week at 6:30pm. I know teachers who teach as late as 8 or 9pm. If I did that, I'd never get to see my wife! (Since she works 70+ hours a week, it's important to protect those evenings!)

I always tune pianos on Saturdays at no extra charge, because it helps out two income families who work Mon-Fri. Saturdays are always booked up. My days off are during the week, which I prefer, actually.

Again, thanks everyone for your ideas and inputs.

I used to teach Saturdays, but I did notice a greater frequency of reschedules, as well as having conflicts with WMTA auditions and Solo/Ensemble Contest (and the state contests as well). So I stopped doing this regularly. I didn't charge a different rate, however.

We had lessons on a few Saturdays at our teacher's suggestion. Recitals are Sundays, and he liked to rehearse the day before if anything special were being done. To be honest, I don't like Saturdays as a student. The weekend is one time that a family can be together and you don't have to go anywhere. It would not make sense to me to pay more for an inconvenient day.