Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Teachers Forum The Art of Raising Fees, Part II

No, it doesn't KS.

I think a lot depends on:
what other teachers are doing in your area,
how much risk you're willing to take,
whether you're married to an income-generating spouse,
the sort of clients you want, as has been mentioned,
how capable you are of working harder or in a different field altogether,
your philosophies about music lessons, and
your own social set.

For instance, I've noticed that some teachers have a full studio all the time because they're French-speaking or belong to a particular religion or ethnic group. Or perhaps, they were willed a house in a rich neighborhood, and so have no trouble attracting wealthy students.

For me, I'm not too good at other jobs, so I'm afraid to set my rate much higher. But some people can work a full time job and start accumulating students at a high tuition rate.

As for music philosophies, if you're willing to teach more pop music, you will have less trouble raising your rates.

But in response to the inflation rate, I'm hard-pressed to concern myself greatly with this. I find people in general spend money on a lot of things they could forgo if they really valued piano lessons. The issue really is what people value. It's a wonder that any vehicle gets sold at full prices such as $23,000. If most places were in rough shape, you'd see most people buying up all the used cars and taking the bus when these became unavailable. But car dealerships survive and there are hundreds of used automobiles for sale.

As for food, tons of people buy potato chips, pop, and other processed foods, whereas you'd think only rich people could afford these. Who can really afford more than 50 cents for a cup of coffee? Almost everybody it seems. Doesn't anybody carry a thermos anymore and prepare it at home?

Nobody puts a patch on a pair of pants, and none of my students have socks with evidence of darning.

So, let more money flow to piano teachers, I say.

I'm not sure I would want to go down that path, as it will definitely open a whole new can of worms. Literally and figuratively. I live in an area where parents of CM students do talk to each other and make all sorts of ill-advised comparisons. And there are already tons of myths being spewed around. I almost feel like a myth-buster trying to dispel all the lies and half-truths that are being tossed around as facts.

Each teacher is free to make whatever he/she wants out of the exam results. I tend not to put too much emphasis on the exam results.

Really?! Can you let me know more about this? All of my "pop music" students did not last very long, and they tend to quit lessons when the going gets tough.

Exactly...

FYI this has floating around for a while but it is not accurate: check out the Bureau of Labor Statistics 'Misconceptions FAQ'

I've lived long enough to learn that anything published by the government needs careful examination. The fact is that in 1999, gas was under $1/gal. Now it's over $3.50/gal. That's 8.7% inflation a year. I could fill my food cart at the grocery store for well under $100, now it's over $200. That's 4.7% per year. My utilities have doubled, even if my house hasn't but I'm not buying a new house every year. The bottom line is that the things I and my family need for day to day living have gone up far more than the government's rosy reports.

AZN: That used to be the case for me, too. But for some reason, I have retained a number of students who really like pop music. Of course, they can't play much pop for about one to two years at the beginning, save for Flintstones, Star Wars etc. But after a few years, there are good arrangements of pop tunes.

There is no trick, but it helps me to act upon their requests (in simple versions). It also helps to supplement with pieces with a specific purpose. I introduce these pieces by stating the exact skill they will learn. For instance, I say, one day, when you drive a car, you need to know how to change the radio dial at the same time. This piece has both hands doing very different things. One hand lifts, the other plays legato.

I think you also have to be a bit of a maverick yourself. Few of my piano teachers would have convinced me they could teach pop. They were died-in-the-wool classical musicians.

What I would really like to be able to do is teach the piano part to pop music as it is in the original recording, and get a small band of kids together to back up my student. When I was growing up, I really wanted to be in a band. I think children really think it's hard to play in a band, but it's not really. Most of those guys couldn't pass a grade six exam. It's just difficult for teachers to organize.

At first, it was hard for me to teach pop. But if you look at the reality of my students lives, in which classical music plays a small role indeed, it seems to make sense to reach them where they're at.

Our local MTAC branch puts on an annual jazz and pop music festival. It has the largest enrollment of all of our festivals (Baroque, Romantic, Classical era are the others). There's definitely an interest in pop music among students.

candywoman, 3 of my students wanted to perform an Owl City/Carly Rae piece last year as an ensemble. I bought 3 portable keyboards, lent them to the students (with 2 kids actually deciding to buy the keyboards from me), and we all worked together to arrange the piece. It was a great learning experience for them (they were 8th graders at the time). We made use of the 'style beats' on the keyboard, they had to divide the parts between them, figure out which voices would complement each other, etc.... The song was a hit and they won a trophy for their performance.

Luckily the BLS info on the Consumer Price Index is publicly available online. If you find any errors let us know.

It's not the numbers which have errors, but the assumptions. As the old saw goes: Statistics never lie but liars use statistics.

More on pop music:

I also think kids have a great need to fit in. When they're at school chatting with friends, which gets them more social points, being able to play Skyfall in an easy version or playing Sonatina in F from the anthology that nobody knows about?

When I was a kid, I'd buy Sheet Music Magazine from New Jersey, which carried some well-known tunes. Did any of you do this too? It made me feel special receiving the magazine every two months. It helped me form a musician's identity. I really think this is important for children who are just discovering who they are. They have many activities, so the question for them becomes "What makes me unique?"

With pop music, you can also encourage students to go to any music store and/or download pieces that appeal to them, putting them in the driver's seat. After all, they will one day leave the nest (piano teacher's studio) and need to decide about music's role in their life.

It was a sad day when they went under. I always enjoyed receiving it as well.

One of my students brought me stacks of Sheet Music Magazine left by their grandparents. What a treat! I had never seen it and this is the first time I've heard it mentioned by other teachers. They not only have great music, but interesting articles describing that genre of music making, and additional technical hints and tips that I always found valuable. I had been thinking to subscribe on my own and I'm so disappointed to learn they are no longer available. We can hope that perhaps someone else will offer something similar.

Such as?