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I will be moving soon and want to find out what the going rates are in the area for teaching and accompanying.

How do people find out about how much others get paid? Is it acceptable to contact strangers using their contact info online to ask them? Or pretend I'm looking for an accompanist?

For teaching, I can find online what private teachers charge, but what about for those teaching in music schools where the school pays the teacher? And for accompanying, one option I was looking at was playing for a ballet company or for RCM exams.

For accompanying, ask the local instrumentalists or vocalists what they're used to paying their accompanists.

As for teaching in schools - why not just ask the school themselves? No harm in asking what a job's pay is before you apply. As a general rule, these schools tend to take about 65% of the cut, at least from what I've seen.

Maybe if you say where you're moving you'll get more specific advice from people on here.

You can try just asking strangers, but they might not be pleased to share with you. If you use a pretense, this might come back to you later in a bad way.

But the real answer to your questions is: "There's quite a range." You'll need to move first, and get a feel. Self-employed piano teaching and accompanying are marginal ways to make a living, especially when one is starting out in a new locale.

If it helps, I'll be moving to Calgary.

One of the courses I'm taking this semester is called "Your Music Business", and we're supposed to come up with a business plan and goals, etc. It makes sense to try to do some advanced planning instead of just waiting to see what happens...I wanted to take a look at the numbers and get a ballpark estimate on what it would take to make a living, whether it's really worth it to me to teach at one of those music schools, and also plan for what kinds of other jobs to do on the side while I gain exposure in the area.

We have a lot of Canadian members here, I'm sure some could help you out.

For what it's worth, 100% of my current private teaching studio came from (directly or indirectly), working for one of "those music schools." The ones I worked for (unusually so), did not make me sign any contract or anything, so I was free to recruit students after I left, or they just choose to follow me. I'd recommend working for one at least part time, you'll get lots of work relatively fast, even if the pay is not so great.

Figure out how much money you need to earn to live as you prefer in Calgary, and then accept the fact that you cannot earn this simply by teaching piano and accompanying.
Certainly not in the first couple of years after your relocation.

You need another source of income. A well-paid other part-time job. A partner with a secure salary. Etc.

This may actually be true. I relocated to southern FL 2-1/2 years ago and I'm still working on building up my studio here. It really takes a few years to get established and get the word of mouth to help you out. What you may want to do to get a feel for what you should charge is perhaps call some of these schools and see if there are openings and what you would get paid with your experience. I did that and one owner told me that she couldn't pay me what I should be making in this area and let me know what that amount should be. It was very helpful.

Thanks, this is good to know. I guess I'll keep my eye out for part-time software work then...there is no spouse to provide the extra income for me. Having a job like that is probably the only way I'd be able to get a decent mortgage for a house too.

How do pianists in expensive housing markets manage without having a house to put an acoustic piano in? I know the stuff I'm playing now would not be possible with a digital piano, and it's kind of sad I'll have to lose what I've gained in the past bit of studying I've been doing.

I'm kind of surprised it takes long since the posts I've seen you make around here make me think you are an excellent teacher. And I've read your posts where you talked about all that you did to find students.

I will call some of the music schools in the area, as you suggested.

Don't underestimate digitals. I used to think exactly as you did, but recently circumstances in my life have changed so that I've had to do a lot more practicing on digitals, and I've found that I can basically get the same quality of work done on them.

I'd say with a VERY GOOD digital (or better yet, a silent piano), up to 95% of results you achieve will be the same as with an acoustic. If it makes you feel better about the situation, Stephen Hough only practices on digitals when he's at home in NYC, as do a handful of Juilliard and MSM students living in NY apts.

That being said, it's important to find access to a quality acoustic at least some of the time, to retain the inspiration and feeling of touch. If you don't own one, there are usually creative ways to find access to one;( ex. I used to teach at a piano store for a slightly lower rate than I was worth, but in return I had keys and 24/7 access to the store and their private studio). Church jobs and accompanying positions might give you similar perks.

I don't know what it's like in Calgary, but here in L.A it's possible to find small "Bungalow" style houses to rent for pretty much the same rates as apartments - so you can have a little one or two bedroom freestanding cottage with nobody living on either side of you.

Well, thank you. But being good at something doesn't necessarily guarantee success, especially in the music world. It does require tenacity, though, and I haven't given up yet

With regards to the piano situation, if you cannot manage to have an acoustic piano, I highly recommend taking a look at Kawai CA65/95, VPC1, or the MP11 pianos. I played the latter two and was blown away by the feel and sound (the VPC1 you need software piano sounds, which are generally better than anything you can get onboard these days). Might be worth looking into if you have to.

This is absolutely what you should do. Consider yourself lucky that you have such a needed skill. Piano playing and teaching are not frills in our PianoWorld view of life, but they seldom pay enough to live on.

It's a good question. There are good digital pianos; there is soundproofing one can do to rooms; there are noise bylaws that generally allow noise by day; sometimes there are even neighbors who appreciate musicians.

But a related question is equally important: How do pianists in expensive housing markets afford their home teaching space? It's a great problem - rarely discussed by the piano pedagogy community.

Both of my past piano teachers taught in apartments. The first was a sub 6 foot grand in a 2 story condo complex. Neighbors on both sides and underneath. She had a pretty strict 7:00 o'clock cut-off and her biggest issue was that she was running a business out of the condo which was against the by-laws. The other was an Acrosonic (not very loud) in a single level duplex. She went as late as 8 or 9 in the evening but I remember that the two units were front to back and the piano room didn't' share any walls with the neighboring unit.

Thanks for mentioning this, it's yet another obstacle. Even when zoning laws might be lenient, condo bylaws often collide with what we do. North American subdivisions often have similar rules.
We music teachers both make noise and have a steady stream of visitors, so it's tricky to fly under the radar.

We stay away from expensive housing markets!

(Or, we have a small apartment entirely filled by a piano.)

And Calgary, since 2011, has a law that a teacher cannot have more than 15 students coming for lessons in one week.

Who needs furniture, anyways? It's highly overrated.

One of my pianos is serving as a very nice table. And I store boxes of stuff underneath it to absorb the sound.

This is very interesting. And unfortunate. It would be hard to enforce, but it does suggest that Calgary piano teachers are poorly organized as a group. Does anyone know the back story to this recent bylaw?

In an area with mostly detached homes - like Calgary - the studio teacher's dramas with neighbors usually relate more to cars and parking than to musical noise.