How Long Before This Kills Me? I Am Not in Control of My Extremities

Tip Tuesday: Summer Piano Lessons

I just finished updating and emailing my Fall Semester Piano Lesson Policies to all my students. I currently have 25 (possibly 26) students coming in the Fall! Amazing! To think that in the Fall of 2011 I started with about 6 students! My schedule is quite busy for the Fall. I have lessons Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 4:00 to 6:30, plus home-schooled kiddos in the mornings on Thursday and Friday.
I am so thankful for the opportunity to work and stay at home at the same time! I started piano lessons when Lydia was about 15 months old. I usually sent her off to Leah's house during lesson times until Brian came home and picked her up. But, by about 2 1/2 she was able to stay home with me during lessons (usually). She was good at napping for the first hour to two hours of lessons, and then either Brian was home or she would watch a show in her room. She has always been welcome to come out in the front room and be with me, as long as she is quiet. 

This will be a big transition having an infant during piano lessons. Thankfully my sister and mom live really close by so Gideon will be able to head over to their houses for a little bit before Brian gets home from work. Brian has grad school on Mondays, which is why I don't have piano lessons then. He will tutor his student on Wednesdays - another day with no piano lessons. All the other days he will be home by about 5:00. Lydia is home from school at about 3:00, I start piano lessons at 4:00, Brian is home at 5:00 and I am done at 6:30. Somehow we will work in dinner (I will have to get really creative with crockpot meals!).

Anyway, on to Tip Tuesday! This Tuesday I will write about how I plan for Summer Piano Lessons and how I go about teaching during the summer.

Growing up, I rarely took piano lessons in the summer due to us traveling. We were either moving, just arriving, or visiting family during the summer. I'm sure there were a few summers (especially when I was an advanced student) that I took. I do remember one summer in New York when my mom forgot me at lessons! I knew going into piano lessons that my student numbers in the summer would drop drastically than during the school year. I have always had a few students during the summer, which is just some extra money for us.

I have always limited my summer lessons down to ONE DAY a week. This way, I was done with lessons in one day (since I could teach from morning to evening) and could plan other fun activities the rest of the week. I believe my summer lessons have always been on a Monday and usually start around 10:00 in the morning and go until 6:00 in the evening (with a lunch break).

The only problem I ever had with teaching lessons over the summer was the money. For the first 3 years of teaching, I only charged for a lesson if the students came to that lesson. They would pay for each lesson of the month at the first of the month. If they missed a lesson, I would "roll-over" that payment to the next month. This worked out okay during the school year, but was really bad during the summer. Something always came up over the summer - summer camps, vacations, not wanting to come, etc. Last summer I think one month I had so many roll overs I barely made any money!

So, I changed my policies - partly because I was going into my 4th year and needed a change, and partly because of summer lessons. I now charge by the semester. I figure out how many weeks are in the semester, multiply that by the lesson price, and then divide that by the number of months in the semester. There are three semesters in my piano year - Summer, Fall and Spring. That way, I make the same amount of money each month despite holidays and missed lessons. I still do make-up lessons when I can. I have found that families are more committed to lessons when they have already paid for them. This really worked great this summer.

This summer I had eight piano students. Because of the Baby, I decided to set my schedule up with one hour breaks every hour. This ended up being my schedule:

10:30-11:00 (group lesson)

12:30-2:00 (a family of three)

3:00-3:30

5:00-6:00

Plus, I got paid the same amount each month by each student. This really helps with budgeting and knowing what I will be making over the summer. At the end of the Spring Semester, when I emailed about Summer lessons, I emphasized the importance of coming to each lesson and to only commit if they knew they would be there. This helped "weed" out the students who vacationed a lot, or just wanted a break from lessons for the Summer.

I definitely recommend a set price for each month during the semesters, with no roll-over lessons. This really makes parents and students commit and see me as a professional with an actual job/business (not just a hobby). I also recommend limiting the number of days during the summer. When I tell the parents I am only available on Mondays, that limits the spots. Why let them pick and choose the days they want over the summer? I don't want to have two students one day, one the next and three another. That would be annoying with planning outings and activities with family.