“The Music Lesson” by art_es_anna via Flickr”By Mason Razavi

Ah, the joy of teaching private lessons. As a teacher, the first thing you’ll notice is that you spend a lot of time effectively teaching yourself. No matter if you’re a self-taught weekend warrior or a doctoral candidate from Julliard, nothing quite prepares you for the private teaching experience: teaching little kids Green Day songs, reminding overbearing parents that you’re the one teaching the lesson, reminding arrogant teenagers that you’re the one teaching the lesson, and figuring out how to respond to little kids occasionally vomiting all over themselves.

Once you get past that, you’ll recognize that teaching lessons is a great way for trained musicians to keep their chops up, expand their network, get their name out, and earn some pretty steady bread in the process. If you’re considering teaching private lessons, read on for my 10 quick tips. If you have private teaching experience, add some comments to enhance this article for aspiring teachers. If you’re constantly working to improve your own abilities, that’s going to be passed on to your students.

In no particular order…

1. Have A Game Plan. Have plenty of music on hand to teach from and refer to. Know what concepts you’re going to teach, and how you’re going to explain them. Do your best to anticipate where students will struggle and how you can help them through those struggles.

2. Keep Track. Make sure you have detailed notes! Make sure you’re on top of payment schedules (who owes you what, and when), conflicts (dates you or a student can’t make a lesson), and notes on each lesson to refer back to.

3. Hustle. If someone can’t make a lesson date, offer to teach a makeup that same week. If they’re going on vacation for a month, work something out to get in all their lessons before they go (if practical). If you have students who have 30-minute lessons, and you genuinely believe that they would benefit from hour-long lessons, find 2 open one-hour slots in your schedule and find out which one works better for them. In the end, running a private lesson studio is running a business, and you have to do what you can to maximize your revenue. At the same time, if you’re giving your students that kind of attention, they’re going to appreciate it and ultimately get more out of their private lesson experience.

4. Don’t Suck. Keep practicing. Learn new material. Gig more. Constantly seek out new music. Work out exercises your students would benefit from. Improve your practice routine. Look through method books on your instrument at the local music store. Learn more about your instrument. If you’re constantly working to improve your own abilities, that’s going to be passed on to your students. Not only that, but you will feel a boost of confidence as you start to truly become an expert in your field. See? This kid’s teacher is so good he doesn’t even believe what his hands are doing… piano practice by woodleywonderworks via Flickr

5. Be Nice, Be Stern, Be In Control. You’re the teacher. Don’t let your students or their parents tell you how to run the lesson. At the same time, don’t be too hard on them either. You have to strike a balance between understanding and authoritative. This also applies to how you handle students who don’t practice; be stern, make them aware that they have to practice, but find ways to incentivize lessons and motivate them to want to practice. It’s not easy, but as you learn how to do this you’ll find your students become better players and your job will become more enjoyable.

6. Build a Network. Get to know private teachers of any and all instruments in your area. This way, you can refer students who you don’t have time for/don’t want to play the styles you teach/want to learn another instrument/have a friend that wants to learn the drums/etc to those other teachers. Guess what happens as a result? They’re going to refer some business to you as well. On top of that, your students will trust you more because they’ll acknowledge that you’re part of an “in” crowd of trained local musicians. The cherry on top is that you’ll meet other cool people, and maybe even get more gigs and other projects as a result of your networking efforts. Teaching out of your home is convenient, but you have to have a space that is appropriate

7. Decide Where You Want to Teach. It seems simple enough, but a lot of factors can come into play. Do you want to teach at a music store, a music school, out of a room that you rent somewhere, or perhaps out of your own home? Each has its own benefits and drawbacks. Teaching out of anywhere but your home will cost you something, but that cost my be offset by the advertising that location does. Teaching out of your home is convenient, but you have to have a space that is appropriate for and dedicated primarily to teaching. You don’t want to have to fight over the sounds, smells, and sights of your home to teach a lesson.

8. Keep Extras on You. Picks, strings, bows, reeds, staff paper, etc. Keep plenty of extras on hand.

9. Prepare A Few Audition Tunes. Parents and students might want to audition you before they take lessons from you. Even if they have committed to you, they might just want you to play for them. Be able to play a few pieces that showcase your abilities on your instrument, without being too intentionally flashy or over the top. Unless you bill yourself as a specialist of one particular style, make sure that you can play a couple tunes in a couple of different styles. This will let you tailor your selection to your audience. For instance, a parent might want to hear different things from your playing than their 12-year old student.

10. Put in the Time – Outside Lesson Time. For every hour you teach, plan on spending an hour outside of the “classroom” for prep time. Use this time to think about your students, what you can bring to them to enhance their abilities, and to think of ways to help them progress further.

There you have it, folks. Now, leave some comments on these teaching tips, and while your at it leave some tips of your own!