1. Structure your course
Structuring your course is absolutely essential when it comes to teaching music. A lot of teachers face this problem when starting off and are unsure of how to start, which topics to cover first and in which order.
The worst thing that you can do is to just wing it. You absolutely have to structure your course. And the best way to do this is to understand how your competitors and others in the industry are doing it.
First, talk to your musician friends who are already teaching. Get some guidelines of how you could do it. I am sure they will be willing to help out.
Second, there are numerous courses available for learning music on websites like Udemy and Coursera at nominal rates. There are also a bunch of websites which provide a monthly subscription. Invest in a few and understand how people structure it. Once you see 5-6 different courses you will be able to structure your own course based on your niche and skill set.
The cost of purchasing these courses will be minimal when you compare to what you could earn per student teaching music.
2. Keep learning
One way to make your and your students’ life dull is by stopping your own learning. When you learn you are able to come up with newer ideas which you can incorporate into your course. This will be evident to your students as well and will make sure your classes don’t become stale.
3. Inspire and introduce your students to great musicians and teachers
If your student is just starting out on an instrument then chances are that he or she will not know about the legends of that particular instrument. Make sure you introduce them to all the great music and videos that you yourself get inspired by. This will inspire them and keep them engaged.
Similarly also help them learn more. If there is great lesson you see online by some other teacher, share it with them. Your student won’t leave you to study with someone else or take classes online if you share with them someone else’s lesson. They will appreciate you helping them learn.
4. Try different techniques, keep students engaged
Every student is different. If you find that a student is not able to learn certain concepts or is uninterested, then chances are its more your fault than the students. If you are not able to teach one way, then try another, and another until you succeed!
When teaching music you don’t necessarily need to wait for a student to fail to try a new teaching method. incorporate new techniques regularly and see what works best. try games, try splitting the class into small parts with different targets for each, try everything you can.
5. Manage classes properly
When you are just starting out it may not seem too important to focus on the managing part of your business but trust me, the moment you start to acquire more students and you don’t have a system in place, your whole business will start falling apart.
As soon as you start teaching music make sure you start making an excel or use some other class management software to record every detail. You will want to record what progress each student has made, what they want to achieve, when they come, how you acquired the student, when they are due to pay fees, etc etc.
So however boring it may seem, just make a small excel and keep feeding in the details. It will take only a few minutes after a class but will be more than essential in the long run.
6. Be consistent
Being consistent as a music teacher can not be stressed enough. Do not miss classes unless its absolutely necessary. Even then figure out a substitute who can maybe take your class for you. If you are a touring musician and travel frequently then make sure very student of yours understands this when they sign up.
If you are looking for substitute teachers then just get in touch with other teachers in your locality. This will also open up opportunities for you to take substitute classes teaching music when other teachers might not be available.
7. Advertise
Like any other business you will need to constantly advertise and make sure people know about you. We cover this in a lot more detail in our post 11 Effective Ways To Get More Students in Your Music School. Make sure to check it out.
We hope our guidelines can help you scale up your music teaching business!
