Category Archives: Studio Ideas

Selling a Piano Studio as a Business

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A while back I was contacted by another teacher requesting input on the protocol for selling her piano studio. Since I’ve never been in the position of buying or selling a business, I had to tell her that I didn’t have a clue! However, after getting some additional counsel and going through the process herself, Suzanne Karpinski graciously agreed to write a guest post about her experiences. I think what she has to share is valuable for any of us to consider should we ever be in the position of needing to buy or sell a studio. So, without further ado, here is a special guest post:

Selling a Piano Studio as a Business
by Suzanne Karpinski

Running a piano studio is just like running any other small business: you have clients, provide a service, collect payments, and if you are in more competitive markets such as larger cities, you must also advertise. Your personality, temperament, skills and time are your product, so in order to continue to teach, you must generate a positive image and reputation in order to continue to thrive. This is a process that can take several years, much work and advertising dollars to achieve. So if the time comes for you as a teacher to move on from your business, what should you do with that investment?

This was a question that I recently had to address as am getting ready to make a huge cross-country move to begin my MFA degree on the east coast. I cared deeply about my students, so first and foremost, I wanted to ensure that the teacher who took over for me could maintain the standards and quality of instruction for my students that they had received from me. Here it is also important to recognize that this is also a business transaction.

In every specialty practice where clients are involved, it is common for the sale of the business to include the selling of the client list and the businesses’ “good will”. This is a term used to denote what was previously mentioned – your reputation. Yes, it has monetary value in the business world! People will pay for the guarantee of a quality product – you in this case. Therefore, it is highly advantageous for the purchaser, in this case the incoming teacher, to have that reputation already established for him or her. (This is yet another reason for carefully choosing the new teacher who will be purchasing your studio.) The client list represents all the time and effort you put into establishing that reputation, and any teacher worth her salt should be compensated for that effort.

In this instance, both I and the teacher taking over my studio needed to reach an agreement about what this “good will” was worth. Very tricky indeed. We looked at the incoming teacher’s advertising costs and calculated how many advertising dollars it typically required to see one student sign up with her studio and stay for at least 3 months. This was done by looking at the ratio of students to dollars spent. In this instance, we calculated that each student was worth about $50 a month in advertising. In normal business practice, a client is typically valued at what their worth is over the course of a full business year. We decided that in fairness, 6 months was likely more appropriate given the typical commitment of an average student in our area was 3-6 months. The final agreement said that for every student that signed with the new teacher, that teacher would pay the seller (me, in this case) $50 for every month they remained with the teacher, for a maximum of 6 months. Partial months would be pro-rated. Additional clauses that are typical of sale of business documents were also chosen to be included, such as a non-indemnity clause and an arbitration clause, which protect the buyer and seller from any potential disagreements later on.

At the end of the day, my students are sad to see me go, but excited that they’ve got a new teacher that they feel comfortable with. Parents are satisfied that they will continue to receive quality instruction. The new teacher is relieved to have spent her advertising budget on a new roster of dedicated, continuing students. And I, the outgoing teacher, can depart with a clear conscience and compensation for all of my hard work!

Highlights from the 2011 KMTA Conference

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Our annual state music teachers conference has come and gone. I attended my first state conference 10 years ago on a whim with a couple of friends and have been every year since. It’s such a wonderful opportunity to get to know music teachers from across the state, hear excellent guest artists, pick up new teaching ideas, and just have fun! If you have a conference in your state, I encourage you to check it out.

In spite of some technical glitches, the two sessions I presented went well. I don’t have any pictures of those, but I did capture some other highlights from the occasion that I thought I would share with you!


Melody Bober was the guest clinician this year. The weekend commenced with her wonderful presentation on ways to energize our studios.


We had a small group, but it made for a great environment with lots of opportunity to visit, re-connect with old friends, and make new ones!


Virginia Houser shared “Off the Beaten Path Teaching Treasures.”


At our Friday luncheon, two teachers were recognized for special awards. Jennifer Fink, of the fabulous Jen’s Piano Studio blog, was the recipient of the KMTA Outstanding Teacher Award!


Julie Watson was the recipient of the KMTA Outstanding Service award!


A lovely evening concert was given by Dr. Jane Solose.


Spending time with colleagues/friends is always a favorite! Jen, Julie, Lisa, and I grabbed a treat at Braum’s and stayed up way too late visiting together.


A fun duet recital Saturday morning with Martin Cuellar and Melody Bober performing some of her duet works. My favorite was the Southwest Landscapes suite. I bought a copy and one of my students and I started playing it this week!


Sylvia Coats gave a highly practical and energetic teaching demonstration on “Encouraging Creative Interpretations.”


Our South Central Kansas MTA delegation. :-)

There were a number of other great workshops, too, but I was so absorbed I guess I forgot to take pictures. Oops!


A lovely spot I captured with my camera on my way out of town at the conclusion of the conference. It was a gorgeous evening for a drive home through the Flint Hills! And now my mind is spinning with lots of ideas and things to sift through as I continue with summer lessons and prepare for a new year in the fall…

Quest for Capital Practice Incentive Theme Package is Now Available!

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It is with a great deal of excitement that I announce the availability of the practice incentive theme that we used in our studio this year: Quest for Capital! You can get your copy today…and see below for your chance to win all the studio materials for use in your own studio!

Quest for Capital is without a doubt one of the most fun, educational, and motivating practice incentives we’ve ever done in the studio! I like to think of it as an entrepreneur-meets-music-student endeavor. :-) In addition to investing in specific piano skills (a.k.a. Stock Options) throughout the year, students could also dream, plan, and create special Capital Improvement Projects that were showcased at The Gallery at the end of the year. The students were given a small table space and encouraged to sell their projects for a small profit, thus experiencing the excitement of integrating their music talents and knowledge with other areas of life and producing something of value in society.

The practice incentive is designed to provide a framework that will spur students on to attain greater proficiency in their skills and get their creative juices flowing as they contemplate possible project ideas. Students have already been asking me if we can do the same theme next year, or at least keep some of the same elements so that they can work on new projects. I am absolutely thrilled with the outcome of this theme and about the potential for it to be used in other music studios all over to inspire students in creative musical endeavors!

And now…for the special deal! Through the end of June, you can get $5 off the practice incentive package price when you use this coupon code: 59W3E7W2.

AND – everyone who purchases the practice incentive by the end of June will be entered in a drawing to win my complete set of studio materials – all the laminated studio cash, the wall banners, and the stock folders on the wall! Just select the Quest for Capital theme on the Resources page and checkout, and you will be entered in the drawing. The winner will be chosen at noon (CST) on Friday, July 1, using a random number generator.

Today is the Big Day – Entrepreneurship Meets Music Student!

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My students and I have been eagerly anticipating this day all year long! Tonight is the culmination of our year of Quest for Capital! Tonight is…The Gallery!

I think of tonight’s event as a sort of entrepreneurship-meets-music-student endeavor. Part of my vision was to give students a framework to work within to develop creative projects that relate to music in some way. Yes, we want to become excellent pianists, but it’s also important for us to see music in the context of the world around us. All of life should be cohesive and integrated. We shouldn’t fragment and segment the pieces of our lives into separate corners, but rather find ways to interlock them (like a puzzle) so that they form a beautiful whole.

Ultimately, I believe that Jesus Christ is the one by whom everything is held together in life (see Colossians 1). He gives meaning and purpose to every worthy pursuit. Within our lives, though, there are so many possibilities for us and our students to integrate music with other areas. That’s what I hope each of my students has gleaned and continues to remember from their preparations for tonight. I also wanted them to experience how exciting it is to be a producer and not merely a consumer in our society. And there are lots of other things that I hope this year’s practice incentive theme has accomplished as well :-) …but for now, here’s a list of the projects that will be on display at The Gallery:

  • A Year of Praise with Psalm 150 Calendar
  • Capturing God’s Creation Musical Slideshow
  • From His Heart to Mine CD
  • In Our Valleys Music Book
  • Musical Art – “Castle”
  • Musical Keychains
  • Musical Treats
  • Piano Bracelet
  • Piano Masterpiece Pencil Drawing
  • Quotable Mug Raffle Drawing
  • Set of Customizable Musical Postcards
  • Students’ Classics CD
  • Sunflowers in the Rain Sheet Music
  • The Abandoned Amusement Park Sheet Music
  • The Magnificently Amazing Music Book Holder
  • The MuZine
  • The Space Book

Introducing My New Piano Student…She Lives in Germany

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Toward the end of last year some friends of mine who live in Germany contacted me to see if I would consider teaching their daughter piano via the Internet. Since I had a little bit of experience doing this with one of my students last fall, I decided it would be fun to go the next step and take on a full-time student this way. It has been a ton of fun so far! We’ve only had a couple of lessons, but it is working out marvelously!

As you can see, the video quality is great. Current bandwidth limitations still require pretty substantial compression of the audio, but I’m hopeful that that will improve as the technology continues to advance. The set up allows me to deal with technique issues (I could quickly see that the bench was too close in the shot above and had her move it back), fingering, accurate notes, rhythms, etc. – pretty much everything as if my student was sitting a few feet from me in the room.

In addition to what takes place at the lesson, it’s easy for me to e-mail supplementary resources and materials that she can print and use for various assignments. Thankfully, the practice incentive theme that I put together for this year has a ton of printable resources already organized so that I can quickly navigate to them and send them her way!


As you can see, it doesn’t take much to conduct virtual piano lessons. All I have is a TV tray, topped with a box and my laptop. My student and I both have Skype (a free online communication software) on our computers and a built-in webcam. If you don’t have a built-in webcam, you can pick one up at any computer supply store and it should work fine. And that’s seriously it! Imagine the many incredible possibilities that lie in the future with these capabilities! So, if you have the opportunity, I encourage you to just jump in and give it a try. You’ll be glad you did. :-)

Super Cool Musical AlphaGems!

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Does anyone else keep a list of projects that they’d like to make for their studio? It seems like my list grows longer rather than diminishing in size! Regardless, these Do-It-Yourself Musical AlphaGems that Joy posted about recently have just been added to my list! I think my students would really love these, and there are so many possibilities for how they could be used. Maybe I’ll make some progress on my list during Christmas break this year…

A New Idea for Young Prospective Students

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One of the things I’m always trying to think about is ways to add value to the families in my studio. Of course, I need to make enough to pay my expenses and run a business, but I want them to feel like they are getting a great deal for their money. So, here’s an idea I thought of the other day when I was contacted by the mother of a little girl who is on my waiting list. She was hoping to get her into lessons this fall, but I ended up not having an opening for her, so they’ve decided to wait until next fall. The thing is that her daughter is so excited about starting lessons NOW.

Instead of just waiting a whole year and risking the loss of some of her enthusiasm, I thought it would be cool to offer some sort of Piano Lesson Prep Course that the mom can do with her daughter to start giving her musical experiences. The Mom really liked that idea, so I sent her the Pre-Piano Camp Package that I put together this summer. She can print off the student workbook and use the lesson plans to help guide her daughter through the course. I’m so excited to see how this works! If it works well, it’s probably something that I’ll list on my website as an extra studio “perk” – families who want to sign up their children for beginning piano lessons will have the option of receiving the Piano Lesson Prep Course to use as a fun introduction to music and the piano.

This particular mom is a pianist herself, so I know she won’t have any trouble utilizing the curriculum. But for those parents who don’t have a musical background, I think I would put together an easy reference sheet with things like a picture of the piano keyboard with the names printed on it, definitions for basic music terms, etc. It seems like it would be a fun way for the parent and child to start the learning process together. I guess we’ll see how it goes with this first family and then go from there! I’d love to know what you think, especially those of you who are parents. Would something like this be of interest to you if you were enrolling your child in a new activity?

Music Teacher’s Helper – Sign Up Now!

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Anyone who has been reading here for any length of time knows that I’m a huge fan of Music Teacher’s Helper. It has streamlined my bookkeeping like I never imagined was possible! I posted my first review of it after signing up for the free trial version four years ago. Although I was hesitant to plunk down the money for a monthly plan, it didn’t take long before I was sold on the value of it! I wrote a second review after using it for a year of lessons.

Anyway…if you’ve been thinking about trying Music Teacher’s Helper, but haven’t gotten around to it, I wanted to let you know that they recently announced that they’ll be increasing their pricing on October 1st. However, anyone who signs up for a subscription will be locked into the current pricing plan forever! And of course, if you don’t like it (impossible for me to imagine!), you can cancel at any time. When I first saw that the pricing was increasing, my heart sunk because as much as I love the convenience of MTH, I did not relish the thought of having to pay a higher price (especially since I’m already on the highest priced plan!). So I am thrilled to know that I am forever locked into my current price. That’s a great company for you!

Alright…commercial over. Just thought you all might like to know before it’s too late. :-)

Free School Calendars You Can Adapt for Your Studio

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Blog reader Cindy Truman recently alerted me to a fabulous resource that could also be a huge time-saver! Check out this website with pre-designed school calendars that you can download, adapt, and print for use in your studio. I’ve already been manually  doing my own from scratch for so many years now that I have enough to just go into a previous file with matching days and dates and just change the year and the events. But I sure wish I had known about these sooner because it would have saved me a ton of time! Plus, I like a few of these designs better than mine anyway. :-)

Monday Mailbag – Students Forgetting Assignment Books

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I would love it if you would address how you deal with students who consistently forget their assignment books!  I have started keeping large sticky notes on hand to stick right on the front of their book, but it’s very frustrating when this also doesn’t return!  It impedes progress.  My students who always bring their notebooks manage to keep their practicing moving right along and their is no question of what I assigned or where we are!

Honestly, I don’t have any students who consistently forget their assignment books. I think a huge part of this is the fact that I custom design assignment books to correspond to our practice incentive program every year. Their assignment book includes not only the assignment pages, but all of the supporting material and tracking information for earning points, Diligence Dollars, balls, etc. If a student forgets his assignment book, he gets nothing for that week because I have no alternative method of tracking his progress.

Now, this is not to say that all of my students faithfully refer to their assignment book throughout the week, but it does almost always make it to the lesson. :-) In the past, before I started doing my yearly practice incentive programs, I remember hearing a suggestion that I used a couple of times. Write a short note and “embed” it among the other assignments on the page…”If you circle this sentence, I’ll pay you $1.” Or something like that. The student was always mortified if they arrived at their following lesson and discovered that they could have earned $1 just by reading their assignments!

I think the key is to give the students a reason to read and bring their assignment books. Some students are naturally inclined to practice systematically, following each assignment step-by-step. But others are convinced that they can remember everything perfectly and never need to refer to their assignment book. Also, if it’s a serious problem and is affecting the progress of the student, I wouldn’t hesitate to enact a policy that students who forget their assignment book will have to call the parent and ask them to retrieve it for them or will forfeit the lesson. A one-time lapse of memory can be excused, but when it persists from week to week, you have to let them know that you’re serious about the importance of bringing it.

Those are a few of my thoughts. I would love to have some advice from others, though. How do you deal with students who forget to bring their assignment books? Or do you use something else in place of assignment books?

Remember, if you have a question you’d like to contribute to next week’s Monday Mailbag, leave it in the comments below or send me an e-mail sometime this week with Monday Mailbag in the subject line!