I have not raised my rates since I began teaching in 2007. I charge a flat monthly rate, and am considering increasing each month’s payment by $5 starting in Sept. I find myself worrying about how my families will react to this change, and how I’ll prepare to answer. I am very involved with MTNA […]
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Monday Mailbag – Do Independent Music Teachers Get Sick Days?
Though I don’t like hanging on to the per lesson price part of my plan, I don’t see a way around it to be fair to the parents if I have to miss a lesson. Do you ever have to miss a lesson, Natalie, anyone? What do you do? Last week’s Monday Mailbag post on […]
Monday Mailbag – Determining Monthly Tuition
After the past few months of lost income due to students canceling lessons for injuries, soccer games, vacations, etc., I am realizing how wise you and other teachers are for charging monthly tuition rather than per-lesson fees! Switching to such a policy for this fall is top on my priority list, but I am curious […]
What if Your Student Could Compose a Piece and Have it Performed by a Professional Musician?
That is exactly the vision behind Music-COMP (formerly the Vermont Midi Project). The organization began in 1995 with the purpose of “encourage[ing] and support[ing] students in composing and arranging music.” This is accomplished via “A community of professional composers, teachers, pre-service educators, and students engage in mentoring and online discussion of student work.” I had […]
Monday Mailbag – Year End Achievement Awards
“I am curious about student achievement awards. I am wondering what you and other teachers do. Do you give out awards based on years in lessons (i.e. 3 year award) or perhaps awards based on level of achievement (i.e. completed Faber level 2A etc.)? Maybe some teachers simply give out a participation certificate. This will […]
Monday Mailbag – Making Custom Student Worksheets
What program do you use to create your worksheets and publications? It may shock (or horrify!) some of you better designer-types to know this, but I create almost all of my worksheets and practice incentive materials in Microsoft Word. I’ve discovered that with the use of tables, you can accomplish just about anything in Word. […]
