5 Ways to Increase Piano Teaching Efficiency

I like to think of myself as an efficiency queen. I probably live in a dream world, but I’m all about doing things in the shortest possible time but in the most thorough way. When my husband and I get into the car, he now just turns and asks me how I want to get to our destination, knowing that I already have the most direct route planned and that there will be some serious stern looks if we go a different route.

I can’t help being efficient with some things. But piano teaching is a different story. I’m still learning ways of being efficient and I’m very open to any ideas you have!

Over the years, I have become much more efficient in 5 areas of piano teaching, so I thought I’d share at least what I’ve learned in how I practice piano teaching efficiency and hope you will in turn let me know other ways to be efficient.

5 ways to increase piano lesson efficiency

1. Establish a tuition schedule

I cannot begin to tell you how much time, stress, and energy this will save you. I have scores of emails from teachers who have talked about how the tuition schedule we talk about in the “Stress-free Business Practices for Piano Teachers” workshop has saved their sanity! So, let me just summarize and then you can read the details.

  1. Determine how many weeks you want to teach in a given time period (a year, a school year, or a semester).
  2. Multiply this number of weeks by your per lesson price.
  3. Divide it into even payments for parents (this makes it easy…they never have to ask you how much they owe!)

It’s that simple. It’s smart and saves you time because you never have to calculate how much tuition people owe and they will stop asking you because it’s the same every month! Read more about it here: No More Charging Lessons by the Week.

2. Stop giving makeups and start using flex weeks

If you aren’t convinced that makeup lessons end up being much more work for you, then read this humorous article: Top 5 Reasons You SHOULD Give Makeup Lessons. Okay now that you are convinced, I would encourage you to eliminate makeup lessons and instead offer creative solutions like swap lists, Skype/Facetime lessons, and phone lessons. This keeps you from getting double booked (because you lose the time that the student was supposed to be there plus the makeup lesson time). Read the step-by-step How to Move to a No Makeups Policy.

You might also consider putting flex weeks into your schedule to allow for things like snow days or teacher illnesses. If you do this, then you can cancel the lessons and then just add an extra week of teaching to the end of the term (NOTE: Do NOT schedule this extra week until AFTER you know that you’ve had to cancel lessons. You do not want to give an extra week of lessons to everyone if there is no need. If you do that, then you’ll be teaching for free and there’s no reason for that.) There’s a very detailed “how to” in these articles: Snow Days, Jury Duty, Illness…Oh My!   and More on Snow Days, Jury Duty….

Piano teaching efficiency | composecreate.com3. Use this handy database for intermediate music

This database has saved me so much time! When a student tells me they want to play a specific piece or I help them choose a piece of music from my music stacks, I want to know all the possible books this piece is in so that I can find the most appropriate anthology for this student. You can search this handy database by typing in a composer, a piece, or a number of other details and it will show you all the anthologies in which the piece exists!

Bobbie Rastall’s database is a time saver for any teacher!

4. Don’t allow parents to transfer their scheduling crises to you

I talk about this in more detail in the “Stress-free Business Practices for Piano Teachers” workshop. It’s so easy to allow parents to make their problem your problem! But you don’t have to let this happen. If they can’t make it to a lesson because of volleyball, you can offer them your alternatives (see number 2) and then if they can’t do that and insist on something, then you can ask them to video themselves playing their pieces and send them to you before their regularly scheduled lesson. You can then use their lesson time to review the videos and send them feedback. No makeup lesson required! You have reserved that time in your schedule for them, so force them to come up with a solution that will work and not take up any more of your time.

Don’t worry. Students know how to upload videos to YouTube, so all they have to do is send you the links to their videos and everyone gets what they paid for!

5. Stop working

Piano teaching efficiency | composecreate.com It’s easier said than done, I know. But anyone who works at home is tempted to continue working all day because they never leave their work. However, our body’s ultradian rhythms (which I learned about in the handy book: Manage Your Day to Day) say that we can only really work on something with optimal results for 90 minutes before we need at least a 20 minute break.  And at the end of a long day of teaching, I think we’ve exhausted several of those 90 minute segments without even those 20 minute breaks! If the body has time to rejuvenate, then you’ll end up being a happier, healthier, and more creative teacher if you get the sleep rather than do the work.

Now it’s your turn! What has helped you increase piano teaching efficiency and work smarter, not harder?

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7 thoughts on “5 Ways to Increase Piano Teaching Efficiency”

  1. Wendy, Thank you, thank you, thank you for #4!! What a fabulous idea. I think this is a real win-win offering. Parents won’t feel like they are paying for something they aren’t getting and I bet students will think it’s cool to post their video. I’m sure most students do know how to Youtube themselves, but can you guide those of us who don’t know, to a resource that will help us answer questions from parents? Thanks again for all of these great ideas but #4 definitely resonated with me!

  2. I changed to the equal payment plan 4 years ago and it is truly effortless once it’s established. One of
    my own kids was enrolled in lessons where we paid the same each month and as a parent I loved it. I love it as a teacher too!

  3. I agree Carol! Effortless is a great word for it and as a parent, I don’t have the time to chase down the statement or email the teacher to find out how much I owe if it’s different every month!

    Well said.

  4. I liked the video review idea in point 4. I’ve been doing this with my students, and it makes them work better, but i never thought of using the class time they miss as an opportunity to review videos. So many great ideas on your site.
    Thanks

  5. Thanks Anita! I’m just sharing what I’ve learned and am so glad it’s a help to you!

  6. Love the idea of having the student record a video, then reviewing it and leaving comments! Brilliant! 🙂
    Also, I really appreciate you listing #5: stop working. That’s one of the hardest ones for me, but it’s good to remember that ultimately working longer hours doesn’t help me get more done. I think a lot of us music teachers are perfectionists (because we are artists and musicians) and always want to go the extra mile…but sometimes, it just isn’t possible and it’s more important for us to feel rested and refreshed so we can be at our best to teach!

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