Aside from knowing how to play the piano yourself, what are ways to start teaching piano? Once you've started teaching, what are avenues for continuing to improve your teaching craft?

Sometimes, all it takes is playing piano in public to be asked for piano lessons. This may take you by surprise or you may have been hoping to get a student, but everyone starts somewhere!

"Will you teach me?"

No matter how you get your first student, you will have questions and maybe some hesitancy to start on this journey. 

Here are 5 steps for beginning piano teachers:

1. Be willing to try and fail.

Believe it or not, failing as a piano teacher happens the moment you decline because of feelings of inadequacy. Failure happens before you even started!  While I can't speak to your specific situation, I believe that if you have put in the time to learn piano; maybe 5 years of consistent lessons, practice, and performance experience, becoming a piano teacher is possible. 

Certainly, if a student eventually surpasses your skill level and knowledge, be honest. You may fit as a practice coach and an encouraging, helpful constructive critic. You may refer this person to a more skilled pianist that you trust or that your student finds. You will cross that bridge when you come to it! 

If you have a desire to teach piano, have confidence to start a beginner who is interested. You have to start somewhere just as much as a piano student has to start somewhere. If your thoughts say, "I'm not good enough," say, "I would like to teach and I am committed to continuing to learn and grow in this skill." Making mistakes is part of the process.  

2. Ask yourself who, what, where, when, why, and how.

• Who? Will you market your studio or just use word of mouth? 
• What? What level? What style? 
• Where? Have a location to meet with a piano, whether that is your house, their house, a music school, or a local church that you rent.
• When? Look at your calendar and determine your availability. Remember to consider prep time and follow up time. 
• You're Big Why: What is your purpose in life? How does teaching piano serve you towards that purpose? What are your goals?
• How? Decide your method series and other curriculum. 

I have written posts about starting up an independent studio: 

3. Create Lessons Plans

Having a list of activities and a general idea of time commitment is very important. 

As you teach, you will find that the student may need extra attention in a different area or even have questions that they would like to explore. Write your plan in pencil; have flexibility. However, you need to have a direction. 

Do not become a "turn the page" teacher. Have supplemental games, apps, worksheets, and activities ready to go. I refer to Joy Morin's Color In My Piano blog regularly as she has created many engaging games and activities (many of them are free to print!). She is a huge source of inspiration to me. I definitely suggest finding teaching blogs that you are drawn to and consulting them regularly for relevant activities and new teaching ideas.

4. Familiarize yourself with the method.

Have your own copy of all the books you are planning to use. 

Read through the table of contents and all of the concept pages. Use these as springboards for supplemental games and activities to reinforce. You don't need to go in order and you can present ideas sooner than the book. That way your student will be ready for future challenges in their music as it incrementally gets harder. 

Play through all the music and spend time practicing any songs that are difficult for you. Write down how you learned the pieces and think through your approach. What are the patterns? The form? What notes need to be reviewed? What articiulations are present and what technique do you use to create those articulations? How will you teach this to someone else?

If you are using a no-book method or passing down a skill by demonstration, such as playing pop chords or in the jazz style, have a structure and outline of how and when you will present new concepts incrementally. Have a list of songs you will teach and any reference materials that will be helpful for the student printed and attached to follow up lesson notes.

I use a spreadsheet where I write which pages I will assign, what concepts we will cover, and what activities tie in.  Doing this in one large batch gets the hard part of brainstorming out of the way early.  When lessons come, I can refer to my chart and plug those into my lesson notes. 

5. Lesson Structure

Keep your introductions short, try to avoid long conversations that are off topic. Every situation is different, but avoid spending more than 5 minutes catching up.

Be open to a student opening their book to show you their progress. If you would like to encourage a more spontaneous day, ask "What would you like to show me first?" or "What topic or skill would you like to work on today?"

As the student is playing, avoid looking at the music score. Instead, watch their hands, body movements, flexibility, and relaxation.  Give constructive, positive comments.  Avoid reacting to each missed note. Instead, find a way to communicate how to be expressive with music.  

Oftentimes, students will tell me it was perfect at home, but in front of me it's not.  I do whatever I can to help my students feel comfortable, but I always keep in the back of mind how hard it is to play for someone who knows what the music is supposed to sound like. You will be able to tell if they worked on it. If they did, have stickers ready! Find something that sounded great to comment on. Demonstrate a way to vary the dynamics or articulation.  

After the lesson, type up your notes, detail the assignments, and email them to your student. 

Bonus: Have a sticker book

If you are still unsure about teaching because you don't know if your student will like you, make a sticker sheet collection and make a prize box.  Their eyes will light up, I promise. 

-Jenny

For some reason, when I put Chopin's name in the title of this post, the thumbnail will not show up on my main page. So this should be titled 10 Keynotes of Frederic Chopin's Piano Pedagogy. 

I recently read Chopin: pianist and teacher as seen by his pupils by Jean-Jacques Eigeldinger. Chopin had about 150 pupils in total, which is pretty incredible considering his many compositions and performances; and, he only lived until he was 39. In this book, his students share their experiences and the specific teachings of Chopin.

Here are the 10 most important takeaways that I'm actively applying. 

1. Teaching Hand Shape

Many methods teach beginners to pretend they are holding a ball or apple under their hands. Others mention keeping your fingers rounded, playing on fingertips, and keeping your wrist level.




Chopin's instructions were to place fingers 2, 3, and 4 on the three black keys. Then place fingers 1 and 5 on the black keys. This is your natural hand shape. To play on the white keys only, gently pull your hand towards you and maintain the hand shape.

Forearms should be level with the piano and the wrist needs to stay flexible. In addition to that, he taught that the 2nd finger was the center of the hands; turning my hand out has actually helped with playing his music, but it is awkward to maintain since that is not how I learned.

2. Singing with the Fingers and Breathing with the Wrist

You must sing if you wish to play - Chopin

Chopin was a huge fan of opera singers and specifically the bel canto style of singing. By singing our piano pieces, we can hear our natural tendency to crescendo and decrescendo, to take extra time preparing for leaps, and have a freedom from the accompaniment to push and pull the tempo; an effective way to learn how to play rubato.

Along with singing with the fingers, Chopin also taught students to create the impression of human breathing. He taught students not to lift their hands too quickly and would ask,

Did it burn you?

Legato playing was also emphasized. Playing detached would lead to Chopin asking if they were hunting pigeons.

3. Teaching Rubato

I don't know about you, but when I was taught rubato, the only definition I had was to push and pull the tempo. Listening to interpretations of Romantic music, I would often hear the artist use both hands simultaneously to push and pull the tempo. This sounded great to me! However, my execution often ended up being a cover for my less than stellar sense of rhythm and maintaining an even, steady beat.




How did Chopin teach rubato? He noticed that singers didn't always stick with the accompanist's tempo, therefore his definition of rubato is the melody is free from metrical constraints leading to the artist being able to freely express their feelings.

So, if you thought teaching hand independence was difficult, just wait until you teach rubato for Chopin's compositions!

4. Inspiring Students

Chopin used images to convey emotion. Chopin's own imagery included 

• For legato - avoid a pigeon hunt
• For staccato - think of pizzicato or plucking a string and grazing the key like a fly brushing it with it's wing

I have practically applied this by telling beginner students that spiders can only crawl with rounded legs. Don't be a smashed spider! Use a hammer-like touch for accents and forte, but gently pet a cat to create soft sounds.

5. Playing Pieces for Students

Chopin would play piano pieces, including his own compositions, many times for his students in full. This is encouragement to us to also play for our students! Don't be shy! I think we may focus more on how to get through the method material or marking up the students' scores, but students need to see how technique and expression are applied.

6. Advocating for Shorter Practice Times

Chopin advocated for practice sessions to be no longer than 2 hours a day. He actually was angry with a student for reporting practicing longer than that. Why? Because he was very against being mechanical and he believed practicing more than 2 hours caused the student to lose expression and musicality to exhaustion.

7. Being Self-Taught Is Not a Weakness

I spend time on Reddit's r/piano subreddit. Many users have reported being told that they will have created too many bad habits from self-teaching that a teacher will not accept them into their studio.

I will admit, I was self-taught for my early years. I did have bad habits. I, perhaps wrongly, perceived my high school piano teacher reluctantly taking me on as a student given my patchy background. Why can't we as piano teachers have the patience to help a student sort out bad habits? Are we worried about tarnishing our reputation? 

Chopin was self-taught and his eventual piano teacher was a violinist. See how that worked out for him? A well-respected composer, teacher, and performer, remembered nearly 200 years after his death. Please don't underestimate self-taught individuals.

In my own story, after a failed audition for a university, my dad recalls I was told that I didn't have the expected background of a future music major. When a different college accepted me, I thought it was because they felt bad for me and unfortunately, I carried that sadness for many, many years. I didnt feel as though I belonged and that I was simply given the spot because the professors felt bad for me. Kindness is free. Imagine how a student can thrive if they have your encouragement.

8. Purpose of Technique Books

Chopin was not a fan of training mechanical technique. Technique and expression work together. Therefore, the technique exercises he preferred weren't trying to create a perfect evenness between fingers, but challenging artistry to shine through even the most difficult passages. He actually prized the individuality in tone each finger could produce. We can hear that in his Etudes. They are performance literature for a reason! Practically speaking, Chopin assigned Clementi's Préludes et Exercises and Gradus, Cramer Études, and Moscheles Op. 95 or 70 for technique.

9. Expression over Accuracy

From the earliest levels, I have been drilling this into my students. Better to focus on the dyanmics, articulations, and putting your emotions into music than play robotic, trying to be perfect, and correct any and every mistake. I ask for my students to continue playing despite mistakes, cover the mistake if they are able, and, since we are still practicing the piece, we go back in and work on the problem spot. This is to train them to perform. We all make mistakes when we are performing; develop the skill of covering and the audience will not notice.

10. Finding Joy in Piano Teaching

Have you ever been told

Those who can, do; those who can't, teach.

Ridiculous, I know that now, but I was told by a student that his grandpa said that about me. His grandpa didn't know me, but even if he did, those words are not true. Chopin stopped giving performances due to anxiety about being on stage (another way I related to him!), but I don't think any of us would consider him someone who "can't" simply because he became a teacher full-time. He gave excellent performances of his works to his students. He continued composing. Teaching is an amazing career and rewarding. Don't let someone undermine your accomplishments.

Bonus! Chopin's Curriculum

Specifically lesser known repertoire

• John Field
1. Concertos 1, 3, 4
2. Nocturnes
• Weber
1. Sonatas in C (op. 24)
2. Sonatas in A-flat (op. 39)
• Hummel
1. Rondo brilliant op. 98
2. La Bella Capriciosa, op. 55
3. Sonata in F# minor, op. 81
4. Concertos in A minor and B minor
5. Septet op. 74

In conclusion, I found these points to be so encouraging and helpful for practical applications and for creating a positive mindset. I highly recommend picking up this book. It is priced as a textbook, so I suggest doing what I did: use your library or your library's interlibrary loan service to borrow a copy.

What books have helped you grow as a piano teacher? Please share them in the comments!




-Jenny

How has my goal to put out 25 physical advertisements for my piano studio gone?

I felt very discouraged by the lack of responses because this campaign was ultimately very expensive and I would need three new students to break even from this loss. I have a feeling that maybe people were expecting a video, but the ad was merely a picture. I know my homemade website also loads slowly and wasn't very engaging at the time.

How has my overall goal to get 2 new piano students by June 30 gone?

The brother of my current student signed up in March! I was halfway to my goal. 

I decided to go through my contact spreadsheet and text two friends of mine who inquired. After texting them, 1 signed up! I had reached my goal and she started a week ago.  

Then, at church, a new friend of mine from my worship team inquired about lessons and she was very serious. She signed up and started 2 weeks ago. 

My goal has not only been accomplished, but has exceeded my expectations. 

My happy ending is that I have earned back the Google Ad cost; just not in the way I was expecting. 

What are your goals for 2023 and how close are you to achieving these goals?

Setting goals is an important tool for having success in many different areas of our lives, whether that be relational, emotional, or spiritual. When focusing  on our vocational goals, what are we aiming for this year? 

The reason why I decided to start using the Full Focus Planner (see my blog post here) is because of the Best Year Ever course that Michael Hyatt & Company (now called Full Focus) offers. Many topics were covered such as reviewing last years accomplishments and having a positive future outlook. Today I want to tell you about one of Michael Hyatt's most impactful suggestions: the SMARTER goal system. 

What does the acronym SMARTER stand for?

• Specific
• Measurable 
• Actionable
• Risky
• Timebound
• Exciting
• Relevant

The next step is to make these goals Timebound. Create a start date and a deadline for both habit and achievement goals. In addition to those, create a frequency and streak goal for habit goals.

• Practice daily, Memorize and Perform Chopin Nocturne Op. 27 No. 2 starting January 5th, 6 days a week, until March 5th. (Habit Goal) 
• Create flyers and distribute them around my neighborhood and directly to people with a prepared "elevator pitch" starting January 10th, completed by March 31st. (Achievement Goal)
• Have 2 piano students sign up and encourage 45 minute lessons by September 30. (Achievement Goal)
• Create detailed lesson plans and long-term overviews for each student by helping my students to craft their own goals each week and track plans for 20 weeks and overviews for 5 months. (Habit Goal)

Are these goals Exciting to me?  Exciting means inspiring and engaging to the point of being willing to continue even when it gets hard. Internal motivation is what helps us to see goals through to the end.  Asking if a goal is exciting may also be an evaluation of whether or not it would be fun. At this point, it's important to weed out any goal that we've made because we feel expected to achieve that goal by other people (whether real or imagined).  On a scale from 1 to 10, with 10 being the most exciting, I have rated my goals below. 

• 6 - Practice daily, Memorize and Perform Chopin Nocturne Op. 27 No. 2 starting January 5th, 6 days a week, until March 5th. 
• 4 - Create flyers and distribute them around my neighborhood and directly to people with a prepared "elevator pitch" starting January 10th, completed by March 31st.
• 10 - Have 2 piano students sign up and encourage 45 minute lessons by September 30.
• 9 - Create detailed lesson plans and long-term overviews for each student by helping my students to craft their own goals each week and track plans for 20 weeks and overviews for 5 months.

• Have 2 piano students sign up and encourage 45 minute lessons by September 30.

However...

So that means I need both of these vocational goals during this year. 

• Create flyers and distribute them around my neighborhood and directly to people with a prepared "elevator pitch" starting January 10th, completed by March 31st.
• Have 2 piano students sign up and encourage 45 minute lessons by September 30.

Full Focus calls these related goals complex goals. They will count as one goal. Full Focus recommends limiting your multiple step complex goals to 2 per year. 

I think once I have a 4 student studio, creating the lesson overviews will make more sense since I will need to do those to stay organized. For now, I'm able to keep a lot of it in my memory since I only have 2 students to track. 

As for the last remaining goal, practicing and performing is something I'm always doing.  I may still learn this piece as a major project, but I won't put it on my Annual Goals list. 

And that's the SMARTER annual goal setting process!

What goals are you setting this year? How can you phrase your goals as SMARTER goals? 

Happy New Year!

-Jenny

My 2022 Full Focus Planners I painted Quarters 2 and 3.

What symptoms did the Full Focus Planner address for me?

1. 1,000 tasks in my brain at a time
2. No idea where to start
3. Long-term projects being pushed to the last minute
4. Feelings of discouragement for "not doing anything today"
5. Little tasks getting lost in the shuffle

How did it address the symptoms?

How did I learn about the Full Focus Planner?

Last year, my husband became interested in Full Focus through a podcast. One product they make, their Full Focus Planner, really caught his interest. I was very skeptical of this system because of the expense and also because I had experience trying planner systems that were far too cumbersome to set up or set up but with not enough space. I abandoned those systems and found that I was making long lists on loose-leaf paper and leaving them around the house. I would hang on to this list of never-ending tasks and feel bad daily for not accomplishing anything. 

After using this method for a few quarters, my husband was keeping work at work and coming home when he planned and being present. He was more organized and positive. 

My husband wanted me to try this method too, but I was reluctant. Like the Bullet Journal method, this planner required a lot of front-end setup. It was also a very expensive system because you need 4 planners for one year.

In contrast to the Bullet Journal, however, I didn't need to create my planner from scratch, which eventually became a chore. In contrast to a yearly planner, Full Focus had equal space for each day of the week rather than shrinking Saturday and Sunday. 

I was very skeptical that this would help, but I was getting annoyed by the recurring reminders on my phone (to the point of ignoring them!) and my loose-leaf paper wasn't organized or motivating.

At the beginning of 2022, my husband bought the Best Year Ever course from Full Focus and encouraged me to watch with him. Almost immediately I was sold on this method as I realized they were using a researched-based approach to help people reach their goals. I was already learning how to implement challenging limiting beliefs and all-or-nothing thinking using Cognitive Behavioral Therapy techniques and this planner is built specifically to implement those challenges. 

How is the Full Focus Planner structured?

Traveling Piano Teacher

"A teacher's purpose is not to create students in his own image, but to develop students who can create their own image.” 

- Anonymous

The Principle Goal of a Piano Teacher

This is my typical email template for weekly piano lesson notes. I add and subtract categories as needed. For kids, I really enjoy finding matching emojis for each song.

I prepare my notes ahead of time based on my lesson plan to save time after the lesson. If the lesson goes differently than I planned, I will make a note of it in my notebook. 

Feel free to copy and paste this for your piano lesson notes emails!

To: parent@somewhere.com
Subject: Lesson Notes MM/DD/YYYY

Dear Student, 

In today's lesson, we learned about tempo and beat. Practice clapping the beat along with songs at home. I am so proud of your progress so far. Continue practicing 6 days a week or until your assignment is completed. 

Assignments
Technique: Learn the C 5-Finger Scale.

Lesson Book #, p. 1-2
🐑 Mary Had A Little Lamb - Transpose to the key of G.
🌟Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star - remember to stretch 4th finger to G, 5th finger will play A. 

🏰 Disney Book
⛄ Do You Want to Build a Snowman? - learn the first line for the next lesson. 

Listening: Twelve Variations on "Ah vous dirai-je, Maman" by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Flashcards to Add
Middle C 
Treble G 
Bass F
Treble Clef
Bass Clef

Worksheet: Print and complete the attached notespeller for the next lesson. 

App: Rhythm Cat Lite, Stage 1, Levels 1 and 2. Aim for 3 stars! ☆☆☆

Resource: Check out MusicTheory.net. 

Have a great week!
--
Jane Doe
Piano Teacher, Jane Doe Piano Studio
janedoepianostudio.co

I hope you like using this template for your piano lesson notes. Do you use email for piano lesson notes? Why or why not? What are some categories you include in your notes?

When I applied for my Chicago business license, I had no idea what I was doing. Zoning laws differ in every locale and vary in restrictiveness, and Chicago is very strict. The city says that everyone conducting business in the city must have a business license, so that means independent music teachers teaching out of their homes. 

I wanted to start my home-based piano studio in my apartment legally and with as little cost as possible. I couldn't imagine the heartbreak of being closed down and unable to serve the students that I love encouraging. My purpose for this post is to help guide Chicago-based piano teachers pursue a business license in Chicago. 

Important Note: This blog post is not legal advice. After writing this, I found this excellent checklist from a local accounting firm. Please use this! It's very straightforward and detailed. 

You will work through the Chicago Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection (BACP).

Step 1: Check your zoning designation. 

1. Check this website: Chicago Zoning Website. RS followed by a number is residential. Mine was RS-3.
2. Apply for a Home-Based Business License and select the Musician category. 

Step 2: Determine your organization.

I decided to be a sole proprietorship with a DBA. Other possible ways to organize include partnership, LLC, Corporation, or S-Corp.

Pick either 3a or 3b:

Step 3a: Apply for a DBA.

If you are operating solely under your legal name as a sole proprietor, you do not need an Assumed Business Name from Cook County. But if you have named your piano studio like I did you need to apply for an assumed business name (aka DBA - "Doing Business As..."). LLCs register their names with the state, so they do not need a DBA from Cook County. 

Here is the example on the website:

"For example, a business called "John Jones, P.C." (i.e. owner's full name and title) does not have to file an assumed name, but "Jones Wrecking" does." 

If you decide this applies to you, apply here: Assumed Business Name Registration.

Here are the steps:

1. Apply online and print a paper application. 
2. Take this application to a Notary Public at a bank and sign it in front of them. 
3. Send this application to the Clerk's office with a $50 application fee. 
4. Receive a Copy of Legal Notice that you must publish in a local newspaper within 15 calendar days. It must be published for three consecutive weeks. I ran my legal notice with the Chicago Sun-Times and it cost $165. 
5. The newspaper will send you a Certificate of Publication with the clipping to you as proof and you must return that the the Clerk's office. 
6. The certificate will be sent to you in the mail.

Step 3b: Apply for an LLC. 

If you decide to apply for an LLC with the Illinois Secretary of State, you will need to make an Articles of Organization. The name of your company must end with LLC. You also must appoint a Registered Agent (that can be you, but most advice suggests you appoint someone else) to submit Annual Reports. The fee is $150 when you submit your Articles of Organization one time and then $75 each year when you file your required Annual Reports. You must file the Annual Reports or else your LLC will be dissolved. 

Total cost for an Illinois LLC: $150 + ($75 x the number of years you operate your business)

Step 4: Apply for tax numbers.

Next is tax registration with Illinois. I attempted the IDOR ID application online multiple times and I determined that because I do not sell goods, I do not need an IDOR because I do not collect sales tax and I will not be hiring employees. (Source: New Business Checklist | Smith & Cull, Ltd.) If you are selling merchandise, you will need to get a tax number from IDOR and collect sales tax. 

Finally, apply for an Employer Identification Number (EIN) from the IRS. Please read this Starting a Business (IRS) for information about the different ways to organize your business and how to handle accounting. 

You will need to create a system of keeping track of income and expenses. I simply keep spreadsheets called Income (Year) and Expenses (Year). Make sure you understand if you need to file quarterly Estimated Taxes and how to calculate that amount based on your accounting. When you file, you will use your EIN. Do not lose the paper document sent in the mail with the EIN number. The bottom of the letter says they will only correspond with you if you use the tear off at the bottom of the page.

Total Cost for EIN: Free

Step 5: Apply for a Chicago Business License.

I applied online before the following was posted on the online portal. 

Home Based Businesses

Posted May 25, 2022

Applications for home occupation licenses (home based businesses) must be made in person at the Small Business Center. Such applications will not be accepted online. The Center is located at 121 N LaSalle Street, Suite 800 and is open from 8:30 AM - 4:30 PM daily Monday through Friday.

I'm sorry to say you have to go in-person now. 

Fill out this Chicago Business Information Sheet. This is a pre-application that you will use at the Small Business Center. 

If you are a Sole Proprietor, you will still put your full name as the Legal Name of Business. Then your DBA will go on the second line. Fill out the rest of the form to the best of your ability and take it to the Small Business Center at 121 N LaSalle St. 

Total Cost of a City of Chicago Home-Based Business License: $250 biannually

Total Licensing Startup Cost: $215 + $250 = $465 (+$250 every other year)

I wish you well in your endeavor to become a licensed piano teaching business in Chicago. Please leave a comment and let me know if this helped you obtain a business license. Once again, this is not legal advice; this is simply how I, an Independent Piano Teacher, got a Chicago business license.

-Jenny

Beginner piano lessons are foundational for music reading skills, healthy technique, and audiating music. While there are many great resources for teaching beginner piano, the following have been effective and engaging for my students. Listed below are my beginner piano curriculum must-haves. 

1. Piano Adventures Method

I appreciate the progressive difficultly of reading skills, the colorful pictures, and the amusing lyrics in this series. It also has backing tracks for each piece for free on the Piano Adventures Digital Cloud.  Many duets are written in the books for the teacher and student to play together. I love the duets because I believe providing ensemble experience is a cornerstone of music education.  

In addition to the Basic Method for elementary-aged children, Piano Adventures has additional methods specially designed for preschoolers, teenagers, and adults. They are adapted to the learning styles of each age group and enter into the Basic Method at various points. For example, the adult method prepares beginner pianists for Lesson Book 3B in the basic method. 

Click here for a PDF showing all of the Piano Adventures publications and how they relate. Stay tuned for reviews of the various method series from Faber Piano Adventures. 

2. Alfred Complete Color-Coded Flashcards

This set has 89 cards. This deck has all the concepts a beginner student will learn in the method books. They reinforce note reading on the treble and bass clefs, common musical terms, rhythms symbols, and articulations. 

To use the Alfred Complete Color-Coded Flashcards, I mark the answer side with a color-coded number. The colors match the Piano Adventures book in which the concept is first introduced and the number matches the unit.  This way during a lesson, I can quickly pull the current flashcards.

3. Note Rush app 

4. Board Games

5. Elective Book

As I think back to learning how to play piano, I loved having a library of piano books at my level and beyond. I pushed myself to learn "My Heart Will Go On" from a book of popular piano songs.  I worked on the Faber ShowTime to BigTime Library series books spanning pop, jazz, classical arrangements, ragtime, hymns and Christmas music.  The experience I gained from regularly playing for enjoyment allowed me to progress through intermediate piano literature very quickly. I love to lend my books to my students and I also encourage them to build a music library at home comprised of exciting music books.

6. Theory Worksheets

There are many theory books available for students, but personally, I enjoy making my own curriculum or finding free worksheets from other piano teachers. The most helpful resource for creating my own curriculum has been Joy Morin's Music Symbols Pack. You can drag and drop the symbols from the file into a word processor and create very professional and polished worksheets for your students. I have assigned theory lessons from MusicTheory.net and created an accompanying worksheet to have the student apply the information learned practically. I love MusicTheory.net because it also allows you to build your own theory quizzes and share the link with your students to use on their computers at home. 

7. Music Learning Theory 

8. Exploring Improvisation and Composition

In Conclusion

Starting Out

You are a pianist with years of experience in taking lessons, practicing, and performing various songs and pieces.  It is a passion of yours and you feel it has been elevated above a hobby for you; however, you are looking for a profession in which to use your skills.  If you find that you enjoy imparting your knowledge to other people, perhaps a profession in piano teaching is for you!  If so, welcome to the community! 

*As an independent contractor, you will receive a 1099 from the school and file your own self-employment taxes.  There are other important things for you to know as a contractor that I hope to talk about in a future post. 

If you are able to open your own private studio in your home or by renting a local community location, such as a church, you are responsible for not only teaching, but all of the administrative tasks listed above!  

When I decided to open a private studio in my apartment last year, the pandemic had started a few months prior and my husband was home while we waited for his work to reopen.  He would be available to watch our small children while I taught. My model was to use Skype for online lessons and I began working on structuring my studio. This post is about how to present a professional image as a piano teacher.

Becoming an Independent Teacher

There are so many facets to starting up a business.  Today's topic is how to present a professional image for your piano studio with studio documents.  The resource that I use to guide me in this endeavor is a book by Dr. Beth Klingenstein called "The Independent Piano Teacher's Studio Handbook: Everything You Need to Know for a Successful Teaching Studio."  I took classes with her and her handbook is about 2-inches thick and contains everything that was included in her college piano pedagogy course.  It is an invaluable resource and will give you a step-by-step guide to starting your studio.  I highly recommend purchasing this book. 

Presenting a Professional Image with Branding

I hired a graphic designer and her price for an extended branding package was $300 that included a logo, business card, stationery, ads, product design, social media posts, and a website.  I opted out of the website since I had already coded my own, so she reduced the price. She interviewed me for insight into my business goals and aesthetic preferences.  

Then I received multiple logo possibilities and she included 2 revisions once I chose the one I liked.  

Logo Design Options and Color Scheme Options

I chose logo 1 and color scheme b. Then we revised the logo together. She drew the piano herself. I love the finished product! 

Final Draft of Logos and Color Schemes

The final drafts of the logo included black-and-white, ombre, light purple, dark purple, and white with a transparent background for the navigation bar on my website (see below). 

Next, she designed my business cards, stationery, and ads using this logo, the color scheme, and various public domain pictures. I sent these designs to Smartpress.com, which is one of my favorite printers. They have many options for paper weight, color, and gloss. They give feedback about the clarity of the images provided and give a digital proof to review before they print. Communication is very good and the turn around time and shipping cost is reasonable. 

Here are pictures of the finished printed products. 

Welcome Card and Business Card

I created the welcome cards specifically for my online students because I give sticker rewards. I ordered the welcome cards to be the size of a typical character sticker sheet and included that in the mail.  Since I resumed in-person lessons with masks in the fall, I still send the cards with the sticker sheets after the student enrolls, and I'm also able to give more stickers and prizes as well! 

My letterhead stationery is used on studio documents, such as my studio policy, calendar, and registration form.  

Letterhead

Below are examples of the social media and newspaper ads. 

    

Facebook Sidebar Ad and Newspaper Ad

Sadly, my neighborhood newspaper closed the week before I was going to submit my ad. I'm considering buying an ad in a newspaper with a larger audience.  I did pay for a few Facebook Ad campaigns, but I didn't receive any inquiries. 

I also received a product design and mockup, however I don't currently want to order 300 t-shirts or tote bags, since all the product printing sites want bulk orders, so I haven't used this design yet. 

Product Design Mock-up

A style guide including the fonts used in the design products, hexadecimal colors, and explanations of how to use the social media posts was included in the final package as well. She mailed me a thumb drive with all of the designs in various formats such as JPEG, PDF, and Adobe Illustrator and she shared a folder on Google Drive as she completed each individual project. 

I am very happy with my choice to order this package and I highly recommend at least having a logo designed for your private studio. If you are interested in hiring this graphic designer, please email me at jennifermeltonpiano[at]gmail.com for a referral. (I am using brackets around at to protect my email address from spam bots.)

Designing My Website

After I received my logo, I added it to the left corner of my website on the navigation bar.  Coding has been a hobby of mine since I was in high school, so I coded my own home page using a Bootstrap tutorial.  I am a supporter on Neocities (modeled after the mid-2000s GeoCities hosting site!) and I purchased my domain name from Google Domains. I pay Neocities $5 a month to host my site and I pay Google $1 a month for my domain.  

Website Home Page jennifermeltonpiano.com

I did try Google Ads to promote my website. I received 3 leads from that campaign.  I am now applying SEO to my website to try to promote its listing on search engines for free.  I may update about how to use SEO in the future. 

Finally, my email signature contains my photo and my information, including links to my Facebook and SoundCloud. I used WiseStamp to generate the logo and Gmail is my email host. 

Email Signature

If you have any questions about presenting a professional image for your piano studio or if you would like to share your ideas, please post in the comments below!

-Jenny