Questions from Readers about Various Piano Topics

Questions about Pedagogical Matters
Questions about Business Practices in the Private Studio
Questions from Students (all ages) and Parents About Piano Study
Questions about Music Theory
Questions about Performance Practice

Sometimes questions in one QA file are covered in another (ex.: pedagogy and parent/student), so do check both. If you'd like to submit a question, email me. Put some piano-related header in the subject line because my program immediately deletes other subject lines. Also, I ask you to search the QA files for the answer before writing me. I am plagued with repetitive stress injuries and prefer not to answer the same question more than once! Thanks for your understanding.

Underpinnings

• Teaching Philosophy

Studio Management

• Dismissing a Student
• Scholarships for Merit or Financial Need
• A Student Who Must Stop Lessons Temporarily Because of Financial Reasons
• Receiving Temporary Students from Another Teacher
• Sending Your Students to Another Teacher Temporarily
• Moving a Music Studio
• Closing a Music Studio
• Simplify Your Studio

Fees

• Setting Your Fee
• Adjusting Our Thinking About Lesson Fees
• The Perils of a Low Fee
• Raising Your Fee
• Implementing a Fee Increase
• How Frequently to Raise Your Fee
• What if Someone Confronts You About a Fee Increase?
• Family Plan Fees
• Group Lesson Fees
• Bi-Weekly Lesson Fees
• Asking for Money Owing
• When a Student Overpays Tuition
• When a Student Underpays Tuition
• Whether to Use Levelized or Per-Lesson Billing

Studio Policy

• Importance of Having a Studio Policy
• A Studio Policy
• Make-Up Lessons, Excused Absences, Cancellations, and Rescheduled Lessons
• Make-up Lessons for Extended Periods
• Putting Teeth in Your Studio Policy

Marketing and Advertising

• Basics of Marketing
• Basics of Advertising
• Voicemail
• Business Cards and How to Use Them

Interviewing New Students

• The Telephone Query, including queries from referrals, transfer students, and parents of young children; how to write a sales presentation; the importance of starting only students who wish to learn and how to find out whether a child is truly interested in piano study; and so on. This is a lengthy file that covers a variety of interlocking topics; if there is something you want to read about but is not in this list, read this file; it probably is there. See also my file on business Q&A for more discussion on this topic.
• The Audition/In-Studio Interview. Please come back. I haven't had time to write this article yet.

Business Tips for Beginning Teachers

• Ethics
• Philosophy and Career Goals
• Studio Operating Structure
• Legal Form of Your Business
• All About Your Fee
• What You Need to Earn vs. What You Want to Earn
• Physical Set-Up of Your Teaching Space
• Dealing with Interruptions
• Parents Who Want to Talk During the Lesson
• Financial Paperwork, including organizing your expenses to make tax time easier
  
• Accounting Methods
• Insurance Needs
• Organizing Student Data
• Organizing Your Music and Teaching Materials
• Marketing and Advertising
• Be Professional
• Dress Professionally
• Traveling to Students' Homes

Taxes

• Schedule C: Profit and Loss from a Busienss
• Estimated Tax Payments
• Tax Help from the IRS
• Depreciating Assets Used in Your Business

Copyright and Music

Recitals

• Recital Planning, including selecting pieces, program order, prepping students, kitchen help, memory playing, etc.
• Recital Food Planning
• Recital Punch
• Recital Venue, Recital Fee, and Other Topics, including printed program layout
• Adults' Fear of Playing in Public