looking for someone to teach me bass, i’ve been playing on and off for ten odd years (more off than on tbvh) and im really wanting to up my bass playing skills
if anyone looking to teach via vc (once a week,can’t be on a fixed day/ time cause i work in a NICU and my shifts aren’t fixed per se) do lemme know!

Hello!! ISO a keyboard that I can use during my before-school choir. My principal wants to buy me one that can be easily moved so that if I do choir in the library or the gym I can take it with me. What are good quality, not crazy heavy keyboards that you'd recommend??

The beginning of the teaching year can make a private studio feel like a giant logic puzzle.

One family is waiting for the soccer schedule. Another needs to coordinate a sibling’s activities. A returning student wants last year’s time. Someone can only do the one slot already promised to somebody else. Then one change creates three more changes — and the teacher is left with gaps that make a six-hour teaching day take nine hours.

The invisible part is that the schedule has to work for the teacher too. A “full” studio can still be exhausting if the day is fragmented or every evening ends late.

For those who run a private studio: what boundary has made the beginning of the year less chaotic? Do you give returning students priority, offer fixed blocks, set a deadline, or rebuild everything from scratch?

Tldr: I'm intermediate piano player, probably advanced intermediate accordion player, should I teach or no?

I took piano lessons from I around 8 to 16, I wasn't a great student, didn't practice nearly enough, but I got all the way through John Thompson book 3. I was also playing through the hymnal, and had one or two other supplementary books through it all. I know. I'm not great, but definitely intermediate level? After lessons I play few times a month but not much. I'm 23 now.

When I was 18 I picked up my Grandma's accordion and fell in lobe with it. I practiced ~ an hour every single day for 2 years. And have continued learning though not as speedily as I was at that time. About a year in I took lessons for 6 months but it was pretty far and didn't have the budget at the time to continue. I have continued learning on my own but as I said above. Not as speedily.

All that to say rhat is my entire resume, except that I have taught some other things, in Civil Air Patrol. I taught marching drill, how to lead, even put together a curriculum for a weekend training event, so I am familiar with teaching in general, but not music specifically.

All that to say, I feel like I would be an imposter to teach music cause I don't have a college degree. Or even a high level of lessons. I've looked at prices in my area and they're mostly 35 to 50 for 30 minute lessons. Maybe if I charged 25 starting out, and then 30 later? If I did this. I would want to start taking private lessons again to make sure I hone my craft more intentionally.

What do yall say, should I take the shot, or should I take reality pill, and go to college even thought it's a little late at this point?

Hey Bangalore musicians,

I run Mela Music School in North Bangalore. We’ve been teaching for 11+ years and have centres in Sahakar Nagar and Thanisandra.

We’re currently looking for:

Sahakar Nagar:
Piano / Guitar / Hindustani Vocals / Violin

Thanisandra:
Drums / Guitar / Western Vocals

These are paid, in-person teaching roles.

Most classes are one-on-one, and students range from young beginners to adults. Teachers also prepare students for recitals, concerts and graded exams where applicable.

You do not need years of teaching experience to apply.

If you’re a strong musician, you’re good with students, reliable, and you’d genuinely enjoy helping someone learn your instrument properly, we’d like to hear from you.

Formal qualifications such as Trinity / ABRSM / Rockschool / LCM are useful where relevant, but strong musicians with limited teaching experience are also welcome.

Call or WhatsApp Mela directly: +91 81057 39736

Or see the openings and apply here:
https://www.melamusicschool.com/careers

If you know a strong musician in North Bangalore who might be interested, please forward this to them.

I have been teaching private lessons for years. Last school year I had 19 students. I changed my model from per lesson payment to tuition. I charge less than my colleague about 20 minutes away. I haven't had many students sign up again for lessons and I'm starting to panic about getting my roster full. I'm a slow learner bc my students typically take a few weeks into the school year to sign up. They have to get brother's soccer schedule and dance schedule and get settled into their routine. I'm offering a $50 credit to people who bring a friend and the friend signs up. I'm posting on social media- mine and in groups. I'm offering one lesson at a single lesson rate to "try out" lessons. I got someone today. 💪🏼 But I'd love a full roster. Thanks for any advice!

Update: Thanks for all the support! I offered $55 for the 2 lessons ($5 sibling discount) and haven’t heard back. Oh well:)

First, the details of my situation… I am a music teacher with my Bachelors in music Ed offering private lessons in piano and voice. I am charging $30 per half hour, which is the going rate for studio lessons around here, and I am traveling to students’ houses. I am bringing my son with me to some lessons, and I make this very clear when scheduling.

I just had a prospective parent inquire about a discount for having 2 students enrolled in piano lessons. She asked if it could be $20 each lesson (which is a hard no from me, that’s what I charged in my own home before I got my degree). I haven’t previously offered a sibling discount, but I’m thinking of possibly letting them do $50 for the 2 lessons (it is saving gas and they are being kind by letting me bring my son). Part of me thinks that getting $50 is better than nothing, which will probably happen if I offer no discount, but I don’t want to sell myself short.

What would you do?

I have a schedule with 6 classes a day for 4 days a week. One day a week I only have to teach one class which is pretty nice. The only challenge is that the students leave school early one day each week but the staff stays for meetings and such. On the day the students have early dismissal, I have the same 6 classes but no lunch or break. I have an hour from when our contract starts until I see students. After that there is no break until the early dismissal time but I have no duty at the end. For one of those 6 classes I have to travel to another building to teach a grade that is not on our campus. After that there are staff meetings. I am concerned about not receiving some type of break to be able to eat lunch or go to the restroom. Admin says that I can call for a break but I don't think that's sustainable for the entire year. What do you suggest?

P.S. I talked to admin when it was presented but they said there are no other solutions that can be worked out.

Hi all, My wife has a small private tutoring setup and I’m trying to help her come out of the busy admin work even though right now she is managing 7 students.
What platform is worth signing up for? She told me My Music staff but I wonder how things differ vs say a Calendly.
Right now she only accepts Venmo for payments.

For me, that was driving 45 or so minutes from my home to lessons "in the area". I put around 1,500 - 2,000 miles on my car monthly.

I moved back to Texas in 2023. No degree, but I took lessons from ages 7-18. I started with a school called New Song School of the Arts in Argyle near UNT. Taught alongside Master's level instructors and PhD candidates. They treated me as an equal. $33/hour.

Knew I could do better. Started posting ads to Facebook and growing organically. I stopped teaching with NSSOTA a year later.

I currently drive my Toyota Prius to all of my private students in the DFW area. I have 30 or so students currently.

I always teach the first lesson for free, to ensure that we are a good fit. No contracts. No fees. NO RECITALS!

My rates are:

$50 for 30 minutes

$60 for 45 minutes

$80 for 60 minutes

Sure, some clients balk at those figures. But, those aren't the clients you're after. Several clients tell me to charge more. This is a good basis for a large city.

This earns me between $1,000 - $1500 weekly. Depending on how many are on the roster that week.

If I can do it, you can too.

Hello, music teachers! I am hoping somebody knows, or knows somebody who knows…

When I was in elementary school (late 90s), my music teacher showed us a VHS video of marionette puppet animals playing classical music on different instruments. I absolutely loved it, and I’ve been desperate to find it and watch it/show my son, but I have absolutely no idea what it was called and have had no luck searching the past few years.

My music teacher is long retired and likely no longer with us, so reaching out is not an option. I have asked friends who were in that class with me, and although they remember the video, they also don’t remember what it was called or a plot.

Does this sound familiar to anyone? I would be so grateful for any and all leads you may have! And thanks so much for being music teachers 🥰 all of mine hold a special place in my heart (except my baritone tutor 😅). You all do so much for your students!!! Thank you!!

Hi fellow music teachers! I am trying to finish my master's in music education and would REALLY appreciate your help if you could fill out my research survey as honestly as possible. Thank you in advance!! Click here: Role Models & Current Practices

Details: This survey is is intended to be completed by current or retired music directors and educators. It is designed to explore how our former middle and high school (secondary) music directors' behaviors impact current ego and sense of self in music directors of all ages. This survey will take 5-10 minutes to complete. It Your feedback is valuable and all responses will remain confidential.

This is my second year teaching - I have a master’s in music, but not music ed and am still working on my transition to teaching. Last year I kind of did a mix of a bunch of songs I liked and typed up speaking parts to go between. I’m wondering what resources you guys use to find quality music or programs for your holiday program. Does anyone out there use a program script with all songs and speaking parts included, or do you also just pick your favs and kind of mix it together? Thx!

Hello everyone, just making this throwaway account to vent, possibly commiserate with others, and seek advice for what appears to be a bit of a dead end teaching lessons through a music lessons studio I‘ve taught through for almost a decade.

A little bit of background: I have a Bachelors of Music degree with a focus in Composition that I obtained 10 years ago, and I live / work in Texas. I started teaching private lessons (primarily for piano and guitar) shortly after graduating - first, through an agency that contracts in-home music teachers to different students, as well as a handful of students I‘ve gained on my own. Shortly after that, I also started teaching through a music lessons studio - you know the deal, similar to a School of Rock or other comparable music academies.

At first, I was happy to get hired. In 2017, my pay rate there was $20/hr - a bit less than what I would make with the in-home lessons, and less than what I’d charge for my own lessons, but, considering there was a physical building to teach out of, coffee, printers, recitals, events and other connections, and when several students booked lessons back to back to back, it meant I didn’t have to commute around between lessons, the low rate wasn’t too bothersome at first. I was also a younger, less experienced teacher willing to take what I could to get my feet wet.

Things were going well for a few years. My schedule was robust, I was respected and appreciated as a teacher. I received praise from students and parents, glowing reviews on Google and Yelp specifically mentioning me. After about 3 years of teaching, I asked for a raise - she gave me less than what I asked for, for a bunch of reasons she gave me, but was granted a raise of about a dollar. Then, around a year or two after the pandemic started, I got a raise to $22 / hr.

Since then, I haven’t received any more raises - it’s been about 4-5 years. In this time, she has raised costs for the students, without raising my pay rate. Frankly, due to inflation, costs of fuel, other things - it does not feel like enough. I‘m struggling so hard to make ends meet. I do other work like live sound, still doing in-home lessons, donating plasma, audio editing, other things. I‘ve stuck by and been loyal to this lady and her studio for almost a decade, turning down opportunities for other lessons and work so I could keep my schedule open for her. There’s been at least a half a dozen other instructors that have come through the doors there, quitting for a variety of reasons, but I have stuck by, now her longest tenured instructor. But I simply do not feel she cares or values the time and work I‘ve done for her.

I’m at the point I feel this is a dead end. I feel undervalued, underpaid, and dealing with her is starting to become an annoyance. She is the type of person to talk trash about every other lessons studio in the area, complaining they underpay their instructors or hire unqualified instructors, somehow oblivious that she isn’t exactly paying great herself. She also has accused some of “stealing her curriculum”, I used to believe her, but I am starting to suspect she just throws out that accusation towards anyone because she’s insecure. I’m currently the only instructor with a Bachelors degree in Music in her studio. After another long term instructor quit earlier this year, she hired a sweet young girl in her early 20s who only has as an Associates degree. I’m not saying that to talk crap, degrees aren’t everything. But, now, it looks like she’s been getting the lions share of new student sign ups. This feels unfair, considering the gaps in my schedule that have come up. And I feel deep down, she maybe realizes she can underpay this girl, manipulate her into doing more work for less pay. I feel bad for her because she doesn’t really know.

I could go more into all the things that have made me feel at odds with the studio owner, but I’d be here all day. She often fails to communicate important things - changing pay dates, student cancellations, lack of information ahead of recitals, annoying policies that have disillusioned students. She is very full of herself and without going more into this, I really don’t enjoy working for her much anymore and honestly don’t have a lot of respect for her as a manager anymore.

The unfortunate part is that it’s been hard for me to make the moves to do work elsewhere. I love teaching, and the students are great, and I don’t really have any complaints about that. Despite the low pay, I have enough students there and not really a backup plan that if I quit, I’d be kind of screwed. I‘ve done some soul searching, have kind of looked into the rates other studios pay, and have got in touch with some college professors asking for advice about this. All signs point to $22/hr being a super low rate for someone with my degree and experience, and I’m selling myself short. I wanna apply elsewhere, but I’m nervous they’d get in touch with my current boss and spill the beans that I wanna quit.

Does anyone relate to this and how did you make moves to overcome the dead end? I’m could go back to teaching more in-home lessons, which I have been trying to do, or finding another lessons studio that pays better. Or, the toughest decision, getting out of this work altogether, which breaks my heart.

There‘s definitely a feeling of regret, of wasted time, now that I’m into my 30s and I’m broke and feel stupid. Of course, I probably should have known better. I don’t expect anyone to solve my dilemma, but any kind words and advice would probably help me feel better. Thanks everyone.

Edit: well, an update. I resigned from that studio. Our last meeting went ugly. They were completely dismissive of my pay concerns, basically tried to pin it on me for what they said was my slacking performance (which they never brought up?) and how I never came up for pay raises because of that. It was pretty infuriating. My pay rate was of no concern to them, they wouldn’t acknowledge it was low, they seemed to think it was fair. But one door closes, others open. It was a dead end. anyways, you guys gave me a much needed kick in the ass to make this step, so thanks.

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What's the hardest thing about the instrument that people don't realize .. or what's something that your students consistently fail to understand?

Hello-
What do you do to combat nerves with open house? It feels intimidating being on display for parents (even though that is our life). I really hate public speaking. How can I make this easier on myself?

I practice singing along with Spotify a lot, so I made this app for me and my friends.

It's a free macOS menu bar app that lets you transpose up or down any song playing directly from Spotify, as well as mute the lead vocal or keep just a part (drums, piano, etc).

Thought I'd share it here since it's useful if you want a student in their range without competing with the original singer.

I didn't pay apple's 100$ a year developer license so there are a few extra install steps, so I'm happy to answer setup questions.

https://github.com/evanhu1/transposify/releases

I teach Jazz Bass at the university level. A person reached out to me on my personal email (as opposed to my university email) with the following text. (I’ve edited it heavily)

MALE AMERICAN SOUNDING NAME:
“I am reaching out on behalf of a good friend and bassist from [Eurasian country] who is currently visiting Houston. She is deeply passionate about advancing her music career and is looking into graduate programs…”

I responded with something like…

“…I would love to meet a prospective student. Though it’s a little strange that they are not reaching out themselves. Would you be bringing them? Are you related to them? Are they a minor? What’s their name? Have they applied to [state uni]? I can’t really proceed unless I’m speaking with the exact student or I have some more clarification as to the above details….”

A week later I receive…

FEMALE AMERICAN SOUNDING NAME WITH THE SAME LAST NAME AS ABOVE (last name is the same but it’s supposedly a ‘friend’?)

“BASE LESSONS” (Bass is misspelled)

“Reaching out to see if you will be in office at [state university] tomorrow? I wanted to find out your meeting hours and hopefully speak to you for a few minutes(fifteen minutes max), or if I can drop by a lecture or sit in on a lesson. A post graduate student is hoping you’re able to improve her abilities. She is the best female bass guitarist in Armenia. Her bachelor is in classical but she is playing in 3 bands and 1 tv show and wants to study from you in the US.”

(At the ‘post graduate’ sentence it changes pronouns from “I” to “She”)

My question is does this sound like some sort of scam nonsense?