Ideas for Piano Teachers to Boost Income (Or at Least Keep it Steady) in Uncertain Times

What a strange time to be alive. In a way it feels like all of the technological developments over this last century have been preparing us for this. Do you remember when “video conferencing” was something they only did on spaceships in sci fi movies?

Now high schools, colleges, and even piano studios are being challenged to take everything online. Virtual connections are becoming our main source of business and social interaction.

This can be a scary prospect. Many piano teachers are bracing themselves for a drop in income, especially those who may have never taught a lesson on Zoom or FaceTime before, but our industry is actually in a great position to be able to maintain some modicum of business as usual, as long as we’re willing to get creative.

So, how do we do that?

Be Flexible

Offer a variety of virtual options

For most teachers, the simplest solution is to just keep everyone’s lesson time the same but conduct lessons via video conferencing. This is a fairly smooth transition, once you and your students get set up, and it’s likely to work quite well.;

That’s not your only option, though. I will often offer “make up” lessons when a student is sick via video exchange (They send me a video of themselves performing their pieces, and I send a video back with comments, suggestions, and new things to work on.) This can be an especially great option for younger students who may have trouble engaging with you for a full 30-minute online lesson, or if families’ schedules have been disrupted by everything that’s going on.

Taking that a step further, another option that might be really fun is: rather than one lesson a week, have students send you a video of their practice 2 or 3 times throughout the week. Then send back comments—via video, if you can, but written comments work too. There are a number of apps out there that can help you set this up separately from your regular text messaging or email.

Most kids are out of school right now, so they’ve actually got a lot of time to practice, but it might be hard for younger students to come up with enough things to keep themselves busy during extra practice time. This solution allows you to give them practice input at shorter intervals, which keeps their practice feeling fresh, rather than dull and repetitive as the week goes on.

Temporarily modify your policies

It may also be good business to ease up on your cancellation / make up lesson policy at this time. Obviously this won’t directly make you more money, but it can help in the long run by preventing the loss of students. Maybe offer to give partial credits towards next term’s tuition to anyone who needs to miss a lesson during this time. Hopefully, with the distance learning options you’re offering, most students won’t need to, but some clients may appreciate the gesture.

Diversify

Even with the learning curve of setting your studio up for distance learning, you’re mostly likely going to find yourself with more time on your hands right now. This is a great opportunity to explore and work on other income streams.

Read through some new music to add to your performance or gigging repertoire. Compose or arrange some original music. Dust off your blog, look into affiliate or advertising opportunities, and start putting together resources to share with other teachers. Work on writing that book you started. Start a podcast. Create an online course.

Creativity is born of boredom, so use this extra time at home to open yourself up to creativity, whether that be experimenting with creative ways to keep your studio running, developing new income streams, or simply exploring another creative outlet to see where it takes you.

The creativity that we foster during this weird time we’re going through can pay off on the other side, and we'll find that our studios are more resilient than ever.

What other ways can piano teachers keep their income steady while social distancing? Let us know in the comments below!