Staying Organized as a Private Music Teacher

[@tobleroni]

Great video. Thanks for posting. On the topic of monthly billing and make-up lessons, my solution for makeup lessons getting out of control is to only entertain one makeup lesson per month for "qualified absences". A qualified absence (as defined by my policy) is an absence whereby the lesson was cancelled at least 24 hours in advance. This restriction limits my liability for makeups. If a student misses a lesson and fails to notify me 24 hrs in advance, no makeup lesson will be eligible. Secondly, if a student misses more than one lesson in a month and they are all qualified, only one qualified absence per month will be administered and only if I have available makeup times in my schedule up until two weeks past the missed lesson. In other words if I look at my schedule and I offer a list of available makeup times and none are acceptable to the student or I have no times available, the makeup lesson is forfeited. This prevents having makeup lessons roll over into the next month and accumulate. It's a fairly restrictive policy that works for me very well. If you go over it in writing with the student/parent before there's a problem there won't be a problem. If you wait until a problem arises to then try and enforce it you're in for an uphill battle. The one thing about a strict policy is that you always have the discretion to make allowances for good clients and by occasional doing so you are the good guy. If you on the other hand try to get stricter with a less restrictive policy in writing you are definitely going to be looked upon as the bad guy. It's all in how you frame it. When students know that absences will not be credited, your overall rate of absences in your studio will go down. Students who may be on the fence about attending a lesson on a given day may just opt to cancel if there's no penalty in doing so. Sometimes students have other important events to attend and I by all means encourage it. I'm not an attendance nazi. As long as the students know that the teacher is there for their lesson whether or not the student chooses to attend and that the teacher must be paid for their time then all is well. I break my policy for good students all the time. These same students don't abuse the privilege either. It's a two way street. In summary, I make more money by billing by the month. I've solved the make-up lesson dilemma via a restrictive policy. This solution works very well for me. Every teacher must do what works for them. No one right way to do things. I'm glad I stumbled across this channel. Sooooooo many things we do Day in and day out as private lesson teachers that would benefit from open discussions and video topics like this. Thank you, thank you, thank you for creating this channel!!

[@tobleroni]

Went over to your webpage and you have a lot of policy restrictions that I mentioned. Plus the "4 hour plan" which is very interesting. Ok, so never mind my whole giant previous comment. You've already got it covered. 😮

[@meganbui5692]

Even after getting a Masters in performance, do you still feel as if there are good tone days and bad tone days? Since I've started playing flute, I get the feeling that some days I'd just sound better or worse out of the blue. Does this feeling go away after you've been playing long enough?

[@candyc3314]

Ahhh thank you. I literally just opened up music lessons for flute, clarinet, and piccolo while I'm on break from uni and this should really help me out

[@MandyHieatt1]

OneNote is life! I use it for all 3 of my businesses. This video was a big help as when current circumstances abate I plan on offering piano lessons to help finance my new flute.

[@pmh1nic]

One of the observations I have is related to teaching music as well as a host of other disciplines. It has to do with a beginner paying a rate based on the advanced credentials of their teacher. A second year student that was taught by a competent teacher can be just as capable of teaching the basics of a disciple to a beginning student as the person with an advanced degree in a discipline. The beginning student may be years away from being able to benefit from the unique expertise of the teacher with advanced credentials. I think this is somewhat addressed in your requirement that a student have one year of training before you will accept them as a student. That year of training not only demonstrates that they are serious students but it also avoids the situation where they are paying your fee (justly deserved given your education and experience) to teach them the basics of playing the flute that they can learn on their own from a teacher that doesn't have your level of advanced credentials.

[@jessicadayla]

Yes Onenote!! The 4h plan actually makes a lot of sense. I would have approached it from an angle of a batch of lessons of set time each, but that seems much more flexible and useful.

[@JustAnotherFlutist]

Not gonna lie, I was pretty darn proud of myself for thinking of the "4-hr batch plan". I hope it helps you guys out a lot too! AND YES, I ❤ ONENOTE!!!! 💕💕💕

[@KettyShelly]

really helpful. thank you for your honesty and tips.

[@garywashere_]

Gurl I love you. You inspire me to beyond

[@JustAnotherFlutist]

Ahhh, thank you!!! 😊

[@lizvargas3358]

I charge 12 lessons discounted. Three month commitment. Best arrange,ent ever and very committed.

[@ThomasMulliganFlute]

Hi Joanne, just a quick question with regards to writing the notes on OneNote. Do you type them as the student is playing? Or afterward the lesson or do you take a minute or two to write a few notes as the lesson progresses? If the latter what do you tell the student to do while there's that silent pause? Thanks!

[@amy_louise5375]

Hi, I love your videos! Could you please do a video with tips for flautists/flutists going to university/college? Love from England!

[@JustAnotherFlutist]

Haha, will do! I'll add that to my notes! 😊

[@kiaraeijo]

Wow that's cool! A pianist that I worked with, I paid her via quick pay in chase. I have a question for you: How did you go about building your studio?

[@chrischui]

hi, I am happy to watch ur video , looking forward to it

[@JustAnotherFlutist]

I hope you enjoyed!! 😊

[@jessicadayla]

Question for other players here. I've found that sometimes my lips get sticky, and it becomes more difficult to produce a note, either with good tonal quality or at all. A friend of mine suggested lipgloss about a halfhour before hand and exfoliation, the lipgloss seems to help, but I was wondering if anyone else had any suggestions?

[@noeisdas8055]

Hi! What denomination? You have some good stuff here.

[@cassianblackburn-enever9662]

Hi, I've been playing the flute for around 6 years. I can do vibrato and I practice it the metronome way but still when I play high notes quietly I can't seem to do vibrato. Hope you can help.

[@JustAnotherFlutist]

You gotta approach it yoga style! Slowly stretch from the highest note you can do vibrato on to the note about it (kind of like long tones). Only add maximum one note a day, until you've reached your highest note! 😊 I hope this helps!

[@cassianblackburn-enever9662]

Thank you for replying, I'll try for a few weeks and report back 😃

[@eliseburge5099]

I was wondering if you knew of any devices that can be used to mute my flute? I've recently moved out of home to uni and am driving all my neighbours crazy with my flute scales. I'm planning on taking my grade 6 exams this year and feel like its such a waste to stop.

[@paulnguyen3822]

I love being this early. Btw, your skin is getting better!!

[@JustAnotherFlutist]

Thanks so much! I've been able to get back on my usual workout routine, which has really helped my skin 😊

[@chriswisejazz]

Not all studios are independent contractor-based. Lot's are going to the employee- based model.

[@duckking6068]

did you go to cutter morning star

[@teto980]

I love the way you explain things and I really can understand you easily :) ... I even applied for your "curious.com" courses and loving it like craaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazy.... By the way I call you the "Abracadabra" teacher :-P I was wandering if you can do a review of these flute models pls: *The Di Zhao Flute Model 300 *Gemeinhardt Student Flute Model 3 *Pearl Quantz Series Flute Model 505 OR 525 I do have the 2SP for now and was looking to get one of these hopefully one day, I cant try them as i don't live in the US or in a country that do have a big music stores. So I really need your help here. Thanks for everything and hope that happiness always surround you as you are making others happy :)

[@kobekelson9837]

Hi how do you play piano

[@JustAnotherFlutist]

I went to a piano teacher! 😊

[@justanotherpiccplayer3511]

Could you do a video for people who want to teach but need to be taught how to teach?? (If that makes sense :) ) That would be great thanks! :)

[@jkh778]

Get paid in cash and if you do a pay by month and they miss a lesson just roll it over to the next week.

[@jiannaongsioco4617]

I can't believe I'm so late is video is so interesting hiw

[@justanotherfluteguy]

I love it!! Great ideas!

[@JustAnotherFlutist]

😊😊

[@ThomasMulliganFlute]

Hi Joanne, just a quick question with regards to writing the notes on OneNote. Do you type them as the student is playing? Or afterward the lesson or do you take a minute or two to write a few notes as the lesson progresses? If the latter what do you tell the student to do while there's that silent pause? Thanks!

[@Nobrr_]

Tutor here. I find That if i can't make a mental note of what I want to remember (Cause let's face it, it can be hard to remember all the details) I either write on a copy of the music we're playing or just in a notebook quick little things to jog my memory (Ie, Tone bar 44, D-E transition bar 19 etc)