Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Teachers Forum Is teaching piano viable as a sole income for an individual?

Well, yeah, if you are one of a handful of piano teachers in a newly wealthy suburban town, then you'll easily make $100,000 your first year as a piano teacher.

When there are 80 listed private teachers within a 5-mile radius (and that's just the listed MTAC teachers), we won't make nearly as much. It's supply and demand.

Ms. Yost actually grossed $100,000, which is quite different from netting $100,000. Still, it's quite an achievement.

She set herself up in a wealthy part of Dallas, Texas, and set out to persuade local parents through advertising that piano lessons for little Calum and Erin would improve their grades in school. Make them smarter. Get into Yale in ten years. Or some such thinking.

Then she started teaching by the half-hour, at a hefty hourly rate. If you're driven and lucky, it's not impossible. Let's see, 50 half-hour lessons a week @ $50 a half-hour lesson for 40 weeks a year....

Yeah, it's probably not smart to base your three year business plan on an outlier -- or any sort of plan for that matter!

If you can get that many people interested in piano who wouldn't otherwise be interested, you deserve that much money. Even if you do it through advertising.

AZNpiano, that's very interesting. How long ago was this? Maybe it's a country thing, one of my former piano teachers had a very successful music studio and almost all of his students found him through the internet.

Maechre it hardly costs anything to start up a website. I spent less than $20 on mine. In order to get a web presence, it helps to be searchable through Google. You can do this by buying advertising (which I haven't done) and you could also do it by frequenting forums like these. Besides that, having a blog, responding to other peoples blog articles and signing up to music teacher engines (such as limelight, music teacher online, teachmemusic) as well as other databases such as hot frog, do more, todo kids, gumtree, yellow pages online, twitter and facebook help get your website on the front page of Google.

I find that having a blog also helps - people know about who I am a little bit better when they read about what I think.

Wow, maybe a website really is a good way to go. Last time I started a website (for my books) it was unsearchable -- I used Weebly. I haven't made that mistake again; I went back to blogspot.com so now I actually show up on Google. I wonder if a blogspot website/blog would be sufficient without getting a domain name. I should be just as searchable, the only difference would be a .blogspot.com at the end of the address, but I could do all setting up and editing myself.

By the way, so far I've had one inquiry through Facebook. It was a woman who was asking if I drove out to teach, and I said I'm not currently. (She was 20-30 minutes away.) She said she'll get back to me if she decides to go ahead. I'm not expecting anything from it, but I was happy to get the inquiry!

I've been supporting myself on my piano teaching income for almost 5 years, but it's not easy. Just recently I started working a day job in an office to supplement my income. Due to a move and changing life circumstances my expenses got higher and and I couldn't navigate it financially on just my teaching salary. That being said, this past year has been my most lucrative year from teaching because I switched to only teaching privately instead of mostly in a music school. I live in a very expensive area in the US and my rates are high. I have 24 students. If I were married and had an additional household income, it would be much easier and I wouldn't have to work second job.

My biggest problem is summer. Last year over half my students were gone for at least half the summer for vacations or sleepaway camp. That's another reason why having an additional income, whether from a spouse or a second job, is a necessity.

Also, I have to say that I wouldn't knock people who "teach into their 80s and then drop dead." That's a horrible thing to say. My piano teacher for all 4 years of high school was in her middle-late 70s while I had her. She was an energetic woman, enormously devoted to teaching, and an absolutely brilliant teacher. She must be about 85 now and the last I heard she was still teaching a full studio. Good for her.

By the way, I'm sort of a jazz pianist. My preferred style is popular music -- film, game and musicals -- but my course is a jazz course. I don't feel jazz is my strong point, but maybe that's just because I'm doing University level stuff. I'd love to try playing in a piano bar one day. I just don't know if I'm the gigging type. If you never try, you never know!

Anyway, I told my Uni piano teacher today that I was starting up my own studio, and she said she personally thinks one-on-one piano instruction should wait until tertiary level! I totally disagree with her there, but she went on to give me an awesome list of Australian organisations who do instrumental teaching in primary schools and child care centres. I really like the look of the primary school ones, and the younger ones might be worth trying out.

Primary School:
- Creative Music
- Primary Music Institute
- Mad on Music

Babies - 5 years:
- Mini Maestros
- Jump For Joy

Apparently they have good hourly rates. The only thing is, you need sufficient hours to make it worthwhile. I would teach through a combination of them, and also do my Saturday/weeknights piano lessons. I assume that'd add up to a respectable income.

I don't know what "tertiary level" is (third year of study?), but where I live it's not uncommon for pianists to start teaching some private lessons when they are in High School. Of course "High School" may not exist in your system... anyway, I mean when they are around 16 years old. A good student has enough music skills by then, but of course they need to learn how to teach. May as well start early. I did have classes in Pedagogy at University, but they were useless. I had to learn "on the job."

Of course it's also ok to teach within a system. You'll learn teaching skills and it's not a bad resume item either.

I think tertiary level means college/university level. I am guessing, I could be wrong.

Yes, that's right. I didn't realise the terminology wasn't universal. (which is strange, because I'm often surprised when some American posters don't realise some terminology they use isn't universal. )

Just a quick lesson on the Australian school system for clarification.

Primary School - Ages 6-12 (Prep to Grade 6) (unless you start at age 5 - not common for my generation)
High School - Ages 13-18 (Year 7 to Year 12)
Tertiary - after high school - higher education)

I think Kindergarten runs roughly age 3-5.

Just wondering, what's the standard range for hourly piano lessons in Australia?

Here in Canada it's about $25-80. For accredited teachers they usually do a sliding scale depending of the grade level of the student. Around $35-40 for beginners and higher up.

I think salary totally depends on the city and # of teachers.

As for gigging/performing jobs, I do that now. It is lucrative on an hourly basis but these jobs are so sporadic that you cannot rely on them for income.

Remember most gigs are one time events, like weddings, Christmas, birthday, New Year parties... You can normally charge $100-200 hour, but you will only be playing for 1-3 hours at most.

Forget cruise ships for cocktail piano. I have tried that route and I can tell you ships now seldom hire for that position. You got all these old timers that don't want to leave so few openings come up.

Now if you can sing and play, that would be a far better option. Piano bar entertainers are in high demand. It helps if you are attractive, outgoing and flamboyant. They want people to have a good time, buy lots of booze, drinks...

For me, income from piano is about 4th on the list, it's extra pocket $. Luckily I don't need to rely on it. good luck with it.

It really varies, depending on whether you're in a big city, smaller regional centre, or out in the bush. In Sydney, for example, $80ph is probably the minimum a well-qualified professional teacher would charge.I make my main income performing, but even though some of the gigs are one-time, after you've spent the time building up your contacts you can expect to get more of the same. I do a lot of exam/audition/competition accompanying. It's rewarding to help young performers and watch them develop over the years, and the contact with other teachers (instrumental and vocal) is also rewarding. Higher-level concerts and recording gigs are not as frequent, but pay well. You have to be a very good reader, able to be adaptable, and also be very reliable and get on well with people. You also have to love the repertoire (I specialise in vocal - Lieder etc - but also do a lot of string and wind rep) - for itself, not just for the money you may make out of it. Luckily I do. It's what got me into it in the first place.

Ok thanks. Yes that's different. USA isn't standardized but this is a summary:
Preschool (if you do it, it's optional) ? - 4
Kindergarten: one year, considered part of elementary school, age
Elementary School: grades 1 - 4, 5, or 6, ages 6-9,10, or 11
Middle School (it's called middle school if it includes grades 5 or 6) 5/6 - 8
Junior High School (if the school doesn't include grades 5 and/or 6 then it's normally called Junior high instead of middle school) grades 7-8, ages 12-13
High school: grades 9-12, ages 13-18
College/University: higher education.

Of course to add to the confusion there are many children outside of the public education systems. Homeschool children sometimes aren't even sure which grade they're in. And private schools can do whatever they want, to an extent.

Clear as mud?

Hello Maechre,

Only regarding teaching, not other musical professions, I don't have answers so much as questions for you to consider privately...

Teaching in a classroom with, say, 15 or 20 children or young adults in front of you is firstly a skill of group management, and secondarily of music education. Talk with a veteran teacher in the group educational environment before diving into that pool. Perhaps it is for you, perhaps not. Find out first before pursuing it. Leading a youth choir is a good way to get very real experience with directing a lot of people at once. If not that, try to get some experience leading a group so you get a taste of what it is like. That is the only way to find out, but a note of caution: if your first experience is negative do not automatically assume that ALL such situations are also negative - perhaps you just need different experiences.

Teaching individual lessons privately is an entirely different situation. You are already teaching one student this way, so you at least have a sense of it and apparently like it, so that question is answered. I hugely enjoy giving private lessons. I do not like teaching 30 kids at once - not at all. But I enjoy performing.
So, find out what you really like to do and keep true to your nature.



The answer is all about money. How much money do you need? Don't be afraid to sit down and add it up: monthly mortgage on a house (google it), car payments, monthly food bill, health insurance, clothing, paying off any college debts. For yourself this is manageable perhaps. Now add two more mouths to feed into those calculations and do the math...

In other words, do not proceed with both eyes shut. If you don't like the way the numbers add up, I would not give up, only reconsider the dynamics and reconfigure the game.

As for as making a living at private lessons, I and others are doing it and supporting ourselves and loved ones. But please be shrewd about your environment. How many people in your community are making a living that way? How are they doing it? What type of music are they teaching? How are they advertising: word of mouth or by internet? It is not the same everywhere. Be crafty and do plenty of homework on the matter like a first-rate detective. Visualize what sort of students you want, and how you want to be in relation to them. Does your current place of residence support that vision?

Some great artists are also excellent businessmen - these talents are not mutually exclusive. If you decide you really must be a musician and a music teacher as your life journey, find smart people in the business of teaching you can rely on for moral support and also constructive advice.

Above all, be true to yourself. Then be prepared to stretch and grow enormously within the context of enlarging your knowledge and outreach, but on your terms.

It's your life, after all, so whatever you do, do it with gusto and enjoy it. That is a life well spent.

You can add online schools to this mix. There's actually a TV commercial for an online school that caters to the practice schedule of a competitive skater.

A LOT of time is wasted on a daily basis in public schools. I can see how online schools can help those kids who need extended hours of practice (skating, gymnastics, swimming, or even piano!). But I'm not sure how it would help the kid's social development.

In my area, about an hour away from the city, it's more like $50-$60 per hour for private lessons.
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I can sing and play. I'm not sure how it'd all work. Guess I'd have to go to some piano bars and see what it's all about.



Thanks for the well thought-out response!

Some good things about these organisations I mentioned is that they include training and professional development programs that work towards teaching certification, and the classes aren't too big: 5-8 if I recall.
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I've always wanted to run a choir.
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I, on the other hand, don't get a lot of pleasure out of performing. I mostly find it stressful. But I do love teaching.

Just to note, high school in the US is also referred to as secondary (with K to grade 8 primary). So by extension, tertiary would mean college/university here too, though it's not commonly called that.

What a crazy couple of weeks I've had!

I'd had interest on some of those Facebook pages I posted on, but nothing followed through. It's been three months I think, so I haven't been expecting anything. Last Thursday someone pointed me to a different page, which I posted my ad on. And there was a good amount of interest. But Facebook totally screwed me over. When I commented as my page, no notifications were sent out, and I really wanted some of those students. I PM'd those I said I would, and after experimentation discovered they weren't even receiving my messages.

But even before I discovered all that interest, I was PM'd by a Year 12 girl who wanted lessons. She'll be coming this Saturday or maybe Sunday.

Not long after, I got a comment on my "open to 4-6 year olds" announcement, and the mum of a student I thought I wouldn't get was asking for lessons. I was filled with hope, but then she wanted weekdays, and I'm only available for weekends. But I offered to teach on weekdays during my six-week Uni break, and she accepted. So in a couple of weeks I'll be teaching a four-year-old as well. This was a huge surprise as the mum had liked my page a month or two ago.

Then earlier this week, another mum from a month ago PM'd me, saying she'd like lessons for her 11-year-old and 4-year-old. Unfortunately she wanted weeknights. I said I could push for a Friday, maybe 7:00. (Would mean driving home through peak-hour traffic but hey, it's 50 bucks for an hour of teaching!) Then she asked if Sunday at 3:00 would be good, and there I have another two students. I've now asked the Year 12 if she'd like to do Sunday instead at 2:30 or 4:00.

That's an 18-year-old, an 11-year-old, an 8-year-old and a 4-year-old. Wow.

So I'm feeling like this is a good start. I think I need to print myself some business cards.

Now, it just feels right to me to get paid per lesson, but I've thought that monthly payments would help avoid missed lessons. I'm not sure how to discuss that with the payers. (I think I need a policy.)Or maybe there's no need to take it so seriously at this point.

I'm still a bit depressed over students I feel I've lost -- if Facebook had worked I believe I could have 3 more students. Or maybe there's a slight chance that they haven't forgotten about me and are actually considering it. For now I can only focus on the students I have coming up.