Back to School: Getting Paid for Teaching Piano
Back to school for 2025-2026 is fast approaching. And it will soon be time to send out schedules and tuition updates for your upcoming teaching year. So naturally, considerations in your time and finances will be on your mind.
How much can you charge as a piano teacher? Can you increase your rate from last year to this year? What is the best way to charge for teaching piano lessons? How do you ensure that you get paid for the time you teach (and prepare for) lessons? ETC!
There are lots of questions about how to make a profitable business as a piano teacher. We can’t answer them all. But we can give you some ideas for how to determine what will work best for your studio! Consider the following:
- Do you have a music degree or certification?
- How many years have you been teaching (or is this your first time teaching)?
- What experience do you have, both in playing the piano & in teaching in general?
- What level of students are you able/comfortable teaching — elementary, intermediate, advanced?
- How much time are you taking in teaching — do you offer group lessons, individual lessons, lessons for 30 minutes, 40 minutes, an hour, etc? Do you spend time preparing lessons plans (you should!)?
- Do you teach music theory, music history, ear training, technique, as well as method book lessons (you should!)? If you don’t know these things (like music theory), you can charge more if you first learn these skills!
- WHERE are you teaching — your house, a rented studio space, the student’s home?
- What is the going rate in your community?
- Do you have your students participate in competitions, recitals, certification programs, etc?
- Do you have your students pay for “extras” (like recitals), or are they covered in your regular tuition rate?
- Do you pay by the lesson, or by the month or season as a tuition rate?
- Do you include holidays and vacations as paid, or unpaid time?
- How do you prefer to be paid — electronic means (such as Venmo, Paypal, etc), or with cash, check or credit card (which may include a fee)?
- Do you offer discounts for multiple family members taking lessons, or provide referral discounts?
Professionalism Matters!
No one can, or should, tell you how to run your own studio. But, in general, the more qualified experience, training, and education you have, AND the more professional you run your studio, the more you will be able to charge for your lessons. Of course, you still have to take your community setting into account (big city vs rural area, for example).
It is highly beneficial for teachers to gain as much experience and training as possible, and then to seriously consider their teaching set up and professional environment.
Take time to consider the questions above and set up your studio in the most professional manner possible.
Piano Discoveries Offers Products to Support Your Professional Studio
You can find all of our many valuable resources at our Piano Discoveries Shop, our Etsy Shop and our Teachers Pay Teachers Shop. Check out all of our offerings made just for you!
