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Economic Woes Posing Challenges to Private Music Teachers

Fri May 16th, 2008 by Sarah Luebke

The nation’s economic downturn is affecting more than prices at the gas pump and the grocery store. More and more parents are struggling with budget shortfalls and making tough decisions about which essential services to continue and which to cut. In some situations, the budget crunch is endangering funding for children’s extra curricular programs, which can include dance, sports or music.

Private music teachers across the country are feeling the impact of the economy in their studios. Students may have to decide between paying for gas and groceries, or canceling their lessons for the next few months. So how can a private teacher provide tools for the student who needs to temporarily suspend lessons with you due to financial reasons?

  1. Encourage the student to keep on playing even though she won’t be seeing you on a weekly basis for a while.
  2. Send the student away with material she can learn on her own during the hiatus. Usually, this will be material one level below his current one; sometimes, two levels below is a better choice so that the parent and student will be better able to teach themselves the material.
  3. Encourage her to work on assigned sight-reading exercises, review old pieces, and work on technique exercises.
  4. Give her the basic skills so she can explore playing by ear, improvisation, and playing fake book style.
  5. Suggest that composing might be a good way to make use of this non-lesson time.

Most students can work in this fashion for two or three months, particularly if you counsel them or their parents about what you are doing and engage their help in keeping the student practicing and performing. Suggest home concerts, which the entire family will attend. Encourage the student to use skills in a community setting (school, church, etc.), which will help keep them sharp but also provide a “goal” for practice.

If the suspension is longer than this, perhaps the family can afford one or two lessons each month at your normal fee until the financial crisis is solved. Offering reduced or free “scholarshiped” lessons poses some problems.

  1. It devalues your service. The family will wonder if your teaching is worth the normal fee if you are willing to deliver it for less.
  2. Sometimes there is a noticeable drop in the student’s effort; what she’s getting for free somehow seems less important to her than when her family must pay for it.
  3. The “normal value” of any tuition-waiver scholarships you give are not tax-deductible. The IRS considers this a gift of your services. Since you do not collect a fee, no tax is due on it, and therefore no business expense can be claimed.

What have you experienced in the studio? Are some areas of the country more affected than others by the economic downturn? Have you been able to find other solutions to continuing a gifted student’s progress? Are there avenues to find private funding for students to continue lessons? Please share with us your thoughts and ideas.

Posted in Practicing, Studio Management |

About the Author

Sarah Luebke

Nebraska native Sarah Luebke completed her MM in vocal performance at the University of Kentucky, and her BM in vocal performance at St. Olaf College. Recently she has been seen performing the female lead, Jane McDowell, in "The Stephen Foster Story" and the ensemble of "Big River" with Stephen Foster Productions. Other performances include the soprano soloist of Bach's St. John Passion, La Fee in Massenet's "Cendrillon" at the Intermezzo Opera Festival, Najade in "Ariadne auf Naxos" at the Brevard Music Festival, Monica in "The Medium", Rose Maybud in "Ruddigore", and Fiordiligi in "Cosi fan tutte". She currently resides with her husband in Florida, teaching a studio of 40 students and auditioning and performing locally.

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15 Comments (Add Comment)

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  1. Good suggestion to not give your services away. Many of your readers (like me!) might be inclined to keep a good student on even if the parents can't afford lessons. But you're right; there could be negative repercussions.

    To answer your question, my studio has not yet been directly affected by the economic situation. However, I am fully aware that for many families, private music lessons are a luxury which can easily be cut. Although teaching in public schools is not necessarily "permanent," the income tends to be more stable from month to month. Likewise, the income from my studio would help if I lost my school job.

    by Stengel99 — Sat May 17, 2008 @ 3:51 pm

  2. It's very interesting to read this from the other side of the pond. Here in the UK the economy is turning downwards but as yet has not impacted family budgets too much - onoy a matter of time until it does.

    I think the points about value are key - parents and pupils think they get what they pay for and free to them means poor quality. However if you can focus on being the best teacher/studio for your instrument in the area you should be better placed to avoid the downturn than most.

    Also one point not mentioned above I would encourage other teachers to really focus on what their students do between lessons - in effect learning to teach themselves. If you do this as a matter of course the learning can still continue even if the lessons do not.

    by Mike Saville — Mon May 19, 2008 @ 2:34 am

  3. I've also learned not to give services away. It devalues you and what you do. Scholarships aren't a good idea, either. They only reinforce the student's victimhood (being a victim to circumstances such as financial situation, etc.). Additionally, as a teacher/service provider, your expertise positions you as someone with a far more superior knowledge compared to that of your student. The exchange you have with the student will not be equal, so that's why scholarships and barter arrangements wouldn't be a good idea. However, you can give students reasonable lesson options/alternatives that will at least enable them to continue lessons without burdening their bank accounts.

    The economy hasn't really impacted music teaching around here. It's been pretty much the same thing year after year.

    by Laetiseaya — Mon Jun 2, 2008 @ 5:45 am

  4. And oh, when I've mentioned lesson alternatives earlier, I certainly don't mean discounts.

    by Laetiseaya — Mon Jun 2, 2008 @ 5:47 am

  5. I have offered qualified scholarships since my grandmother passed and left money for music advancement.

    There is a qualification requirement and students must be progressing in order to keep the scholarship. They pay at least 50%.

    My studio has grown since offering the scholarships and the parents don't know it is me, since the scholarsip is named after my grandmother, so no diminishment to my name.

    by Donna — Fri Jun 13, 2008 @ 2:56 pm

  6. These comments are interesting and helpful. I just found out that my favorite voice student has to stop due to financial difficulties at home. I am offering her an "assistantship" in which she works 4 hours each week for me in exchange for a 50% reduction in tuition fees. I'm just starting, so I don't know yet if it will work out well. Has anyone tried this?

    by linda ellison — Tue Jul 8, 2008 @ 6:37 am

  7. I have offered free lessons in the past (some students over a period of years.) I feel it is a way to offer lessons to those who are unable to afford them otherwise, and I would hope other teachers would see this as a need in our community as well. Out of my studio average of 40-50 students, I was "giving away" 1/2 hour of my time each week plus some time in planning. Rather than bring my name down, I feel it is an area of personal pride as well as a wonderful bit of community service. I do agree that the student must make good progress to continue in such a program. I do not currently have any students on a free or reduced program, but if I have an available time slot and a hard working student of mine needed it, I would definately offer it during our crisis.

    by Cindy Nelson — Thu Jul 17, 2008 @ 5:52 am

  8. I have had several students trade services for lessons, and it has been a real win-win situation. I have had them do tax preparation, house cleaning, filing, and getting my technology back to running, depending on their interest and expertise. Since using Music Teachers Helper.com, it has been much easier to keep track of these trades. I code the payment as "other" and note the job that was done.

    by Christine Schumann — Thu Oct 9, 2008 @ 1:16 pm

  9. I've offered reduced cost lessons in the past, only to find the family buying a new car, or going overseas, etc...things which I cant afford myself! Decided to leave the decision making to the families.

    by Kathryn Borrell — Thu Jan 1, 2009 @ 11:52 pm

  10. At the time of financial crises we need to come together united and try to solve the problems which are responsible for such a hazard. We need to overcome it. It is meant to bring calm to the population and markets and display government strength and stability.

    by bingo in the uk — Tue Jan 20, 2009 @ 4:09 am

  11. Long term funds are provided by ownership equity and long-term credit, often in the form of bonds. The balance between these forms the company's capital

    structure. Short-term funding or working capital is mostly provided by banks extending a line of credit.Online

    Finance Help

    by Online Finance Help — Tue Mar 3, 2009 @ 5:05 am

  12. I hope everything is working fine now days, Economy slowdown is now going to change day by day, so no need to worry about it any more, but make sure we have to plan and get ready for that in future, If it will happen, we all must preplanned, so we can get overcome from it fast.

    by Music College — Mon Jul 6, 2009 @ 7:06 am

  13. you can give students reasonable lesson options/alternatives that will at least enable them to continue lessons without burdening their bank accounts.

    by siti di backgammon — Wed Sep 16, 2009 @ 5:14 am

  14. To summarize, keep the song/chord list out there for free, but offer (for those who want a bit more help) an optional recording for a small additional charge. I believe this idea would meet all of your criteria: would improve the site, would be pretty easy and inexpensive to do, and I don’t think music publishers would come after you since the recording would be, in effect, a lesson related specifically to that song. Also, you could add these recordings a little at a time… as you have time (or maybe even use some recordings from your classes).

    by web development — Mon Mar 8, 2010 @ 8:00 pm

  15. I believe that it is possible to offer scholarships and reduced fees, however I also agree that simply giving these things away for free tends to devalue them. I believe the to receive a scholarship, a student must:
    1. Spend additional time practicing
    2. Show great promise and progress and,
    3. Perform some type of extra work in exchange, whether it is work that directly benefits the teacher, or some other type of work that the teacher feels is valuable (perhaps it could be work done for the community, as well).

    Regarding the tax deductible problem, one idea might be to see if organizations would donate scholarship funds for needy students; this would allow the teacher to receive compensation while providing funds for those who need and deserve them.

    by David Powers — Sun Mar 14, 2010 @ 2:48 pm

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