Setting up a studio

Now it’s time to get going.  You need to decide where you’ll be teaching from.  You may have a space in your house, you may be able to use a space in a school or similar, or you may want to rent a studio.

Teaching from home

There are a lot of benefits in teaching from home.  No transport or parking issues for you.  You can trust the piano you’re using is in good, working condition.  You can even get the dinner in the oven in between students!  Conversely, there are also some disadvantages.  You have to work harder at defining the teaching space from the living space.  Your flatmates/family may not appreciate hordes of kids traipsing through your living room.  And their patience at listening to umpteen versions of Für Elise may wear pretty thin.

If you are teaching from home, you need to make sure there is appropriate access to the teaching space.  If the room you’ll be in is at the back of the house, can you get the students to come in through the back door?  This way they’ll avoid your unmade bed and the pile of washing on the sofa.  If this isn’t possible, close the doors and hide the laundry!  Be prepared for comments on your décor and family photos.  You’ll also need easy access to the toilet and somewhere for parents to wait.  Make sure there is somewhere they can park and let the neighbours know there’ll be people coming and going.

Teaching in a school/church/community hall

A lot of the same things apply.  You’ll need adequate parking for parents and somewhere that you can park so you don’t have to keep popping out every half hour to top up the meter. Make sure you have access to the space – do you have to collect the key from someone, can you keep a key, is there a security code or alarm?  Is there somewhere to store your music stand and chairs or will you need to bring them with you each time?  Are other people using the space?  Maybe you’re teaching in a room in a community hall where there are also ballet lessons or karate classes.  Will your students be distracted by these sounds?  Can your African drumming lessons run at the same time as the meditation class?

Renting a studio

Once you start investigating renting a space, you’ll discover all sorts of hidden nooks and crannies in your city. There are spaces all over the place, many in locations you would never have thought of.  My first studio was right in the middle of the CBD, tucked in between a Thai restaurant and an independent clothing label store.  The building (which apparently used to be a dental surgery) had been turned into studios, which housed me, an artist, a jeweller, and a theatre company (later a dance company).  My second studio was above a theatre.  In that building were writers, musicians, a tarot card reader and a vintage clothing store.  The studio I’m in now is a former school.  It’s a huge building, which also houses an art school, three dance schools, musicians, artists, a climbing wall, offices, a gymnastics club, a tech start-up and more.

There is obviously a cost to hiring a teaching space.  One way to help with this is to share a space with others.  My first studio I shared with an artist and another music teacher.  My second was so cheap ($30 per week - with electricity included) that I just used it on my own, and my current studio I share with another music teacher.

I love having a studio dedicated to teaching music.  It means I can keep work separate from home (particularly as I live in quite a small house), and I don’t have to have all my teaching resources cluttering up my house (although to be fair, the spare room is pretty much a de facto storage cupboard).