Music Teacher

Music is one of the few subjects for which most parents are prepared to pay for regular extra tuition, probably because few schools can provide specialist teachers for each instrument children wish to learn. Unfortunately that’s unlikely to change as most instrumental tuition needs to be done one to one, which is almost certainly beyond the budget of the schools in this country.

The great thing is you can set yourself up in business as a music teacher working entirely from home, doing something you enjoy. With a good established reputation you can expect to charge in the region of £20 – £30 per hour.

Unfortunately your hours are likely to be mainly after school. You’ll need to ensure you have all the appropriate musical equipment, which can be quite expensive especially when it comes to insuring it all.

If there’s not enough work available teaching “after school” classes it’s possible you could get more work by doing peripatetic teaching.

If you’re working with children you will need to ensure you have the relevant police checks. It goes without saying that you’ll have to actually be a competent musician with a good understanding of each instrument you will teach.

To really stand out you need some sort of professional reputation or to be the only local teacher that covers a particular instrument or style of music.

This post is part of a series in my home business ideas week .

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• 1

  It used to be a lovely profession and it is still possible earn a reasonable living, however, the wages have not really kept pace with the cost of living.

  In our local rag some joker is offering £7 per hour to work weekends in a “rock school”. So all those years of training, thousands spent on equipment to earn £7, huuumm you can flip burgers with no skills for the minimum wage.

  A well qualified, experienced pro should be charging IRO £35 – £40 per hour, I wonder how many parents would stump up that much?

  Rich

  Richard on May 26th, 2007
• 2

  My wife (formerly head of music at a local school) tells me that rates for peri teachers are more reasonable and (at her school at least) they ensure they are suitably qualified.

  Sadly though it seems that there’s more and more demand in this country for “cheap” with little or no regard for quality.

  John on May 26th, 2007
• 3

  Hi John

  Sure there are still some reasonable paying jobs. The problem is that the industry has imploded and when once as a musician you could earn a living by playing alone, by the time I stopped 14 years ago, most pros were also teaching privately as well as playing… 14 years on there are even fewer jobs available. Lots of people chasing very few good jobs.

  I absolutely agree about the cheap mentality that is prevalent in all walks of life. Also the Pop Idol culture devalues musicianship yet further. I guess these days everyone wants to be a singer.

  Richard on May 26th, 2007
• 4

  I must be getting old then, I’m still a wannabe guitarist!

  John on May 26th, 2007