How to Grow Your Music Studio

When I made the decision to make my private studio my full-time job, worried was an understatement. I had 11 weekly 30-minute lessons in April of 2022, which wasn’t nearly enough to pay the bills on its own. Despite this, I took a leap of faith and set a goal to have 40 weekly 30-minute lessons by the end of 2022. Fast forward to September, and my goal was exceeded three months early. Here’s how I did it:

Ask for recommendations

One of the first things I did when moving to a full-time private studio is text my current studio and ask them to tell their friends and family members that I was accepting new students. This is easily the best form of advertising a teacher can have. If the current students and their families are happy, they will have no problems telling their friends about you.

Build a great website that reflects you and your studio

In this same message to my studio, I shared my new website. If you’re like me and can’t code let alone design pretty things, there are many free or cheaply priced resources to help you with this (for instance, I used Wix). I spent several weeks working on making my website easy to navigate and a true reflection of what learning from me would look like. This included an About Me page with information on my musical background and teaching philosophy, a Studio Rules page that could answer questions about payment, lesson times, parent and student expectations, as well as what they could expect from me as the teacher, and even a page on my two teaching partners, Ringo and Jolene. You’d be surprised how many students were more enthusiastic about music lessons after learning about the two adorable dogs they'd get to see weekly. This website will likely be the first reflection of you that potential students see. Make sure to have a few people proofread your page for spelling errors and broken links before publishing it.

Advertise for free

Advertising can be expensive. So why not do it for free? First, make sure that the SEO’s on your website will draw in the right costumer base. Your website should be linked to search engines like Google and Bing so you’re easy to find. Then, make a studio social media page on whatever platforms you want and begin posting videos and pictures of yourself and students playing. Before doing this, I highly recommend having a social media disclosure as part of your studio contract. You can tag parents and adult students in these posts in the hopes that they and their friends will see and share it, giving you free exposure of your awesome students and teaching skills.

Conduct meet and greets

Many teachers will offer a free first lesson as a way of getting students into their studio. If that’s working for you, go for it. What I prefer to do, though, is offer a free meet and greet in a public coffee shop between the student, their parent, and myself. Before this meeting, I make sure they have a copy of my studio contract and the link to my website. These can answer most of the obvious questions (i.e. lesson frequency and times, pricing, instrument choices, etc.). Meeting before the first lesson lets me answer any follow up questions, get a feel for the family, and allow them to get a feel for me. I also take the opportunity to find out what styles of music, bands, and songs the student wants to learn. Overall, I want the family to be confident in making the commitment of time and money to my studio. After the meeting, both parties usually have a good feeling of what the other is like, and I know how to best run their first few lessons.

As an aside, meeting for the first time in a public place is a great safety rule. When I was in my early 20’s and got new students, I would give them my address and have them come to the first lesson before ever meeting them. One day, I got a new adult student who happened to be a retired police officer. We had a great first lesson, but on his way out, he stopped and told me, “You can never do this again. Always meet strangers in a public place. There are a lot of dangerous people out there.” I’m extremely grateful for his advice.

Know your worth and let your pricing reflect it

The final move I made in growing my studio may sound counterintuitive: I raised my prices. There were a few reasons for this. First, I hadn’t raised my prices since I’d graduated with my masters in 2016. In that time, I knew that I had become a better teacher. Second, I began researching comparable rates for music studios and schools in my area and realized I was severely undercharging myself despite having 15 years of teaching experience and a masters degree in music. The final reason I raised my rates is because I knew I was worth it. If this was going to be my full time job, I would be able to prepare for and teach lessons like never before. That wasn’t something I believed many other teachers can offer as we often have to juggle multiple jobs to make ends meet.