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Talking Points When Talking With Prospective Families
Rock Your Communication Skills: How to better communicate to prospective families why they should consider private lessons with you as their teacher
As a private music teacher, you do have to “sell yourself” to prospective student families. Bottom line this is a serviceable business and you have to show you are capable and ready to work with others that are hiring you. Because in the end, you work for the parent to teach their child how to learn an instrument. I found it was super handy to have generalized phrases in my back pocket for when they came up on the phone or over text. Mainly why private lessons are vital. Especially when a parent is new to the private teaching realm and want to have their kid’s musical education stepped up more than what learning in the school can provide. Below you will find specific talking points I have come accros over the past 25 years when interviewing / being interviewed by prospect parents.
What are Private Music Lessons and How is it Different Than Group Lessons
Private music lessons are one-on-one lessons with a professional musician or music teacher. These lessons can be taken in person or online, and are tailored to the individual needs and goals of the student. Private music lessons are available for a wide range of instruments, including guitar, piano, violin, drums, and more.
One of the biggest advantages of private music lessons is the personalized attention and instruction you receive. Unlike group lessons, private lessons allow the teacher to focus solely on the individual student, providing feedback and guidance specific to their playing and skill level. Private lessons also offer flexibility in scheduling, allowing students to find a time that works best for them.
Benefits of Private Music Lessons
There are numerous benefits to taking private music lessons, including:
1. Personalized Instruction
As mentioned earlier, private music lessons offer personalized instruction tailored to the individual student's needs and goals. This allows the student to progress at their own pace and receive feedback specific to their playing.
2. Improved Playing Technique
Private music lessons can help improve your playing technique, allowing you to play more efficiently and with greater ease. A skilled music teacher can identify areas where you may be struggling and provide exercises and techniques to help you overcome those challenges.
3. Increased Motivation
Private music lessons can also increase motivation to practice and improve. Knowing that you have a lesson coming up can provide the incentive needed to practice regularly and make progress towards your goals.
4. Accountability
Private music lessons also provide accountability. A music teacher can track your progress and hold you accountable for practicing and working towards your goals.
How Private Music Lessons can Improve Your Practicing
Private music lessons can help improve your practicing in several ways. First, a music teacher can provide guidance on how to practice effectively, ensuring that you are using your time efficiently and focusing on areas that need improvement. Second, a music teacher can provide feedback on your practicing, helping you identify areas where you may need to adjust your approach. Finally, by setting goals and creating incentives for practicing, a music teacher can help you stay motivated and on track towards achieving your goals.
Finding the Right Private Music Teacher
Finding the right private music teacher is key to getting the most out of your lessons. When searching for a music teacher, consider their qualifications and experience, as well as their teaching style and personality. It's important to find a teacher who is knowledgeable and skilled in the instrument you want to learn, but also someone who you feel comfortable working with.
What to Expect During a Private Music Lesson
During a private music lesson, you can expect to receive personalized instruction and feedback specific to your playing. Your music teacher may provide exercises and techniques to help improve your playing, as well as assign pieces to work on between lessons. It's important to come prepared with any questions or areas you want to focus on during the lesson.
Setting Goals and Creating Incentives for Practicing
Setting goals and creating incentives for practicing can help you stay motivated and on track towards achieving your musical goals. Your music teacher can help you set realistic goals and provide guidance on how to achieve them. Incentives can be as simple as rewarding yourself with a favorite treat after a successful practice session or setting up a practice challenge with friends.
Specific Benefits of Private Piano Lessons
Private piano lessons offer unique benefits, including:
1. Improved Hand Coordination
Playing piano requires a high level of hand coordination, and private piano lessons can help improve this skill. A skilled piano teacher can provide exercises and techniques to help develop hand coordination and dexterity.
2. Music Theory Instruction
Private piano lessons also offer music theory instruction, which is essential for understanding the structure and composition of music. This knowledge can help improve your overall playing and musicianship.
3. Opportunities for Performance
Private piano lessons often include opportunities for performance, such as recitals or competitions. These opportunities can help build confidence and provide motivation to practice and improve.
Tips for Getting the Most out of Your Private Music Lessons
To get the most out of your private music lessons, consider the following tips:
1. Come Prepared
Come to your lesson prepared with any questions, areas of focus, or pieces you want to work on. This will ensure that you use your lesson time efficiently and effectively.
2. Practice Regularly
Practice regularly between lessons to ensure that you make progress towards your goals. Your music teacher can provide guidance on how to practice effectively and efficiently.
3. Be Open to Feedback
Be open to feedback and willing to make adjustments to your playing. A music teacher can provide valuable feedback that can help you improve and reach your goals.
Alternatives to Private Music Lessons
If private music lessons aren't an option for you, there are alternatives that can still help you improve your playing. Online resources, such as instructional videos and online courses, can provide guidance and instruction. Group lessons can also be a more affordable option, offering personalized attention in a small group setting.
Why Private Music Lessons are Worth the Investment
Private music lessons offer numerous benefits that can help take your playing to the next level. From personalized instruction to increased motivation and accountability, private music lessons can help you achieve your musical goals. By finding the right music teacher, setting goals, and practicing regularly, you can make the most out of your private music lessons and rock your skills as a musician.
Want to learn more about how to start a successful and thriving private music studio? Successful Private Music Studio Strategies 12 Week Online course is coming soon. Get everything you need to start, build and run a successful and thriving music studio. Click here and subscribe HERE to be the first to know when this course officially launches!
Happy Teaching!
Unlock the Musician Within: How to Incentivize Music Practicing and Boost Your Student's Skills
Practicing. Most people don't love it — and honestly, I didn't love it all that much growing up either.
I compare practicing to working out. We know we need to do it. We know it's the only thing that actually makes us better. But knowing something and actually doing it consistently are two very different things — and that gap is where most students get stuck.
For adults, the challenge is time and motivation. For kids, it's a little more straightforward: they need structure, accountability, and a reason to care. Here are the strategies I use in my own studio — and with my own child — to make consistent practicing happen.
1. Personal Incentives — Let the Student Find Their "Why"
The most powerful practice motivator isn't a reward you create as the teacher. It's the one the student finds on their own.
In my house, my own child knows he can't go out to play with friends until he's done practicing. That external rule eventually turned into an internal habit — he started practicing before his daily reminder even went off because he wanted to get outside faster. He essentially created his own incentive system.
The key is working with parents to figure out what their child genuinely cares about. Is it screen time? Playing with friends? A specific activity after school? Once you know what motivates a student, help the family build a simple "practice first, then reward" structure around it.
Talk to parents at enrollment and again any time practice consistency starts slipping. Ask: what does your child really look forward to each day? That's where the leverage is.
2. Sticker Charts — Simple, Visual, and It Works
Don't underestimate the power of a sticker chart, especially for younger students. There's something about seeing tangible evidence of progress that keeps kids coming back.
Sticker charts work on a simple principle: results-based reward. "If I do this, I earn that." Over time students start to connect consistent practicing with forward progress — and that connection is one of the most valuable things a young musician can internalize.
Keep it simple. A weekly chart with their pieces listed and a sticker for each day they practiced is enough. The stickers themselves don't need to be fancy — the act of marking the chart is the reward.
In my studio I run a Practice to Performance Challenge every spring — a structured, studio-wide practicing incentive that builds consistency and momentum leading up to the spring recital. Students love having a shared goal to work toward together.
Done-for-You Student Resource
Spring Practice Challenge Kit — Set 1
Run a structured, motivating practice challenge in your studio without building it from scratch. This done-for-you kit has everything you need — just print, hand out, and watch your students show up more prepared every single week.
$37.50 · instant download
Get the Spring Kit →3. The Candy Bowl — Old School, Still Works
Sometimes the simplest systems are the most effective. A bowl of candy in your studio for students to take at the end of each lesson is a small but surprisingly powerful motivator — especially for younger students.
The key is to attach rules to it so it ties directly to practice behavior. A student who had a great lesson and practiced consistently the week before gets to take an extra piece before they leave. A student who didn't practice gets the standard one — no shame, no lecture, just a clear and consistent difference in reward.
Over time students notice. And more importantly, they start to connect effort with outcome in a very direct, tangible way.
You can adapt this to whatever fits your studio culture — a treasure box, a points system, a punch card for small prizes. The medium matters less than the consistency of the connection between practicing and reward.
4. Give Students Something to Perform Toward
One of the most effective long-term practice motivators is a performance date on the calendar.
When students know they'll be performing — whether at a full recital, a small studio class, or even just for each other — they practice differently. The piece stops being an assignment and becomes something they want to be proud of.
Consider running monthly or bi-monthly performance classes where students play for each other in a low-stakes setting. These don't need to be formal recitals — just a chance to perform and hear their peers. The rule: if a piece isn't ready to perform, the student doesn't perform it. That's not a punishment. It's a standard — and students rise to meet it.
In my studio, our spring recital anchors the whole year. Everything builds toward it. The Practice to Performance Challenge runs in the lead-up and creates a studio-wide culture of consistency and accountability that carries students all the way to performance day.
Holiday Practice Made Easy
Holiday Practice Challenge Kit — Set 1
Keep your students practicing through the holiday season when consistency is hardest to maintain. This done-for-you challenge kit gives your studio a structured, fun way to stay on track — completely ready to hand out.
Get the Holiday Kit →5. Keep the Conversation Going With Parents
Practice consistency isn't just a student issue — it's a family issue. The students who practice most reliably almost always have a parent who is engaged, informed, and bought in.
Make parent communication about practicing a regular part of how you run your studio. At enrollment, talk through practice expectations and how parents can support their child at home. In monthly check-ins or lesson notes, let parents know what their student is working on and what good practice looks like for that specific piece.
When parents feel like partners in the process instead of bystanders, everything changes. Students practice more. Progress accelerates. Families stay enrolled longer because they can see the results.
That's not just good teaching. That's good studio management.
Ready to Build a Studio That Runs Like a Business?
Successful Music Studio Strategies — Signature Course
Student retention, practice systems, parent communication, recitals, pricing, and income growth — the Signature Course covers all of it across 59 lessons. The complete roadmap for building a thriving private music studio, built specifically for teachers like you.
$1,250 · or 3 payments of $500
Learn More →Which of these strategies resonates most with you? The best incentive system is the one that fits your studio culture and your students' personalities — so start with one, run it consistently, and see what happens.
Happy Teaching!
Becky
Keep the momentum going
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🌸 Spring Practice Challenge Kit
Set 1 · $37.50 · Done-for-you · Ready to hand out →
🎄 Holiday Practice Challenge Kit
Set 1 · Done-for-you · Keep students on track through the holidays →
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Signature Course · 59 lessons · Everything to launch & grow →
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Pre-made Recital Program Canva Templates
Planning a recital is already a lot of work — your program shouldn't be. I created a full library of done-for-you Canva recital program templates so you can skip the blank page and have something polished and professional in minutes.
When you sign up below you get access to all 6 template sets — spring and holiday themes from 2023 through 2026. Just open in Canva, save to your account, and customize with your students' names and recital details.
What you get — free:
- ✓ 2026 Spring & Holiday Recital Templates
- ✓ 2025 Spring & Holiday Recital Templates
- ✓ 2024 Spring & Holiday Recital Templates
- ✓ 2023 Spring Recital Templates
- ✓ Fully customizable in Canva — free account required
- ✓ New templates added each season — opt in once, get them all
While you're getting organized
Don't forget the other document every studio needs — your policy
A beautiful recital program makes you look professional. A solid studio policy keeps your business running smoothly all year. The Basic Music Studio Policy Template is fully written and ready to customize — covering tuition, cancellations, makeups, holidays, and communication.
- ✓ Fully written and customizable — just fill in your details
- ✓ Works in Microsoft Word and Mac Pages
- ✓ Includes a 17-minute tutorial video walking you through every section
- ✓ Lifetime access — update it anytime as your studio grows
One-time · $125 · Instant access · Works in Word and Mac Pages
Happy Teaching!
Want more done-for-you studio resources?
Here are the best next steps depending on where you are in your studio right now.
Successful Music Studio Bookkeeping -- NOW AVAILABLE!
Ready to get your books in order, literally? I’m an organizing guru with my books for my studio and I’m sharing all my secrets and in this mini course. Get access to the same templates I’ve been using for years that are easily customizable and duplicatable, year after year and student after student.
What you get:
I walk you through how to organize your studio folder right from the get go!
Lesson Summary (What I call invoices) for single and multiple students, and how to print and send it to your students (Set for every month of the year)
Payment Receipt (with attendance log) (for every month of the year and a yearly summary)
Total Money Earned sheet so you can see in one place, how much you’re earning, gross and net each month and for the whole year across your entire studio (Along with a year by year summary to watch your business grow!)
Tax Expense report
Inventory Acquisition, Lending library, Sale log
Plus 2 bonus!
Each sheet is designed to look simple yet professional, good enough to send to any student, and to be used as official documents come tax season. All formulas included, so all you have to do is just enter in the appropriate information and it’s done.
Tutorial videos included for every sheet on how to customize, use, save and print.
Templates for both Apple iOS Numbers and Windows EXCEL.
Happy Teaching!
Halloween Week Lesson Plan
October is one of our fun months in the studio where the room decor changes/add in Halloween decorations and the magical candy bowl appears, (you can read about that here). The beginning of the month each student starts to learn a Halloween specific song that we work through over the 4 weeks, I have a collection of Halloween books and various levels of sheet music that I call “community music” where the student will borrow it and bring it back at the end of the month. I use the Inventory Acquisition, sales and loan log to keep track of who has what music.
Each year in my studio, we have what we call HALLOWEEN WEEK! Halloween week is a special week where the students are encouraged to dress up in their Halloween Costume, I wear mine as well, but we focus the lesson completely what truly makes Halloween, Halloween…THE MUSIC!
I consider it a throw away lesson where we don’t go over anything new in their lesson books but focus solely on musical examples, playing different songs either over Youtube (youtube kids has great little kid appropriate songs that are fun to listen to that aren’t scary) , the origin of Halloween music, sounds, chords, and so forth. This works great and fills in easily for my 30 minute lessons.
Students that have longer lessons we also sightread and start working through 1-2 Intermediate Halloween pieces.
For my advance 60-90 minute lessons students read through Saint-Saëns - Danse Macabre or Macdowell Witches Dance.
Each student also gets a treat to take home. This year, I’m making these Monster Rice Crispy Treats.
SECRET: Discuss with each parent ahead of October to see if they are okay with their child learning Halloween songs. Have a book with Thanksgiving themed songs just in case.
I’m Becky and Welcome To Successful Music Studio Strategies where I help you create your own Successful Private Music Studio business through simple strategies I’ve learned and used in my own successful private music studio! Want to learn more about my online courses to help you start, build and create a successful and THRIVING music studio? Click here!