A Music Teacher Moving Home
Moving house is both exciting and stressful but when you're self-employed and have a client base in one area, uprooting yourself to somewhere new often has one feeling like they have to start from scratch again. With the increase in online and video services during this past year, however, as a music teacher, moving home doesn't have to feel as risky anymore.
MOVING HOME
We've been in our new home for just over two weeks now and I'll admit, I was very nervous about moving. I was worried that when I told my students about the move, they would say it was too far to go and would find someone else who taught closer to them.
While the pandemic has been truly awful, a positive thing to come out of it is the transition to online working and video teaching. Now, teachers offering online music lessons are having enquiries from students all over the world. This did reassure me that if I moved, for the time being, nothing would change in terms of teaching as I still teach music primarily online. Still, I needed to let my students know what was going on and allow them time to consider the future and whether this would cause a problem if and when they wanted to go back to face-to-face.
HYBRID TEACHING
During the conversation, I voiced a few options: 1. Go back to face-to-face with the knowledge that they will have to travel further. 2. Stick with online clarinet/saxophone lessons for the foreseeable future. 3a. Do a mixture of both and find a balance between the two that works for them. 3b. For those that have to travel a long distance, meaning after school/work traffic adding extra time to their journey, making it too difficult to do, I've offered a once-a-month longer face-to-face music lesson on a weekend for a reduced fee, and video as normal for the other three weeks. For example, an hour is usually £30 but if their commute is over an hour there and back, I've offered either a 90-minute lesson for £40 (instead of £50) or a 2-hour lesson for £50 (instead of £60). If that doesn't work, I'll consider upping it to fortnightly.
For the moment, everyone is happy to stick to online music lessons (partly due to the new spike) but I was both surprised and relieved that some of my students, particularly those that live further away, said they would prefer to stick with online lessons as it suits them and we've had no issues (although the move has meant I've had to change internet providers, which caused a bit of a kerfuffle and I'm not happy but that's a different story). To those who want to eventually move back to face-to-face clarinet/saxophone lessons and live further away, I've said that we can trial some longer weekend lessons during the Summer holidays and go from there.
NEW OPPORTUNITIES FOR A MUSIC TEACHER
Despite the option of online music lessons, there is always the risk students will say goodbye and it can be hard to see past that. Naturally, though, you'll also get new students from your new area as well. One of the selling points of Wells for me when we were house-hunting was the amount of music going on in such a (relatively) small space.
There are two secondary schools, one of which is Wells Cathedral School, boasting an impressive music department that includes the relatively new concert hall, Cedars Hall. There is also a collection of primary schools in the area, and places like Glastonbury, Shepton Mallet, Midsomer Norton, Radstock, and Cheddar aren't too far away.
I was particularly sold on this house because the previous owner is a piano teacher and if they can afford to upsize after five years then that shows there's music teaching work to be found. In fact, I've already had two new enquiries and one of them is starting today!
DON'T BE WORRIED, BE EXCITED
Yes, moving house can be scary but if, like me, you're worried about keeping your students, you'll be surprised at how many of them will either say they prefer sticking to online music lessons, for the ease and convenience, or that they're happy to travel further for your services. After all, they may have chosen us partly because we were closer to travel to initially but they've stayed with us because they enjoy the way we teach and know us as welcoming, friendly, and supportive music teachers.
Finally, make sure you're on as many online teaching sites as possible and, if you are, be sure to change your address. I still get the most traffic from First Tutors: Music but also see it come from MusicTeachers.co.uk, Tutorfair, and, if you want to take the risk of bidding, Bidvine has got me a few students, even people up North wanting just video lessons. Many of these sites are even switching to just online music lessons as well, which shows that, despite the inevitable easing of restrictions, people are still interested in video lessons instead of face-to-face.
Happy house-hunting and good luck with your move!
P.S.
If you are looking for clarinet lessons or a saxophone teacher near you, I offer face-to-face music lessons in Wells, UK and online music lessons to anyone worldwide. Feel free to get in touch!