How to Teach Piano

If you love music and want to spread your knowledge, perhaps you should consider becoming a piano teacher. Here's a step-by-step guide to starting as a new piano teacher.

Understand and be able to play piano yourself. You need to have piano experience before becoming a teacher. Most teachers have learned their craft thoroughly and enjoy it.
Decide how many lessons you want to teach each week, how much you will charge, and how long each lesson will be. Most lessons are 30 minutes long, especially for beginning players. Find out what other piano teachers in your area are charging. As a new teacher, your rate should be lower than theirs. Many starting teachers begin with a low rate of $10 per lesson and raise their rate every two-three years by a few dollars. When you're deciding how many lessons and when you want to teach each week, remember the time commitments of your students. Are they still in school? College students? Are they working a 9-5 job? You'll have to work around their schedules too. Remember to leave time your lunch or dinner break.

Decide where you will have your lessons. You could have them at your house, at your student's house, or at another site, such as a music store or community center. Make sure there is a piano and a chair for you and your student. It should be clean, easy to work in, and easy to get to for you and your students.
Find students. Advertise in the newspaper, hand out fliers in your neighborhood, and tell everyone you know. If your city has a community center, ask if they have a music program that you could be part of. It would give you more credibility. Music stores are good places to find aspiring students. Ask if they have a place, such as bulletin board, window, or desk, where you could hang a flier.

Plan out your lessons. Once you have a student and the first lesson scheduled, plan out what you will teach your student at the first lesson. Introduce yourself and ask the student some basic questions about themselves. Find out if they have ever played piano before and how much they know. You could ask them to play a simple song for you. Do they have any goals or songs that they're working on? Why do they want to learn to play piano? What kind of music do they like? You may want to find out when the lesson is scheduled if your student is new to the piano so you can recommend books for them to buy before the lesson. Alfred Piano Course books are an excellent series for learning the basics, but there are many other series to choose from. As the teacher, you should be familiar with the books.

Some teachers buy the books for the students (the student pays for the books at the first lesson) so that they can play through the songs themselves and be able to give the student helpful hints, skip songs that doesn't agree with your teaching principles or other things.

Have your first lesson. Learn from them and change how you're teaching for each student. Teach on the level of the pupil. Base your lesson off them. Go their speed. They're paying for the lessons. You want them to understand why the reason behind various music techniques. Start with what they know and build off it.
Encourage your students often. Tell them when they've improved and what they do well. Offer constructive criticism only.

If you don't buy piano books for your student, be sure to recommend titles that they should purchase. To a beginner, all books look the same, just in different colors.
Be patient with your student. Some people require more instructions while others understand with a simple sentence.
Try not to bore your student with talking, but get to know them. Start the lesson with a "How was your week? Did the practising go well?" They'll be able to tell you right off about the spots that had them screaming with frustration and you'll know why they practised the amount they did. If their grandma died and they had to ship off to Antarctica for the funeral, they probably didn't get much chance to practise. If so, turn the lesson into a "How to Practise Effectively." Show them your tips for learning a song quickly and have them show you how they do their practicing.
Find interesting songs for your students. There are many many many piano books in different genres for all different levels. If they enjoy the songs, they'll want to practise more.
Teach your students the tricks and tips that helped you become a better pianist.

Don't pretend to be something you're not. Professional piano teachers have at least a bachelor's degree in piano with coursework in piano pedagogy. A professional should know how to sequence and teach musical concepts and how to develop the technical ability and structure of the hands as they grow.
If a student has learned everything that you can teach them, don't hang onto them. Let go of your student and tell them to find a more advanced teacher. You will be able to find another student to fill their spot.
Students may not want to practice. If they consistently come to lessons every week having not, or barely, looked at their songs since the last lesson, you should remind them that they won't improve their playing unless they practise between lessons. With younger students, try to get the parents to help. Make a practise calendar for them to fill out and have a parent initial every week. Be aware that not all students are honest.

Do not push students to practise boring songs longer than necessary. Many beginners have quit because they were forced to play simple songs fifty times over for thirty minutes each day.