The Independent Music Studio - Piano

Date April 10, 2010

Discipline Piano

Teacher Beth Klingenstein

This seminar deals with four incredibly important aspects of running an independent music studio. Beth Klingenstein is an expert in the field and while the day focuses on the independent piano studio the concepts discussed here are applicable to all instruments. Topics covered include:

Professionalism in the Independent Music Studio
Before establishing a private studio, each teacher should be well-versed in business practices. In the past, few teachers were taught the nuts-and-bolts needed for financial and professional success, leaving them to struggle on their own with ineffective policies and practices. This session offers practical advice to teachers, whether they are starting a new studio or upgrading an existing one. Issues to be discussed include how to set project oneself professionally, establish functional studio policies, set a make-up policy, devise a studio policy statement, organize effective bookkeeping, and establish a clear payment plan. This provocative “consciousness-raising” session offers a practical and humorous approach to some of the serious issues facing the independent music teacher.

What We Charge and Why
The independent music teacher is notoriously underpaid. Why is this so, and what can we do about it? Results of a nation-wide survey on the rates and workloads of the independent music teacher are presented. The survey offers some genuine surprises into what affects our income, how we determine our workload, and the control we have over our own economic status. Suggestions are given on ways to take charge of our own economic success.

Creative Curriculum – It’s Not Just for K-12
Too many piano lessons are spent correcting notes, fixing fingerings, and weeping over poor counting. There is far more that can be accomplished during piano study, and this session offers practical tips for developing a varied curriculum. Some of the curriculum topics to be discussed include theory, music history, chamber music, summer camps, composition, improvisation, and world music. With the lesson time that’s left.

Great Pianists from Mozart to Rachmaninoff
Performance practices and the concert format of the past were far different than what we know today. This presentation discusses some of the best known, and some of the least known, concert pianists of the past. Some astonishing differences in concert format, technique, fingering, musical interpretation, and physical approach to the keyboard will be presented in this often humorous discussion of great pianists of the past.