A long overdue rant

I am a musician. I teach music lessons. So does my husband. So does one of my best friends. Actually, so do several of my good friends.

NO, it is not our "side job" to do this. It is our main source of income. NO, playing at weddings is not our "side job" either. We do not have "side jobs" - we are musicians. And while I'm at it, NO, it's not ok to hire an inexperienced teacher for your child because he or she is "just a beginner." Would you want a Kindergarten or Grade 1 teacher that didn't go to university teaching your child how to read? I didn't think so. (We'll ignore for the moment that my child already reads. I'd still like a qualified teacher teaching my child.)

I agree that all teachers must start somewhere. Heck, when I was 15 I taught piano lessons for $7/half-hour to a girl named Brooke. It didn't last long, and I wonder sometimes if she even remembers it, whereever she may be now! By the time I was in university, I was charging $30/hour. When we moved away from London last year, we were charging $45/hour and that was still really "middle of the road" for pricing.

Yes, music lessons are expensive. We are trained professionals. (No, not trained monkeys. That will be my 1-year-old's profession to train the primates, I'm sure.) We have years of experience on our instruments, and in many cases, years of training to teach as well.

The first two questions we most often hear from prospective students' parents are:

1. Where do you live?
2. How much do you charge?

I don't think those questions are particularly relevant. In most cities, the qualified teachers are all in the same ballpark regarding price. I'll get back to that in a moment.

I think that parents should be asking how the teacher teaches, what the goals are, what the performance opportunities are, etc. I think the teacher should be able to articulate what he/she does and why it's important without feeling like a "sell job" is necessary to get the parent to cough up for lessons.

While we're at it, let's discuss the concept of the private music lesson. It is a time that is set aside for you every week. If you miss lessons, don't expect the teacher to make them up - your absence has caused a hole in the teacher's schedule and it's inconvenient to find another time, especially if the teacher is full! And even if the teacher is not full, likely the teacher had plans for his/her free time. How many parents really try to do make-up classes for any group classes that their children miss, such as dance, gymnastics, soccer, skating or hockey? I can tell you that it's likely not nearly as large a percentage as those who attempt to get a make-up for a private lesson.

Now I'm not saying that teachers should never be willing to reschedule lessons. Sometimes the circumstances are warranted. But many times, music teachers are poorly treated and not respected.

And that's not even the main topic of my rant. Can you believe it?

Let's get back to wages, the real topic at hand. When we moved down to Kansas City, I was initially surprised at the low wages charged by music teachers. I thought that maybe it was a big city thing because there were clearly lots of teachers. Then I thought that perhaps it was a case of "degreed" vs. "non-degreed" teachers. I started looking at ads on Craigslist. Some samples (paraphrased):

"Piano lessons - $15/half-hour or $20/hour" $20/HOUR??!!??!??!! What rock has this teacher crawled out from under? This was an experienced piano teacher, not a beginner or high schooler. (And speaking of kids teaching, there's a hilarious ad on the London Kijiji website right now where a 13-year-old is advertising herself as a violin teacher "just like the professionals, only cheaper". Actually, she didn't spell "professional" or "cheaper" correctly, but I suppose that's not the point.)

Here's another one: "I make lessons FUN!" Um, ok. I agree that lessons should be fun, but too often "fun" = "no homework" in a student's mind. And too often, the parents agree. "Oh, I just want my child to learn and have fun." Um, NO. Playing an instrument is hard work. Yes, we can have fun along the way, but you need to practise!

And my all-time favourite: "Violin lessons: Regular price $50/month. Summer price: half-off" Hey, lady, if you want to teach a month's worth of lessons for $25, go right ahead. And this was someone with a music degree.

Lest you think this is just a problem in Kansas City, let me assure you that it is not a unique quirk of the midwest. It happens everywhere, although I do think that it is worse here. The entire focus seems to be on undercutting the competition in order to get more students. The (huge) downside to this is that the teachers don't seem to see that by undermining their "competitors" they are cheapening their own services and that of all music teachers.

While I agree that something is only worth what you're willing to pay for it, there are reasonable price ranges and sheer idiocy. Reasonable would be offering to pay $16K instead of $20K for a new car, and settling somewhere in between. (NOT that I'm suggesting negotiating prices for music lessons. No way am I advocating that.) Sheer idiocy would be cutting your price on the new car to $10K just to get the sale back in your car lot instead of at *Dumb Darryl's Dumpy Dodge Dealership down the street.

Now let's discuss people who do teach "on the side". Does that mean they should charge much less than someone who is a full-time professional musician? I say yes and no. While I would expect to pay the concertmaster of the symphony more for lessons than I would expect to pay someone who played violin seriously but didn't pursue it as a career, I wouldn't want to see the non-professional undercutting by a huge margin. Actually, I wouldn't pay the concertmaster of our orchestra back home much of anything, but that's because I wouldn't send my child to him for lessons of any kind! (And yes, that's a whole 'nother rant.)

We have friends who also have a string trio. While all of their members have other "day jobs", they charge the same as we do for their services. Could they charge less? Sure. But I appreciate that they don't!

Let's get back to my point. I think I have many points actually, but the main one today is that Ben and I have chosen to NOT lower our teaching rates substantially in order to "compete" in this crappy market here. (And no, it's not related to the economy. Not here in yuppy Johnson County. Trust me. If skating lessons are $15/half-hour for GROUP classes, parents should be willing to cough up the measly $20/half-hour for PRIVATE lessons that I'm asking.) We have brought our rate to $40/hour (which I suppose you could argue is the US equivalent of $45 Can./hour) and, well, I have one student.

And that is another reason why we won't stay in Kansas City long term. I know it's a problem everywhere, but it's particularly bad here since the music teachers don't seem willing to work together to make the changes that are sorely needed.

*Please note that while I went to high school with a boy named Darryl who ate steak with his hands, this choice of name is in no way related to that Darryl or any other Darryl that I might know. Also please note that the choice of Dodge was deliberate. Some people (ie. my mother) might be fans of the Dodge Shadow, but others might have to disagree. ;)