<p>title should be ‘client-prospects’…</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/460187-how-many-music-voice-performance-majors-find-jobs.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/music-major/460187-how-many-music-voice-performance-majors-find-jobs.html</a></p>
<p>“The job market for any position in the music business that pays a living wage is already flooded and things do not look like they will be getting better anytime soon.”</p>
<p>Is even job market for private lessons flooded?</p>
<p>It depends where you live and also the instrument and how talented the person is as a teacher. If you lived in Manhattan and were a violin teacher, a cello teacher, a piano teacher, etc, it would be tough, because there are just so many teachers, especially if the person in question is only an ‘okay’ teacher. Keep in mind that many if not most musicians in orchestras and such teach privately, so the competition is fierce. Or if you are an english horn teacher (who generally would teach oboe as well), it might be easier since the English horn is a rarity (though if you live somewhere out in the sticks, there may not be many students wanting to play it). </p>
<p>Generally, the teachers who make a comfortable living either are ones who are good enough to get hired by high level music programs, or are accomplished enough musicians to have people who want to use them, or have already distinguished themselves as teachers. I can tell you that the people who teach privately and make a decent living are relatively small, most private teachers do a multitude of jobs, whether working as musicians and teaching privately and in programs, or other jobs. </p>
<p>Trying to become a private teacher of an instrument or instruments and making a decent living at it is probably as competitive as making it as a performer in most cases I would guess. The biggest thing is getting a name, either as a performer of some note or because you have turned out kids who, for example, have demonstrated great talent in some ways consistently, because there is a big difference in fees that can be charged. To give you an idea, a fairly high level violin teacher in NYC can make in the 100/hour range, if not more (the actual range for a fairly high level teacher is in that range, including some of the musicians in the NY Phil who teach; on the other hand, the concertmaster of a major orchestra can charge several hundred an hour, and get it; my son’s teacher before this one, who was a principal member of a fairly well respected orchestra, charged 80/hour, and had about 12-15 students each week…).,
Anyway,my 5c worth.</p>
<p>If you like working with kids, and also beginners, one way of pulling together a decent amount of work would be to land a part time music teaching job at a private elementary school. As the parents get to know you and you build up a program at the school, you can get many private students from the pool of kids at the school. The parents are comfortable with you because the school has already checked you out, and their kids like you. If you are willing to travel to people’s homes (charge more for that) you make the parents’ lives easier. In some cases, you might end up teaching 2 or 3 lessons in someone’s home in a row (siblings and/or mom), then drive nearby and teach at another home. You won’t get rich this way, no health benefits, but you can pay your bills. Always get payment in advance for the month of lessons.</p>
<p>Be careful in selecting your school, however, because some have specific conflict-of-interest policies that forbid a teacher from accepting private students from among those they teach in the school system.</p>
<p>Very true, BassDad. Then there are others that are perfectly fine with using the classroom at the school for private lessons after school! That surprised me a lot!</p>
<p>Stargazing–Another way to get new clients (kids) is to contact every parent foundation at every school, private or otherwise (the richer the area the better). Invariably they do a fund raiser at least once per year, an auction type of affair where people bid on prizes. Your donation would be lessons-- a few or one month’s worth. You may be giving away a lot of free lessons for a short while, but you’ll usually get a fair number to continue on, provided you are a good teacher!</p>
<p>On another note, when my H was teaching a lot of kids’ lessons many years ago (25 per week), we went through a serious recession, with lots of job losses in our area. Surprisingly, he lost no students. It seemed that parents were sacrificing other expenditures so that their kid’s lives would be unaffected. I wonder how things are going now for private music teachers…</p>
<p>The voice teacher my daughter started with still has a weekly studio of about 40 students…We live in KC area so of course prices are much lower than someplace like NY…I believe when my DD took we were paying $25/hour…she now charges $35/hour…She has to turn away students as she just can’t handle more with twins that are less than a year old.</p>
<p>Most Voice teachers won’t take young children…she does as she has seen too much vocal damage already done by the time the child is old enough for most teachers to take them…so she will take them young and teach them proper vocal hygiene…(my sister damaged her vocal folds as a cheer leader in middle school…which is what ruled her out for ever having a singing career). </p>
<p>By taking them young it also gave her a chance to nab students (and retain them) before others would consider them.</p>