Keeping students season after season is essential for establishing a lucrative lesson program. I talked with a student, parent, and teacher to find out where budding musicians invest in their education and why.
Student: Michelle Vassallo, age 39 with two children ages 13 and 9 who also take music lessons), Madison, Wis.
Parent: Amy Pagnani, mother of Aidan (age 15, studying since 7), Eli (age 11, studying since 9), and Colin (age 14, beginning soon), Greenwich, Conn..
Teacher: Michael Mirtsopoulos, private teacher who formerly taught in stores, Tarrytown, N.Y.
What are the most important factors when shopping for lessons?
Student: Word-of-mouth brought me to our current store, and the fact that it’s very close to our home was helpful too. Then, schedule. I attribute the fact that we ended up with a fabulous teacher to the quality of the store. My children’s other lessons are piano at the teacher’s home, and viola and oboe at school. I enjoy the convenience of our guitar and piano lessons because they are excellent quality and within two miles of home.
Parent: A reputable and well-established place, and word-of-mouth and recommendations from friends. Also, a flexible schedule to accommodate after-school or weekend lessons, and teachers who have worked with kids. We started at a store but the rooms were cramped with lots of distractions. That same teacher started coming to our house, which helps my son because he’s comfortable and has his things nearby—he can pull up music on the computer or switch guitars. It helps me because I can be available to take my two other children to their activities, and I’d rather be home than driving back and forth to the music store.
Teacher: Availability and schedule, especially for beginners. They also rely upon the salesperson recommending an appropriate teacher—if you put a rock n’ roll “wannabe” with a jazz teacher, it will be the stereotypical nightmare piano teacher scenario. Students with experience who want to branch out in different directions look for teachers in specific styles. They overhear other teachers and like their style, or have a friend learning from someone else. The biggest obstacle of most in-store lessons is noise from other studios—parents and students often complain about it.
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