Being a musician is hard. It takes years of struggle, side hustles and maybe even a day job when you are starting out. Because out there, there is no financial security but instead there are long work hours, late-night studio sessions and maybe touring when it’s the right season. There are seasons where you have back to back tours and then suddenly you have no work. If you are someone who just decided to go on the music teacher journey or have been at it and planning to start teaching, or even expanding your teaching gig: maybe get more students or promote classes more, well, we have got you covered. Here are a few essential points to get started and keep growing your online/offline music educator journey:
1. Figure Out Your Demographic
A good start here would be if you can start with the simple question: Why will students want to learn from you? Yes, it might seem to be a harsh question without a proper answer but there is always an answer. What is your instrument? It can be as popular as an acoustic guitar to something that is not everyone’s cup of tea – maybe the saxophone or a bass guitar, but hey, it’s 2025 and we have got a listener for every genre of music. It is a matter of time before you find interested students and in no time with the correct approach you will have your own academy.
Also take a moment to think about the age group who can connect to your music and would be your ideal students. For example, specifically targeting children or youth is a good idea if you want to teach beginners say the guitar or the keyboard. Ideally this also means using a little less challenging videos while promoting your classes instead of, say one in which you are shredding very fast like a pro!
2. Develop a curriculum: Have a clear guide to step by step teaching as a music teacher
Once you have some idea about your target students, have a step-by-step curriculum ready to offer to your prospective students when they hit you up for classes. Whether you offer group classes or individual lessons, have a curriculum ready for the easier understanding of students willing to join. If you are teaching students for Grade exams, like London College Of Music or Trinity College, mention it. Talking of exams, do not forget to mention your qualifications as well. This boosts prospective students’ reliability in their music teacher.
3. The Marketing: Scale it Up to a Business
This is one thing that is crucial if you are thinking of earning a substantial revenue from music teaching. If it is just a gig for some extra money on the side, well sure, “Btw, I also take Skype lessons online”, or “Hey, I’m still taking classes in my studio every week”: these might work. But you have to do more if you want to scale it up to a proper business, to earn a substantial amount enough to sustain you at any point of your career.
Start with social media and then go up to your own website where you have your background mentioned clear: who you are and what you teach with all the testimonials from your students. Be sure to mention the Contact details. Maybe add a “book a demo session/consultation” option to answer questions from prospective students one-on-one, while you give them a brief idea of what the journey will look like next. For physical classes do not forget to add your address to the studio or wherever you are teaching.
Also remember, students come to their music teacher to LEARN first, so your playing skills are secondary to how much you can help them upskill. Yes, you can play them guitar chops really fast, you have a fantastic knowledge of music theory, but how well can you explain your concepts or break the chops down step by step for the student to follow? The latter matters much more here. What is best is to add videos of your teaching on your website as well! The better you simplify the aspects the better you guide and the more successful teacher you become.
Also read: Guidebook: Mastering Audio – The Indie Approach to Produce Pro Recordings
4. Advertising to the Right Audience – Build Your Base Through Social Media
In this era, people would like to see you as well apart from hearing you before taking lessons from you. So a good idea will be uploading more and more videos on YouTube and other social media channels, maybe Instagram, to get an audience specific to your niche and then re-target them as potential students. This makes targeting audience through social media a much easier process. Apart from Original Compositions and Covers, maybe keep posting Teaching videos also every now and then everywhere, as a reminder that you teach music. At the end of the Teaching videos, maybe add a brief reminder that you are taking classes with a link to the relevant website page in your Caption.
5. Going Beyond Just Your Instrument
What more do you have to offer your students apart from just the knowledge about the instrument? Do you know the basics of recording? Are you a singer-songwriter or a composer with expertise in a specific genre? Use it to your benefit when promoting. There are students interested in EVERY kind of music and with the online teaching scene expanding post pandemic, a world of options have opened up: you just need to knock on the right door. Maybe your student is a young adult who would enjoy growing an audience base of their own on Instagram as self-encouragement. So why not teach them a little about recording software’s that helps them get started?
So, to end it, remember that wherever you are in life right now as a musician, this IS a good time to start as a music teacher. You do not even NEED a qualification, start by teaching a friend, whatever you know. Get the basics right and upskill along the way: we learn throughout our life. If you do not have a place to teach, start with your living room. There are absolutely no excuses to start it early 2025 and who knows, by the end of the year, with the right networking, you have a full-fledged school with say 50 students or even more!
