The 2020 pandemic disrupted the lives of private music teachers just as it did many other careers. Music lessons continued only by forcing teachers to offer their music lessons online. As the pandemic subsides and things return to normal, many parents will still want to continue taking lessons online rather than returning to in-person lessons. This article addresses why that is and shows teachers strategies they might use to optimize their music lesson schedules.
Parents may have more than one child.
If parents have multiple children, waiting for one child to finish a music lesson so the next can begin wastes a lot of time for the parent. They could be getting other work done if they were home. Online music lessons solve that problem for the parent, allowing more productive use of their time.
Parents have a tight schedule.
Getting home from work, helping kids complete their schoolwork, making dinner, and getting the kids ready for bed is a lot to fit into a schedule. Kids likely have other extracurricular activities, too. Online music lessons help alleviate the stress of a hectic schedule compared to in-person music lessons.
Germs and Viruses
Even as the world opens up, many parents remain nervous about the spread of disease. Not everyone can get a vaccine, and that can be a neverending concern. The threat of the Covid-19 virus, and possible variants, still lingers. Also, in-person lessons increase the spread of other viruses, like the cold or flu.
Whatever the reason, it’s a reality that music teachers have to consider, and music teachers should offer online music lessons if they want to get more music students.
So how should you, as a music teacher, schedule your students’ music lessons when some of them want to continue taking them online. Here are some ideas.
Block in-person and online lessons at different times or different days. Most parents who prefer face-to-face lessons will need to schedule them in the late afternoon to early evening when school is out. You might designate most of those times for in-person.
Provide online music lessons to students from different time zones. You could expand your student load by offering music lessons to students who live elsewhere in the world. When it’s noon in New York, it’s late afternoon in England. When it’s evening in New York, it’s three hours earlier in California. Teachers could find students in other time zones to optimize a music lesson schedule.
Schedule lessons on Zoom.
Zoom allows you to schedule recurring meetings. For music teachers, you could have a lesson automatically scheduled for a specific student on the same day and time each week. Automatically scheduled lessons save a lot of time because all you and the student need to do each lesson is click the Zoom link to connect.
Online music lessons won’t replace traditional music lessons. They will add to them. Even if you’re a teacher who prefers to teach face-to-face, you and your students will be better off by offering online lessons. It will help you get students who are only able to take music lessons over the internet. For students with no other option, online music lessons can help students to learn a musical instrument who otherwise would not.
Do you want to get more students and grow your music teaching business?