Sharing The Gift Of Music

Sharing the Gift of Music

The best way to make a plan for a work at home situation when you want to stay home to be a good mom for your children is to use a skill you already have and either convert it to a job you can do at home or change it from a hobby to a career. If you have a passion and a talent for music and you have a skill that you worked hard to develop, there is a natural job opening for you right under your nose that you can develop with a fair amount of ease and build this business right at in your home.

That job is taking on students to tutor in music theory or in developing a skill. If you have conquered the piano, there are always parents in your community who are looking for someone to give their child piano lessons. It is not the type of training that is dominated by big schools or institutions. Most of us learn to play the piano in a tutor situation that that style of musical training is well established as the way to go for parents who want their child to learn this valuable skill.

Another advantage of giving piano lessons is that you probably already have an outline for the lessons ingrained into you. You got that outline when you took piano lessons from a skilled individual as a youngster yourself. You know the finger exercises, how you were taught the scales and how to slowly build up your skill of playing the piano. You can start with your own training but you will find plenty of piano lesson plans in music stores or online. Take sometime before you take on your first student to go through the lessons and understand them so you are ready to start teaching right away.

The other preparation step before you take on students for your piano lessons is to prepare a studio that you can dedicate to teaching. It doesn't have to be a totally private room but a study or dining room where the piano is should be remote enough from what else is going on in the house that you can give your students 100% of your attention for their half hour of your time. Your students pay for your time and an interruption of only 5 minutes robs them of what you are giving. So make arrangements so you can devote the time to teaching during the lesson times.

You might feel insecure about the craft of teaching. But when you think about it, you teach all the time in a one on one setting when you help your kids with school projects or with their homework. Simply approach teaching piano with that same gentle patience and with that same perseverance and insistence on perfection that you use with your own children and you will do fine.

Do keep in mind that you have two goals. One goal is to give your students the finest piano lessons you can. And all of your musical preparation and lesson plans go toward that goal. But you have a secondary goal of retaining students and in having them leave your studio feeling great about their progress. If you achieve that goal, you will keep those "customers" and get referrals.

To accomplish this, use as much praise and affirmation as you do criticism. Be patient in showing the students how to play and then staying with them while they learn each principle. By taking your time and being both a good teacher and a mentor of your students, they will give you rave reviews to their parents and their friends. That means lots of success in your work-at-home job of giving piano lessons.