New Site, New Blog

Sometimes, we just need a fresh start. Managing a Wordpress multsite with several blogs while juggling music teaching, freelancing gigs, and trying to get Maestro's Music Tricks off the ground simply wasn't working. 

My webmaster hat and writer's cap have collected quite a bit of dust over these past few months. A bit of website decluttering and reorganizing was well overdue.

When I undertook the project of revamping my dojo's website, my dojo mate in Saskatoon and I settled on using Squarespace. We found the process of building a new site that could be managed by members from our different training locations a relatively smooth process. Web maintenance has been a snap because Squarespace manages all the plugin and framework updates. I can only assume that they are dealing with brute force attacks because we haven't had any issues with our club site.

It's been working so well, that I decided to take the plunge and migrate my site to Squarespace. So, here we are.

The other big decision I made was to consolidate all of my blogs. All six of them. The separation by topic to do different branding only makes sense if one has time to put into branding them individually, which I don't. As for the "new" blog name, as much as I loved the names for all my blogs, The Musical Muse is the only one that could cover all the topics I write about.

It will take some time to tidy up the blog posts to make them fit their new home. It will also take some time to get the Maestro's Music Tricks e-store built. so please be patient. In the meantime, if you would like more information on my gamer-inspired music practice aid, please drop me a line.

Photo credit: Philip Wilson

On Music Teaching, Second Jobs, Balance and Diversifying

One question that occasionally comes up in a social or business networking setting is "Can you make a living teaching music?" After 12 years of self-employment, this has been a question I have been grappling with this year.

My answer: it depends. For music teacher Kristin Yost in the US, the answer is a resounding YES! She's the author of "How I Made $100,000 My First Year as a Piano Teacher". She has several factors in her favour off the bat though - she teaches in a highly affluent city in a highly affluent state. Combined with her sound business sense and voilà! A viable music studio.

However, what I am realizing, is that for many of my colleagues - myself included - the answer is NO. Secondary, even tertiary streams of supplementary income are needed to make it work.

"Why not," you ask? Private music teachers face limitations in terms of when they can teach. Most students come after school. Depending upon the business licensing by-laws in your area, they may be limited to only teaching part-time, which is hardly sustainable.

Music teachers also face limitations in terms of how much they can teach. Teaching is a wonderful, rewarding and exciting calling. However, it requires a lot of mental and emotional energy.

One colleague said, "By the time we calculate expenses and unpaid time for lesson prep, studio management, and all the extras we do for our students, we really teach for minimum wage." She went on to say, "Teaching piano is a wonderful career if you aren't the primary wage-earner in your family, but if you get sick, you can't teach and if you can't teach, you can't pay the bills."

Ivea Mark of said, "Piano teachers do it for the love of music and teaching and many struggle to make ends meet if they are the sole income earners."

At an event last month, I asked some of my colleagues how their year has been going. Like me, they are running under capacity this year. It's just the way the economy is.

Then, a couple of weeks ago, I asked some of my colleagues in the Alberta Piano Teachers' Association what they found as far as teaching and getting a second job. This is a summary of my findings:

1. Many who only teach piano have a spouse who works full-time (not self-employed).

2. Several (like me) have picked up a summer job to pay the bills during the slow teaching months.

3. More teachers than I expected work full-time elsewhere and piano teaching IS their second job.

4. Some of those who mainly teach music have diversified their music services. Some of the things they have done to earn extra money include teaching other subjects, adjudicating, running workshops, performing at every gig they can get, accompanying and so on.

These are some of the jobs that some of my teaching colleagues have picked up to earn extra money:

• Support staff at their local school

• Barista at a local cafe

• Concession staff at the Calgary Stampede

• School teacher

• Administrative staff

• Childcare provider

To these colleagues, they feel that they have achieved a healthy balance. They like the variety of not doing only music.

One, who now is a school teacher full-time and a piano teacher part-time shared this: "Way back when I used to teach piano only, I found it a bit lonely just being at home all the time, and just a 1-on-1 teaching situation, so I decided to recycle my education again to be able to teach in a school classroom setting. No regrets, but having the school teaching job now makes me appreciate my piano teaching even more than ever."

Evangeline Mably has worked at a local cafe. "If you can find one in your area, you might even run into your students," she said. "My students were so excited when they saw me "at work." LOL."

I started walking the path towards diversification when I stopped office temping and spent more time on my freelance writing at Suite101.com and set up a store on Zazzle. However, I learned that online writing is just as volatile as teaching music. I don't want to give up writing, so now I'm just looking at other things to add.

Like my colleagues, I do not want to give up teaching. However, a more balanced and stable lifestyle is what is needed. A balanced mix of teaching, my passive income streams and something that will bring in some extra money now. Time to start checking out the job search sites and tweaking my non-music resume.

Post Script

This topic continues to bring up some thoughtful discussion on the APTA discussion boards. Collen Lindenbach of Music and Play, argues that yes, you can make a living teaching music full-time. Like Kristin Yost, she teaches in commercial space and has several teachers working with her (she is hiring, by the way).

They offer a variety of private and group classes, such as Music for Young Children. Colleen stresses the importance of doing your demographic research, especially ages and finances in your area.

One common thread regarding those who teach music on a part-time basis. They unanimously say that their reduced teaching load enables them to offer a higher level of instruction. They have also noticed less teacher burnout.

Special thanks to my colleagues for sharing their thoughts and experiences on self-employment and how to earn extra money.

Variations on a Theme of Detail-work

Variation 1: Some of my students have given up chocolate, computer playtime and junk food for Lent. I've decided to give up procrastinating, namely, procrastinating on my bookkeeping.Inputting regular expenses and payments is no problem, so long as I don't let it pile up. The thing is, I do let it pile up. Then, mistakes happen. More like - 33 mistakes that need to be fixed before I hand over things to my accountant to file my income tax return.

On one hand, it's fun to be a sleuth. On the other hand, I wish I hadn't procrastinated so much. My head hurts from going through past entries to find out where the breakdown occurred. I fixed three this evening. The jury is still out whether Quickbooks is my friend or my foe.

Variation 2: One of my Iaido buddies - a pretty smart 15-year old - asked me to take a look at his arrangement of Handel's Sarabande in d minor. He took this keyboard piece and arranged it for string orchestra. Joe asked me to tweak it a bit. I enjoyed playing with the variations - adding more dialogue between the instruments so much so that I remembered how much fun it is to arrange.

Variation 3: One of my students has come up with a beautiful song, which is stuck in her musical ear. Her theoretical knowledge isn't at the same level as her musical ear, so I'm helping her transcribe it before she performs at the upcoming music festivals. Talk about a feat in ear training - rhythmic, harmonic and melodic dictation all rolled up into one. I haven't worked this hard since university on a dictation exercise!

Author's note: Click here to learn more about "theme & variations".

(c) 2007 by Musespeak(tm), Calgary, AB, Canada. All rights reserved.

So you want to be a consultant...

There are all sorts of consultants in the world - from accountants to lawyers and from corporate writers to artists. Yes, even music teachers and freelance musicians can fit into this category.

This month, my marketing friend Andrea set up a new consulting blog - Consultant Journal. I peeked at some of the articles, which are pretty useful. There's an article on Work from Home Scams and one on what steps to take when you begin consulting. I liked the article on gadgets consultants can't live without.

Check it out when you have a chance.

(c) 2006 by Musespeak(tm), Calgary, AB, Canada. All rights reserved.

Summertime for Music Teachers

Most students take the summer off from music lessons. Only a small handful commit to summer lessons (to prepare for a summer exam, personal interest/motivation or parental interest/motivation). For example, I'm going from 40 students in the school year to about five for July. Where does that leave the private music teacher come summertime? Some teachers are able to take the entire summer off. From what I can tell, it's those who have a growing brood of children and a husband with a steady income and/or an established studio with no or little business debt. These folk are able to put away some money throughout the school year.

On the other hand, teachers with a relatively young studio, who have bought a house, got married and/or started a family recently do not have that luxury. Nor do teachers who wracked up some debt before starting a business (and just continued to add to it) or those who are married to someone who's also self-employed. For those of us in this category, there are but two options - run up the lines of credit a bit more (IF there's room) or get a job.

I had a wonderful interview with a temporary office staffing agency this week called OfficeJobs.com . A friend recommended it to me (her husband is the website guy). Part of me is cringing at the thought of re-entering the corporate world but another part of me is looking forward to doing something different. Give me some data entry, where I don't have to think too hard. Surround me with adults all day for a change. That's fine by me. I like my students but a change in environment is refreshing.

It'll be different from being an employee. Temps can avoid office politics, don't stay in one place too long and aren't usually given a lot of responsibility.

The change of scenery will be good. (c) 2006 by Musespeak(tm), Calgary, AB, Canada. All rights reserved.