How Can I Get More Students?

September 26, 2007 8:22 PM

Musicians -- how do you attract students?

I'm a trombonist and college student (music performance and music ed) in Seattle. I have one private student, and I teach semi-privately once a week at an area school. I'm looking to pick up a couple more students. Everyone says to put an ad on Craigslist and to talk to area band directors. I've done both, and (so far) I haven't had much luck.

I realize that I'm not teaching piano, guitar, or drums -- it's not like there are thousands of people out there just looking to get their trombone on. But I'm looking for suggestions from others who teach privately (not just music) as to how they got the "gigs" that they have now.

If for whatever reason you don't want to post here, email is in profile.

[Final note -- hope this doesn't seem like I'm trying to advertise on AskMe. I'm not.]

posted by rossination to work & money (13 comments total)

You can't flyer music-related campus buildings?
posted by tmcw at 8:26 PM on September 26, 2007

You need some of those xeroxed posters with the tear-off phone numbers.
posted by Reggie Digest at 8:40 PM on September 26, 2007

You need to get them to see you play more. I'm hit up for lessons several times a week after people see me on stage.

Unfortunately I have a day job that made me sign an agreement not to teach.
posted by sourwookie at 8:50 PM on September 26, 2007

Like the wookie says, people will approach you after gigs. Get seen!
posted by Wolof at 8:51 PM on September 26, 2007

I work at a Sam Ash music store, and in our brass and winds section we have books with phone numbers of local teachers. We also have a bulletin board where lots of people put up flyers with tear-off phone number tabs. Parents come in all the time getting their kids' first instruments and looking for a teacher.
posted by ludwig_van at 9:10 PM on September 26, 2007

Does the office for the school of music provide any help for this? Often, they will keep a list of students who are interested in teaching (or otherwise gigging) to pass along names when parents call in looking for teachers.
posted by imposster at 9:20 PM on September 26, 2007

I would think many of your students might be school age kids playing in the school band. So I would say hit the schools. Talk to the music teachers at the schools and let them know that you're available for those students looking to take lessons. And as Ludwig says, hit the instrument shops. In our local instrument shop I always see mothers with young kids buying sheet music, renting instruments, etc. Those are people you want to reach.
posted by gfrobe at 10:59 PM on September 26, 2007

I wonder if local school band directors would be willing to provide your name if kids ask them about further study.
posted by bassjump at 4:18 AM on September 27, 2007

I have a friend who teaches piano and trumpet in a small area outside of Sacramento. One way she gets piano students is by referral - she has a friend who also teaches piano. MY friend prefers to teach lower level, HER friend prefers to teach more advanced students; so whenever one gets a prospective student that would better suit the other, they refer them. It's basically just a quick way to double your word-of-mouth advertising.
posted by solotoro at 7:33 AM on September 27, 2007

Did you try private schools? They often set up private music lessons for their students (and the parents of private school students may be more likely to have the money to pay for private lessons.)
posted by Jahaza at 7:48 AM on September 27, 2007

I'm going through this myself right now, thanks for the timely question. The only reliable way I've found new students is through word of mouth, unfortunately - which it can be very difficult to influence. Also, this is probably obvious, but just in case: I've found that teaching through a school pays exponentially lower than teaching privately. So when you do contact the music departments of various schools, make sure they understand what you are talking about.

Good luck!
posted by fingers_of_fire at 9:53 AM on September 27, 2007

Have you tried volunteering with/talking to the conductors of the local youth symphonies?

I was only in the Seattle Youth Symphony for a week (ha!) so I'm not really sure how they work this out, but I started taking lessons from my sectional leader in my more permament gig, the Mount Baker Youth Symphony.

In general, the conductor had a huge amount of influence on who the kids in the orchestra took lessons from - and if Bellingham can fill two youth symphonies, there *has* to be more of them than just the Seattle Youth Symphony around.....
posted by lastyearsfad at 2:38 PM on September 27, 2007

Also, the few lessons I ended up teaching were passed along to me from my viola instructor - the kids that were intimidated and really early beginners were passed along to me. You might talk to some of the other private lesson instructors to see if they can pass some students along when their calendars get full.
posted by lastyearsfad at 2:40 PM on September 27, 2007