Episode 5

Teaching (Part 2)

How are you promoting your teaching business? What are you charging? What types of software are available to you? We’ll answer these questions along with giving you a number of lesson tips to help make sure you are successful.

0:00:01.7 S1: Welcome to the show that explores the methods and strategies on lock in the financial side of your music business with over 40 years combined experience, here are your host, Chris Webb and Dave Tamkin to our resistance

0:00:19.9 S2: Tiptree here to talk about musicians and money. Tonight we're gonna finish up or episode and remote teaching. I hope you enjoy the rest of this episode. Bone picking two songs they wanna learn, I like this because I feel like it sounds really simple, but it seems to hold true in a matter of what skill level I'm working with. They have a strong contrast to each other, maybe one to down tempo and one's up-tempo is a very basic example, just so that there's always something to go to when you get sick of working on that, say him riff for one hour, and then they could switch over to the other song. So giving them two songs really tends to keep them having something to practice, that they're willing to practice, isolating one section, one element, that's something that I think a lot of people rush past when they're nervous as teachers, we feel like we just need to give them... Give them, give them, give them as much, 'cause we wanna be impressive, we wanna add value, of course, our hearts in the right place. By doing so, we end up rushing through a lot of detail that really is where all the meters...

0:01:36.5 S2: I think I made that mistake quite a bit when I first started teaching well.

0:01:40.6 S1: Because your nerves kind of push you to go a little too quick, but also you have a mindset of how quickly you can learn now, not to what your student is just starting to learn, so you think, Oh, I have to keep giving more, but really, you're teaching someone that they're gonna get calluses by the end, the fingers are gonna... May hurt by the end of the lesson. Right, so you have their brain... Yeah, yeah, correct. And they're not going to talk to Sam music language as you do, so it is important to go slow and

0:02:15.8 S2: Usually you can see it, even on the Zoom call, the gloss over when you're giving them too much, they just... Their eyes is kind of, okay, you're gone. We need to break this down again, so giving them something that's very specific, like practicing the positioning of their fingers, practising the position of their body while they're playing, there's just so many little nuances that make huge differences in the sound quality and the performance quality, and even just connecting emotion to music in general is something that's not talked about enough and can be a very powerful way for them to feel motivated when they're practicing, when that core doesn't sound that great, but you attach emotion to it, they practice it so much harder and it feels so much more important. So that's just something that I've learned over the years. No matter what the skill level is very useful, finding a network to bounce questions off of, an ideas off of is a super important thing in any facet, but as teachers is really helpful because there's always something new coming out, some other new tool, some other new technique and I was singing, I use the straw technique to teach my students a lot now and a year and a half ago, I had never even heard of that.

0:03:42.4 S2: And at first it felt like I was like, Wait, what is everybody talking about? When I'm watching these YouTube videos and these people are talking about using a straw to sing through, and now I think it's the smartest thing I've seen since I started saying Honestly, it's incredibly powerful. But you have to be open and looking and talking to other people about what's working, and sometimes your students be the ones to bring these things to you...

0:04:10.1 S1: Well, I think when I first started teaching voice of Castle Rock and beginning voice, you being a voice major, I came to you right away for questions, you know, on how to just kind of base that are on the... There's no ego when it comes to that because you're supporting each other, and it wasn't that I didn't know how to do it, I just wasn't sure how to teach it, and I think the one thing that teachers love to talk about is how they teach it, so being somebody, if you are someone who's just about to do your first lesson, don't be afraid to ask your teachers what they recommend because they'll be happy... I promise you that. Be happy to give you some advice on that. Being flexible is really... I could touch my toes by the time I was done teaching after a long day, it really just stretched out my calves and got my back, so being flexible. It's very important while teaching, I think... Well.

0:05:12.4 S2: How's your CT muscles? After that, were they okay? Never... Being flexible is not physical in this situation, it is about realizing that your student might be overwhelmed as well, they also probably have jobs or don't want me or the other, they're gonna need some understanding, and that's a very important part of being an instructor, is having empathy and being patient with them, because sometimes things don't click and it's hard to remember, and if you forget how hard it is to sometimes learn a new instrument, I suggest you go try, because no matter what you're good at, there's always plenty of things you don't know and other instruments that you pick up and you're gonna be a good guy, This is humiliating. Right, so being patient and being kind with them and understanding that what they're doing, especially if they're adults, like sometimes it feels really vulnerable to try to learn something, they don't... Like an instrument I used to teach an astrophysicist, and he was the nicest guy. And I always thought, This is so strange that here I am teaching him how to play guitar and he's so passionate about it, you know, and yet what he knows...

0:06:28.9 S2: I couldn't begin to understand. I had an 84-year-old come in and say, My mom is 104, so I have 20 years to learn this shit, kid. What do you got on?

0:06:42.1 S1: The only time I would be nervous is when he didn't show up, but it was pretty amazing, and I even remember almost tearing up at the end of that lesson because I thought I really hope that I have this energy that he was bringing to this lesson when I'm 84 years old, this desire to learn something new, Ewell.

0:07:08.3 S2: I think that's why teaching is so portable, it is because it feeds me energy from the people that you meet, and the experiences that you get and the friendships that come out of... Come out of it. For me, in particular, I feel like I've learned so much from everybody else, and it keeps you pushing yourself as an artist and a musician than your own personal skills because you keep kind of reminding yourself that it does take practice to be great, no matter what I've been staying consistent with that when you're teaching, it really is one of those things where if you're all over the place, if you're telling them three different things that really are kind of contradictory to each other, it's really tough for them to understand and progress... It's not to say the only one way is right, it's just that you kinda need to stick to some sort of consistency and how are you teaching people... Well, and especially for beginners, it really is about teaching someone how to practice, and that teaching somebody that the expectation is that if you really wanna get good at something, and this is probably universal with learning new trades of a lot of sorts, but the practice is the key, right? It's hours and hours of practice.

0:08:18.9 S2: That's the key. So teaching them how to do that, it's almost like you breaking them

0:08:23.9 S1: In, how do you get the first 15 minutes and make that assistant, and that turns into 20, and by the time you're feeling comfortable with it, you wanna do 30 minutes?

0:08:35.7 S2: There's another one I didn't put on my list and I'm gonna add

0:08:38.1 S1: You please try to stay on script here.

0:08:41.4 S2: Christ. I think this was pretty relevant too, because this reminds me of my first cater teacher, students do not come in to watch you play, and so just remember that they're not coming in to see how great you are at your instrument. It is embarrassing sometimes, didn't watch how some people will just spend the whole time being like, No, Leonean, you're like, This is not helping me. I just wanted to learn how to play the new card, organizing our lessons ahead of time. That that might sound daunting, but it becomes routine, and I can promise you that it's much worse to show up with nothing planned, then to plan for maybe 10 minutes before a lesson or the night before, just so that you have an idea of what you're working on and I promise you, you will get more out of it, your student will get a ton more out of it, and that relationship will last a whole lot of hunger when you show up prepared, agreed. Leave time at the end to go give them very clear things that they're working on, and I usually make my students write this down because it just gets lost if you don't...

0:09:56.9 S2: And so we write down what we're expecting and wrote it down, and they write it down, and so that when we get back together, that part is already planned, we already know what we're gonna first start on, and it makes it much simpler for everybody. And again, I don't say like, Go, learn a whole new song, usually we're talking about, Okay, you're grabbing the pick too tightly, and we're gonna work on Strummer, let's go back to some Van Morrison and work on how we dynamically make those variations. It's a very specific thing that they just stick with for the whole week, for hours each day, that's all I want them to focus on. And what happens when they keep it simple and focus on it, they actually improve on it, you know, and so then three months later when they watch that video, it's incredible, the amount of progress, so having those goals, having fun in helping them improve their abilities and achieve their goals is really what you're there for as an instructor, so it's like you're there to support, you're there to teach them, and you're there to make them have fun doing something they probably always wanted to do.

0:11:05.5 S2: Right, this is fun for them. This is not something they have to do it, so you're giving them something that's an incredible gift, is creating music, creating art, having something inside them come alive because they wanted to, and that's a pretty great thing to be able to be the one to help with your math and science skills will probably go up because of it as well... Not mine, I say at the end, we like to give four actionable steps that you can do right away to help you make money as quickly as possible using... In this case, remote teaching, the first thing we were gonna say is to set teaching goals, I actually believe that this is one of the most important steps, because as soon as you set those goals and tell somebody about them, they become real. I can't count how many times when I've helped somebody start teaching, after they say I want four students within a couple of weeks, they have four students, so set a number and calculate how much that you really need to be making... And use that to help you figure out what the number is and set that goal and make it real.

0:12:22.2 S2: Number two, pick what you teach, we recommend that you don't pick too many instruments into the sun to start with, at least pick your two strongest instruments and make them what you focus on and put out there to get students... Number three, make an ad to put on all your social media... Now, this is not that hard to do. Honestly, you don't even need to pay a Fernand if you don't want to, you just are putting it out there, make it look nice, at least to put a picture of yourself looking happy and maybe holding one of the instruments that you might wanna teach and just say Hey, I am offering lessons first one's free if you want to, and see what happens. And the truth is that I can pretty much promise you that someone will respond to that ad and at least inquire about it, and the last one, number four, schedule the moment someone responds and collect payment by the day that you do the lesson, don't let them pay you later... It's

0:13:36.4 S1: Very hard lesson, and we both have learned multiple times...

0:13:42.1 S2: Yeah, Venmo works really well. So hopefully you can use that and get started, it really just takes that last bit of you actually acting on some of these things, but I myself have found it to be a very useful part of my income branches and something that I love doing, and the more that I've done it the more I've expanded out how I teach and what I teach, but I don't think I'll ever stop teaching at this point...

0:14:18.8 S1: Are we still on for her lesson tomorrow? Yeah, I can pay so

0:14:25.7 S2: Friday. Well, if you wanna connect with us, even if you have other questions about teaching, we're happy to help, you can find... Is that musicians tip jar dot com. Also at musicians tip jar at gmail

0:14:42.6 S1: Is thanks for everything today. Great notes that I think we've both learned over the years, but to hear you put it that way, it's nice just to have that list to go back to, as always, thanks for joining us and remember there's already enough for everyone, you just need to know how to go out there and get it. Until next time, on behalf of Chris Webb and myself day camp, and please stay safe, they healthy and help each other as no one sees a lot as musician did. Nothing on this show should be considered specific, personal or question advice, please consult an appropriate tax, legal business or financial professional for individualized advice, individual results, and I'll guarantee you all discuss strategies at the potential to cause a terrain on the relations shawls.