We Did A Survey and Here’s What a Typical Piano Teacher Looks Like

What does the typical piano teacher look like these days?

We Did A Survey and Here’s What a Typical Piano Teacher Looks Like

typical piano teacher

The Typical Piano Teacher According to Our Survey

Okay, so based on 500 piano teachers who took part in our Deep Dive Survey last year, here’s some interesting facts about the typical piano teacher.

  • 91.5% of respondents were female 
  • The age bracket of 25-40 had the most representation – 28.2%
  • 26.8% of teachers were between 51-60
  • Almost a quarter of teachers said they teach between 11-19 students (18 people said they teach 70+!!)
  • The clear majority of teachers, almost 63%, teach students aged between 6-17
  • And almost a quarter of teachers had been teaching for between 11 and 2o years

Let’s take a closer look at some of the data, and read through to grab a free download that a lot of teachers in our survey said they needed help with 😀

What Does Your Studio Look Like?

The large majority of teachers use a home studio as their business.

In fact, 58.6% of survey respondents identified a home studio as their place of work.

That was followed by 14.2% who teach at a school, and 8.4% who teach at a music school/academy.

7.6% of teachers rented a space to teach.

Average Hourly Rate

The most common average hourly rate was $US40, which was 22.9% of those who completed the survey.

Just below that was 21.8% of respondents who said they charged $US50, followed by 17.2% of teachers who charge just $US20 per lesson!

If you’d like to find out some techniques on how to raise your rates without losing students, check out this article.

Marketing and Promotion

More than 40% of teachers said they need help when it comes to marketing and promotion of their studios.

We can help! I have an online marketing course and also a website design course for members of TopMusicPro. They are all part of the Academy of courses you get with a membership 🙂

Despite the dominance of social media and online marketing, good old word of mouth remains the most powerful way for piano teachers to find new students.

Almost half of the respondents said they use word of mouth to find more students.

But considering how far technology has come, having a website and online presence was also an important way to find students for teachers – more than 20% of teachers said they use their website and the internet to find students.

Only 4.3% of teachers still use print advertising or flyers.

And 72.6% of teachers said if they had to pick one social media platform they used the most, it would be Facebook (no surprises there!).

However, almost 6 out of 10 teachers said they don’t have a Facebook page for their studio.

Almost 7 out of 10 said they regularly check piano teaching Facebook groups too.

piano studio marketing

Piano teachers charge very different prices for their lessons?

Piano Teaching Concerns

Unsurprisingly, about half of respondents said they needed help when it comes to feeling overwhelmed and stressed with their job.

The feeling of having to do everything is one myself and TopMusicPro membership is trying to help teachers with!

If you do have these feelings, have you considered joining TopMusicPro?

It’s a place full of piano teaching resources to help you get on the right track, and stay on track.

Many teachers are concerned about the amount of distractions students have, as well as the expectation that you have to be the perfect teacher (whatever that means!).

Money was also a big concern for teachers out of this survey.

About 6 out of 10 teachers said they were more concerned than not about making enough money to live comfortably.

This is a common issue for some teachers.

By joining TopMusicPro membership and using my Piano Studio Growth Roadmap, we can help you identify any issues you have, and help you earn more, and in some cases, actually teach fewer hours!

Teach Chords with Success

A lot of teachers gave feedback that they would like more help when it comes to teaching chords and pop music.

I’m here to help!

Just for reading today’s blog post, I’d like to offer you one of my latest free handouts, my 27 Easy Chord Progressions to Inspire Creativity. 

TopMusicPro members, you can find this in the Resource Library.

Conclusion

Do these survey results reflect you as a teacher? Do you share some of these concerns?

Let me know in the comments section.

Tim Topham

Tim Topham is the founder and director of TopMusic. Tim hosts the popular Integrated Music Teaching Podcast, blogs regularly at topmusic.co and speaks at local and international conferences on topics such as integrated teaching, creativity, business, marketing and entrepreneurship. Tim has been featured in American Music Teacher, The Piano Teacher Magazine, California Music Teacher and EPTA Piano Professional. Tim holds an MBA in Educational Leadership, BMus, DipEd and AMusA.

 feeling inspired? 

typical piano teacher
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  1. This is for most a side-job and not the primary job.

  2. Wow! I was under the impression that most teachers had at least thirty, in the US, thought I was lagging way behind.
    Thanks for doing the survey, Tim.

    • It’s their side-job. That’s why

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