For many of us that are in lockdown, we’re used to adjusting on the fly with a constant ‘adapt and overcome’ attitude.
Piano teachers have it no different during the long-stretched pandemic. Piano teachers are used to guiding their gifts to others in person with hands-on interactions.
But with limitations in place, it doesn’t mean that you have to give up your piano teaching as well as your income.
Luckily, we can make the shift to online piano lessons so you could continue doing what you love to do – Teaching others and playing the piano. Let’s take a look at how you can teach piano online.
The Limitations of In-Person Piano Lessons
Teaching piano in person is a real challenge which makes lessons that much more limited.
Sitting next to each other is strongly discouraged which makes it difficult to keep an eye on the hands of your students.
People coming in and out of the studio means that hand washing is frequent as they touch pianos.
Not to mention, scheduling is unpredictable, as cautious people are required to stay home if they show the slightest symptoms of getting sick.
It’s not easy being a piano teacher during these times, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have the resources to adapt.
Why Should You Consider Teaching Online?
If you’re up for an exciting new challenge where you could guide others from the comfort of your own home, teaching piano online might be for you.
The possibilities are endless if you make the transition to online teaching. All kinds of tools and software are readily available, and the best part is you have lots of freedom with your teaching style.
For example, maybe you’d like to pre record all of your classes and set your students up with a step by step bundle.
Not only are pre-recorded lessons paced at the convenience of your students, but it’s super organized.
If you’re the type of piano teacher who values hands-on experience, you could do that too. Luckily, we have resources such as Zoom and Facetime that allow real-time interactions with your students.
Most importantly, teaching piano online opens up doors and only makes you a better teacher.
You taught by taking on a new perspective! Once the world returns back to normal, you could look back at a time where you tried something new.
Even if you decide that you want to teach in person again, you’d still have an awesome digital portfolio to show for it. In addition to that, you could even take it one step further.
It’s fairly common to see experts selling their knowledge and expertise in the form of E-books, PDFs, webinars, etc.
Who’s not to say that you can’t make a steady income by promoting your piano lessons online?
There’s plenty of people out there desperately wanting to learn piano besides your own students!
Types of Online Piano Models
We brushed on some of the ways you could teach piano online earlier, but let’s look at them in greater detail.
While you’ll have to choose which type of model (or models) you want to tackle, you certainly don’t have to do all of them. Choose the model that fits your teaching style and time schedule.
Live Sessions – You could use live sessions for one on one interactions with a student or for a virtual classroom. Live sessions are great for teachers who prefer the personable approach with a hands-on experience. It’s also a great option for explaining piano on the fly and answering student questions in real-time. Facebook Live and Zoom are fantastic (and free) resources for live sessions.
Pros
- Very personable
- Free to use resources available
- Handles as many people as you wish
Cons
- Takes dedication
- Time consuming for each session
Recorded Sessions – Recorded sessions are good for guiding individual students. You send a video to a student explaining your instructions. The student replies with a video which records their progress and milestones as they go. It’s a back-and-forth interaction that also offers flexibility between you and your students. All you need is a phone, camera, or webcam so you can record videos. Additionally, Google Drive is a free collaboration cloud platform which is reliable for sending and receiving files.
Pros
- Flexible Schedule
- Free Resources
- Personal Sessions
Cons
- Time consuming (making/receiving videos for each student)
- No real-time clarification for struggling students
Pre recorded Webinars – These are similar to a recorded session, but it’s more expansive. Pre recorded webinars allow you to put together an entire series of piano lessons. It’s a method that works with a lot of students at once. You could also include screen recordings of music sheets and diagrams for students.
Pros
- Webinar series are easy to sell and share
- Great for large group of students
- Self-paced for students (requires less attention)
Cons
- Takes lots of effort up front (to create)
Creating an Online Piano Course
If you have the luxury of time while you’re home, creating an online piano course might be your best bet.
With an online piano course, you could incorporate as many models as you’d like and include your own custom design.
Online courses do require plenty of time, effort, and resources, but it’s well worth it. High-value courses could be sold to just about anybody which could be very profitable.
If you’re in it for the joy of teaching others, you can build step-by-step models that help track the progression of your students.
When it comes to teaching piano online, we recommend using the platform Thinkific for the sake of this guide.
It’s easily organized with step-by-step chapter sections. Within each section, you add video links for lectures, demonstrations, and PDFs for visual display.
Researching your competition is always a great idea for building a successful course. There are plenty of piano teachers online.
Get a feel for what other course teachers are doing on Thinkific by searching piano lessons.
You’ll see exactly how other creators format their course and what other students are saying about the course in the reviews section. While you do some research, look at some of the following components:
- Best selling books, e-books, and authors on Amazon, Barnes & Noble
- Popular or trending podcasts
- Social media groups
- Piano blogs
- Webinar series
Course Formatting
As you go through your course format, it’s best to have your easiest lessons in the first few chapters with a gradual increase in difficulty in later chapters.
Include some overlap in between each module so students are constantly grasping the concepts you are teaching.
Of course you want to make sure the students don’t forget, so including some extra infographics or reading material within your lectures always helps.
Before a student completes each module, find a way to add practice sections. Students could only watch so many lectures online without progressing their skills in real life.
Give students a chance to practice piano by including a pressure-free section at the end of each module.
They don’t have to be overly challenging either. Creating a follow-along demonstration of an exercise or song is beneficial for learning.
Fun Ideas For Your Online Piano Course
Not only is Thinkific fairly easy to use, but you could build your online piano course for as little as $50 per month.
Even though it may seem like a costly purchase, think of it as a worthy investment for your teaching career.
Yes, it may take some hard work getting your course up and running, but it’s your chance to tap into your creative side!
Here are some fun ideas that you could include in your online piano course:
- Add ‘About the Author’ Section in your Course – Make it personable so new students could relate to your piano journey and show off some of your credentials
- Quizzes and Surveys – Course platforms like Thinkific make it easy for you to build fun, interactive activities. Quizzes are a refreshing way to help students with their technical side of piano. Surveys are also useful for finding feedback from students and figuring out why they bought your course. Finally, try using a survey asking ‘what song do you want to play on piano?’ Create personalized demonstrations of some popular songs so your students could follow along
- Offer Access to a Facebook Group – One of the easiest ways to collaborate with students is through a Facebook Group. Offer access into the group for any students who bought your course. Facebook groups add a ton of value because it provides real-time group discussion. You could make announcements, answer questions, and give feedback to your students instantly
Yes, teaching piano online is plenty of hard work in the beginning, but it’ll all be worth it. You’ll learn skills that you never had before, and courses offer a serious opportunity to make passive income. The world of online courses opens up possibilities for thousands of people searching for experts. Hopefully you found this guide helpful and you’ll soon be on your way to teaching piano online.