Starting off as a Saxophone Teacher

Being a music teacher is a vocation that not everyone can handle. If you are really into music, one of the ways you would want to share this love is by teaching others. This is a great and lucrative career for any musician, and can also prove to be an extremely rewarding one. To start off as a saxophone teacher, it is good to have a basic outline of how you would operate.

Get certified
You first need to make sure that you have a certificate to show to potential students. For many students, this is a way for them to know that you are indeed qualified enough to teach them. Even if you have a lot of experience in giving concerts and playing with a group, consider taking the exams that will certify you as a professional saxophonist. It will increase your overall marketability and will also give you the personal satisfaction of having a certification that is acknowledged by reputed musical academies. And it will definitely get you students.

Get a studio
If you are really interested in getting into teaching saxophone as a profession, build a saxophone studio. Build up a schedule of classes and make sure you have enough saxophones of good quality for your students to use. If you can invest this kind of money, it will soon pay for itself as students often prefer an established studio. Keep in mind that your reputation as a studio will include the facilities you provide such as materials, music sheets, saxophones, etc.

Network a lot
If you are planning on a teaching career, it is important that you gain a good reputation first. The best way is to network with other teachers and offer to help them out if they are overworked or when they face an emergency. Introduce yourself to the local music schools. Teachers will be happy to refer their students to you if they know you are capable enough. Hang out with other musicians and continue your public performances. You never know who will be interested enough in learning from you after seeing you perform.

Offer free first lessons
Free lessons attract a lot of students who really want to see whether they are comfortable with your teaching style before they commit and pay in advance for their saxophone lessons. It does not cost you much but it will get you more students as they realize that they have an opportunity to ensure that their money would be well spent since this is a big issue for many students who want to learn the saxophone.

Settle on a proper fee
It is important to be paid properly for your efforts and the work you put into teaching music. Don’t make the mistake of charging a lower rate just to get more students. That would be selling yourself too low. If you want to make your price appear attractive, you can always offer installment plans and discounts to students. Ask around and know the market before you fix a price as you don’t want to start off too high either.
It is always difficult to build up a teaching business from scratch, but with a little effort and a lot of patience, you can achieve it. If you make your Singapore saxophone classes interesting, informative and are genuinely interested in teaching, the word would spread and students will come to you automatically.