The Victoria Clark Show for Music Teachers

Earlier this year, a keen new adult student told me in his trial lesson which of my policies he wouldn't be following, and I heard myself say, "That's fine." After 19 years of teaching, and with a waiting list of over 50, I still said yes. This is about why we do that, and how to spot the red flags sooner. In this episode, you'll hear: Why saying yes to every enquiry is a normal stage, and what it cost meThe reasons for saying yes that sit in us, not in the studentThe red flags I look for now...

When I started teaching in 2007, I called myself a piano teacher in training, charged £10 a lesson and let every cancellation go without a second thought. Nobody told me piano teaching wasn't a real job. I just ran my studio as if it wasn't, and it took me years to see it. In this episode, you'll hear: The expectations I grew up with, and why teaching never felt like a proper jobHow music gets treated as an extra, from school budgets to the GCSE yearsMy rates and policies then and now, and th...

A teacher friend messaged me recently. He'd lost eight students this year, and not one of the reasons had anything to do with his teaching. And yet his question was still: isn't that quite a lot? That gap between what we know and what we feel when a student leaves is what this podcast episode is all about. In this episode, you'll hear: Why a student leaving feels so personal, even when it isn'tThe most common reasons students stop lessons, and when a pattern is worth a closer lookHow my one-m...

I share how I set my very first teaching rate using a national average survey, and the moment, two and a half years later, that I realised I wasn't an average teacher, and shouldn't be charging an average rate. I talk honestly about the fear of raising a rate on an existing family for the first time, the framework I now use to work out what to charge, and the objections that hold so many teachers back from pricing properly. In this episode: Why benchmark surveys like the ISM teacher fees surv...

What makes someone a good music teacher? I used to think there was a right answer to that question. In this episode I share the story of a parent's email that stung more than it should have, and what it taught me about the difference between being liked and being respected. I also unpick why student numbers, retention and exam results are tempting but flawed ways to measure your own worth, and what to look at instead: how you communicate, how you adapt, and who you're truly a good fit for. If...