[Beckie Tunnicliffe]

I’m the other way around! I teach mainly children and teenagers – the youngest I will teach though is age 6. I’ve tried lessons with 4 and 5 year olds before and none have worked out because they just wasn’t ready for the lessons and they struggle to concentrate for 30 minutes. I sometimes even struggle with the 6 year olds but at the moment my youngest is 8, which I have found seems to be roughly the right age to start lessons.

I don’t book under 12s in for more than 30 minutes at a time unless something like an exam is coming up. I’ve found an hour is too long for them unless they are completely committed (I have 2 under 12s at the moment who have hour lessons but they are already working through the graded syllabus/entering competitions etc)

I currently teach a handful of adults, the oldest I’ve taught was about 75! I’m more confident teaching youngsters, I think it’s also because it’s the age range I teach the most and they see me as a similar age, even though I am over 15 years older than some of them! I have found that parents are easier to communicate with than adult students as well and kids don’t tend to ‘drop off’ as much – what are other peoples thoughts on this?

[Beckie Tunnicliffe]

I’ve just found this while researching different lesson policies… what are your thoughts?

http://nadeauguitars.com/policy.html

[Beckie Tunnicliffe]

I’ve done welcome packs right from the start and they are so useful, I managed to get some freebies from my local music shop to give out to new students too:)

[Beckie Tunnicliffe]

I have had some loyalty cards made up from Vistaprint (pretty much your generic card you get from coffee shops for example), and once the student has got 10 stamps on the card they get a free half hour lesson, or I do an hour lesson for £10 as then it works out the same.

I only give them out after they have been coming for lessons for 6 months or more though, but I suppose you could give them out whenever you want!

[Beckie Tunnicliffe]

After the initial lesson most pay in cash and some by cheque. I also offer block bookings with a discount and I have just in the past month introduced a loyalty scheme which has received really good feedback:)

But I know what you mean about Paypal taking a cut, which is why I prefer cash/cheque in the lessons but by paying online it just secures that first lesson and I know I am not wasting my time waiting around for people!