Juggling a piano teaching schedule while maintaining a positive studio environment can feel like too many balls in the air.
We look at our calendars each morning and take a deep breath for the ink-filled schedule of lessons without any white space to breathe.
You might even be feeling stressed out before the day begins… and you know you don’t want to carry that stress into lessons.
Creating white space in your piano teaching schedule may not be a popular idea.
Maybe you’re focused on finance and feel like you have to cram in back-to-back lessons as soon as the school bus drives by until it’s bedtime.
Maybe you have a waiting list twice as long as your current piano studio size.
Or maybe you just like the busy feeling of having a chock-full piano teaching schedule.
Whichever situation you’re in, I have a few thoughts for you regarding the benefits of creating white space in your piano teaching schedule and ideas to create that white space you need.
The Benefits of Creating White Space in your Piano Teaching Schedule
First, what is “white space?”
I like to think of white space as the blank space you see when you look at your schedule.
Take a quick glance at your schedule. Is it solid color-coded back-to-back full of lessons?
Or if you don’t have a printed schedule, imagine what it would look like for every half hour increment. Would there be any blanks?
You can read more in-depth thoughts about white space in this article: The Power of White Space to Increase your Productivity.
Now that you understand what white space is … what is the benefit of having white space in your piano teaching schedule–especially for nurturing a positive studio environment?
A little personal story…
I spent most of my teen years under one teacher who dedicated hours to helping me develop my ear as well as expand my classical repertoire.
It was a relaxed environment and my teacher became my friend, even though she’s old enough to be my mom.
I remember laughing, learning, and enjoying lessons immensely.
After I graduated highschool, I spent two semesters with another teacher.
Most of the memories I have of this teacher involve a high-stress focus on curriculum, technique, and… not much more.
I never felt comfortable in her studio, even though I was a dedicated student who practiced hours.
Now that I’m older and a teacher myself, I can’t help but wonder what made the difference between these two teachers.
Personality is an obvious possibility, but another angle is their schedule.
Both were busy teachers, teaching over fifty students each, but one teacher allowed herself flexibility, white space, and fun while the other teacher did not.
And as a student, I could tell the difference.
Trust me, your students will be able to sense the stress of your schedule.
If you are overburdened, over-extended, and over-scheduled, it will lay the foundation for extra studio pressure your students will react to.
You don’t want to live each week burned out.
And if you’re already feeling burned out before Spring break or Thanksgiving break, you need to pause and reconsider your schedule.
The main point I’d like to expound on is how creating enough white space in your piano teaching schedule will help to nurture a positive studio environment.
When we are stressed, it directly affects those around us.
One of the most important things we can do for a positive studio environment is being careful to not burn ourselves out as teachers.
It feels counterintuitive to take breaks, but in reality, giving ourselves white space will work wonders in the health of both us and our studios.
Here are some other positive aspects:
- White space will give us time to recharge to fully invest in each individual student.
- White space gives mental room for creativity.
- White space in our teaching schedule will benefit our non-teaching relationships.
How to Create White Space in your Piano Teaching Schedule
I get it – the thought of having actual white space in your schedule may cause you to hyperventilate.
Here are a few tips to help you see places where you can give yourself space.
1. Batch process
A big time-saver in the business world is to batch process.
Instead of working on small, recurring projects each week, can you spend a little extra time one week to do the task for the entire month?
One way you can do this is in music game prep.
Instead of preparing the music game for the week, can you print and prepare all of the games for the month?
Maybe you can even plan out the games for the quarter!
Any time I have batched my work, it takes me less time in the long run because my mind is 100% focused on the task at hand and I get into a groove (rather than stopping when the week’s task is done before my groove begins).
2. Maximize your time with automations.
There are so many perks to living in a generation with technology and automation … let’s use it for our benefit!
Think about any task you do regularly.
Maybe it’s sending invoices or reminders.
Is there a way you can automate it?
Spend a few minutes researching the answer to save you hundreds of hours in the future!
One app that helps many music teachers is My Music Staff (affiliate link).
It helps automate many of the tedious yet necessary tasks piano teachers must do and is well worth the money.
You can get 30-day free trial to see if it will save you time … and if you do, then signing up via this link will give both of us an extra free month.
3. Give your mind a complete break
Sometimes, finding white space isn’t about clearing our schedule as much as it is using the little breaks we already have to clear our mind.
I am as guilty as anyone about filling every spare minute with catching up on Instagram, listening to music, catching up on texts, looking up recipes, and anything else I can think of.
Just five minutes with no distractions is true white space.
Here are a few things you can do in just 5 minutes to refresh you:
- Step outside and enjoy nature
- Drink coffee or hot tea and savor it
- Close your eyes
- Practice deep breathing
- Take a short walk
- Do some light stretches
- Turn off all noise (podcasts, music, notifications)
- Put your phone on airplane mode
We are in a high-paced, always accessible society, but we have the option to turn it off for a few minutes to give ourselves a complete break.
Remember that stress isn’t just “stressed out.”
Our bodies even react to good stress and running on “positive” adrenaline.
And we need to give our bodies a break from the barrage of stress.
For even more ideas, check out our blog post, 101 Ideas for Piano Teacher Self-Care.
4. Hire assistants
Many studios hire teens to be teaching assistants (or you can save money and barter lessons for assistant time).
These assistants can do anything from paperwork to teaching 5-10 minutes of a lesson when students are working through exercises or even playing a music theory game.
Or maybe it would be more beneficial to have an assistant elsewhere–like housecleaning, cooking, or doing grocery shopping.
You have to be willing to let go of some control (which is a hard step!), but in the long run, hiring an assistant can do a lot to help your teaching schedule!
5. Try group lessons
It may feel like a big leap to go from private to group lessons, but if you have a long waiting list and the desire to help as many students as possible, group lessons may be the best answer for your piano teaching schedule.
It also is a good way to maximize your time and income.
Some great group piano teaching resources are Group IlluminatED (use our code MGC50 in June and July 2024 to get $50 off registration and sign up here!) and Piano Pyramid.
Also remember that all of our games at Music Game Club are created with group lessons in mind! It’s a great way to teach music theory in a fun & engaging way.
Action Time!
Right now, grab a pen and paper and write down everything that stresses you out and brainstorm a few solutions.
Then, make plans to implement just one of those solutions next week!
What ways are you going to create white space in your teaching schedule?
I’d love to hear the ideas you have for nurturing a positive studio environment by relaxing your piano teaching schedule!
What ideas resonated with you? Which ones do you feel are impossible? Did something different come to mind as you were reading?
Comment and share.
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