Over the years I’ve gotten to know many violin teachers in my area—usually through their students at first. There’s a constant cycling of new graduates entering the teaching world. For some it’s a side hustle before stepping into performing work or permenant school roles; for others, the home-studio life is exactly what they want, and they stick with it.
Our conversations usually revolve around pay rates, referring students to each other ( I do on their students’ instruments) and the violin world in general. Coming from a startup background, I’ve seen the mindset shifts teachers need to make, and usually determines their success.
For anyone wanting to become a violin teacher, there are three essential ingredients doing something you are good at, doing something you love and having people willing to pay you to do it!
- Being a player (something you love doing)
- Being a teacher (a skill you can learn and develop and be good at)
- Running a business (something people will pay money for)
The sweet spot is having all three in reasonably equal measure. In my experience, it’s the third one that’s often overlooked, its the last thing a prospective teacher things about – but is likely the first thing they need to consider before leaping down the rabbit hole of becoming a violin teacher. So let’s unpack it a bit.
1. Being a Player — Something you like doing Honing Your Craft
Most violin teachers have a music degree and some performance experience. This technical foundation matters. But being a “gifted soloist” is far less important than music schools sometimes make it seem.
Because classical training often focuses on competition—first chair, concert solo opportunities, auditions—it can unintentionally create imposter syndrome. That baggage can creep into a new teacher’s confidence.
In martial arts, you can grade students up to one level below your own. Teaching violin works much the same way. Whatever level you’ve reached, you can confidently teach students up to around that level—and do it authentically. Yes, you are good enough.
2. Being a Teacher — Something you are good at Developing Pedagogy
Teaching is not playing.
Teaching is its own craft. If you’ve studied education, you’ll know exactly what I mean. Some star athletes make terrible coaches, and the same can be true for virtuoso soloists.
Investing in your teaching skills will make you a far better instructor—understanding students and their place on the journey to mastery informs pedagogy. Developing an empathy (especially for young beginners), and learning how different students think is important as their guide.
You’ll also need to build your teaching library: pieces, methods, arrangements, copyright awareness, and decisions around exams, ensembles, and end-of-year concerts.
3. Running a Business — Something People Will Pay For
Here’s the mindset shift: when you teach privately, you’re not just an artist—you’re running a small startup so you need to dip into that thinking.
Classical training doesn’t prepare you for this. You’ve spent years interpreting notes written by composers who died 300 years ago; suddenly you’re expected to market yourself, put a dollar value on your time, and hustle for students.
A key question to ask yourself early is:
” Do I (or will I) have a viable business?“
Grab a pen and do o a quick back-of-the-envelope calculation:
How many students can you realistically teach per day?
At what rate?
Multiply this by around 40 teaching weeks per year, once you remove school holidays where many students vanish.
Still keen?
If you have the something you like doing, something your are good at and something people will pay you money sorted out you have the ingredients of a successful business. Customer acquisition (finding students) and profitability are probably the business pillars that will matter the most. They’re the biggest factors teachers either succeed, go broke or burn out.
3. Customer Acquisition — Finding (and Keeping) Students
No students – no business. Where will your students come from? and where will you teach them?
Options include:
Home studio:
Great flexibility, but how do potential students even know you exist?
Networking: Violin is a passion based business and its here the WOM (word of mouth is really important) Local schools, music shops, parents… most will happily refer students your way. Social media is a great way to work with established channels too. Work these channels don’t be afraid to hustle a little.
Getting Online: List yourself on-line is more that an entry on someones else’s website. “musicteacher dot com” type sites work but can be slow, even with paid listings . A dedicated website, with a Google Business Maps listing works better (ask me if you’re unsure) and beef it up with an adds campaign.
Schools or tuition businesses (as a contractor):
Institutions find your students for you and bring them to you one after the other right through the day – all you have to do is teach. Of course they take a cut of the tuition fee and while can help build your reputation as a teach the students are their students not yours.
3.2 Profitability — Doing the Maths
Maths probably wasn’t your favourite thing at school, some say its boring, but its also incredibly useful
Pull out a piece of paper, take your number of daily lessons (current or aspirational target), multiply by days of the week you teach, multiply by your lesson rate, multiply by roughly 40 weeks of the year (4 school terms worth). That gives your annual revenue.
Notice I didn’t say salary.
From that you’ll subtract:
- teaching materials/ copy right fees
- room costs / website advertising fees
- tax
- super
- possibly GST
AS a catch all divide your annual revenue by 2 to estimate your real take-home. So make sure it’s viable.
Here’s 6 students of an afternoon, 5 days a week for $40 (30min lesson) for 40 weeks of the year divided by 2 = $24, 000…does that work for you?
A further thought experiment : Evaluate now the opportunity cost, that is opportunities you are giving up to teach violin, imagine instead you are stocking shelves at ‘woollies’, far less job satisfaction but you might make more?
Teaching Rates and Valuing Your Time
New teachers often experience imposter syndrome and start at something as low as $20 per half hour. They fill their timetable instantly—and then get stuck on those rates, overworked and underpaid.
Value your time and the opportunity you are offering to families.
Check recommended rates from bodies such as QMTA and use them as a guide (up-to ~$90/hr in 2025) . Remember that teaching includes:
- Your prep time
- Communication with parents
- Bookkeeping, advertising etc..
- Cleaning and maintaining your teaching space
so charge accordingly
Term-Based Billing & Make-Up Policies
Highly recommended. Most after-school activities use term-based billing—it protects your income and sets clear expectations around your time and expertise. You have made a commitment to the time for the student for a term as well, help them prioritise the time as well by having it prepaid. Many term based providers have a make up lesson contingency (say one per term) for illness etc..
Payment Methods
Cash seems convenient until you deal with counting, banking, and having change available. Card readers (eg Square, etc.) offer invoicing and instant payment—less “I’ll bring it next time.” adn chasing up payments.
Tax, Super & Regulations
Declare your income. The ATO is very good at what it does and is increasingly focused on the gray economy.
Set aside tax, pay your super (you’ll be glad you did one day)
Home businesses are recognised by councils, many of which offer support programs. They also have rules about:
- how many visitors you can have at your property
- noise limits
- signage
- running ensemble groups from home
Townhouses and units often have their own by-laws too. Do your homework—one complaint can shut you down.
Go make music!
PS Comments, suggestions for inclusions welcome
Bio: Prior to picking up the tuning fork again, Fiddler Dan worked extensively as a tertiary educator, in the startup community as advisor/coach and taught in MBA programs.