Selling Creative Talent

Although you are a proficient pianist, you have always been told that you lack the passion, the fire and the finesse to be successful. You have the technical skills, but not that innate talent that takes someone from good at something to great. The same could be said for any instrument from guitar to trombone, piccolo to bassoon—either you got it or you don’t. You can play the pieces at the right tempo, the right pace and hit all of the right notes each and every single time, but if you don’t have that little extra something, you will never go anywhere with this ability. No one stands in the driving rain to see adequate finger work, no one screams because the breath placement of the soloist was right on cue. And no one ever sat glued to their seat with tears rolling down their cheeks because they are so moved by the perfectly average musician.

It does not matter how much you practice, how many hours you spend perfecting your craft, if you are missing that inner talent, that burning white hot flame, you are never going to be anything special, never going to make huge amounts of money from the music world. The competition is huge and if you don’t have every aspect in place, there is nothing you can do. But, how do you take your love of music, your knowledge and skills and still make money if you are not going to play for the Philharmonic or even for Dan, Dan the Music Man? You could still make a career of the music world by teaching your instrument to others; in fact, you could find that next Yo-Yo Ma or Slow Hand in one of your students.

G Is for Getting Started

So, if you are interested in teaching music there are several options to consider. Do you want to be a professional teacher or work one on one with students in a more relaxed setting? If you are going to be a pro, you will have to have a teaching certificate in most areas and will be asked to teach larger classes. You will have no control over when the classes are taught or, in some cases, what exactly is taught while they are going on. If you do not like structure, then you should teach independently, teaching students at mutually agreed upon times with reasonable rates. Once you start building up a clientele, you can raise your rates if you feel like you need to, but at first you will have to draw them in and make a name for yourself.

As you start teaching, you should know who is most likely to be your target market—it’s likely to be adults who are interested in learning an instrument or need a refresher course in one that they had learned as a child. If you choose, you can have different rates for different age groups.

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