Group lessons teacher FAQ
What is group teaching?
A simple definition of group teaching can be a lesson, or learning experience involving two or more students. In practice, this could be instrumental tuition, an ensemble, a masterclass, or a workshop. Now, with MusicTeachers.co.uk, you can create group lessons and we’ll help you find the students to benefit from them.
Why should I consider group lessons?
The advantages are many. Musically, the benefits of learning, listening, and playing together are numerous. Socially, being part of a group is good for us. It helps bring music closer to the human experience. At one level or another, we learn music to share with others. Why not make this part of the learning experience too? Financially, group lessons can help reduce the cost of a music education for students, whilst simultaneously increasing the income potential for teachers.
What kind of groups can I create?
You can create any group you want, weekend courses, summer courses, band or ensemble lessons, choirs, early years music groups, instrumental lessons, masterclasses, workshops, music theory crash courses, music appreciation sessions, the list is endless! You can have as many or as few as you want. You can also create events such as end-of-term concerts or showcases for your existing students.
Can I have online group lessons?
In this initial phase, group lessons are designed to be in-person only. Online groups are in the planning for future development.
How do I create a group?
To create a group, head to your account at MusicTeachers.co.uk and click on the group lessons tab. From here the option to create a new group will become available. The creation form will take you through the process step by step. You can save your progress as a draft and return to it to continue the process later as you wish.
What kind of students are group lessons for?
We’ve designed the group lessons to be as open and flexible as possible. When you create a group, you can specify in the description the students who you would like to teach. You can design your group to be narrow (for example an advanced flute choir for adults) or broad (a mixed age choir suitable for singers of all levels of experience). As a rule, the more specific your group is, the more time you should allow for advertising and promotion.
If you know the students you would like to invite to your group, you can publish the group privately. Simply enter the information that is relevant to them and send them the link once the group is published.
Where can I find a suitable venue?
Finding a suitable venue for your group is an important consideration. Use your local knowledge and your network to make a shortlist and contact potential venues. When visiting a potential venue, build an idea of how many participants could comfortably fit in the space and enquire about additional facilities like parking, toilets, refreshments and wheelchair access. Potential students may well have questions about these things before they sign up.
Some venues may ask for a deposit ahead of the booking. When you are creating a group, you can choose to auto-cancel if the group hasn’t reached the required number of signups 7 days prior to the first session. We’ll refund any students who have signed up and you can talk to the venue in good time to avoid losing any deposit - this feature is here to protect you from non-refundable venue deposits. If you’d like to talk to us about this we are standing by to assist you. Just write to us via [email protected] if you’d like to talk this through.
How many people can I have in the group?
A group needs to have a minimum of two people. There is no maximum number of participants.
What if no one joins the group?
You can choose the minimum viable number of participants your group needs for it to take place. If there are not enough people registered by a given date, the course will be cancelled automatically and the participants will be refunded.
I already have an established group, a choir, a band or a course. Why use this platform?
Organising your group through MusicTeachers.co.uk automates a great deal of the administration involved in running a group. We are here to handle all payments and registrations in the booking process. You can say goodbye to confusing email threads with group members! Thanks to an intuitive messaging system with private messaging and group chat, MusicTeachers.co.uk takes the hassle out of the administration of group lessons. If you’d like us to, we are standing by to help advertise your group both on our search pages and through social media channels.
Who owns the group, me or the platform?
You are the teacher. You are in control of all aspects of how your group runs. Choose the fees, design the content and tell us what support you need. We are updating our terms to include a section on group lessons.
What should I teach?
You are responsible for the delivery of the group sessions. This includes all aspects of tuition and preparation. If you are new to group teaching or have an idea that you’d like some help in developing, write to us at [email protected]. We’d be delighted to help!
What is the difference between group lessons, events and intro lessons?
Group lessons
A group that will take place on more than one occasion. For example, a weekly beginner's violin group.
Event
A group that will take place as a one-off experience. For example, a masterclass for bass guitarists exploring the Afrobeat genre.
Intro
A taster session for new participants considering joining group lessons. A chance for new students to ascertain whether joining the group would be right for them.
What does MusicTeachers.co.uk do to promote group lessons?
If you know the students for whom you are creating a group (for example siblings or a parent and child who wish to learn together), you can choose to create the group via a private link. In this case, you can share the link with the relevant students and the group won’t be published on the search pages of MusicTeachers.co.uk
In cases where you would like your group to be open to a wider range of students, you can choose to publish as a public group. As part of our offer to you, we will work hard to promote your group to as many potential students as possible. Our marketing efforts reach thousands of people every day and you should consider this as “part of the service”, there is no extra cost for the promotion of your group.
Search Pages
Our marketing system is here to make sure that MusicTeachers.co.uk is amongst the first results prospective students see when searching online. Your group will be presented to all visitors to MusicTeachers.co.uk who are searching for lessons in your area.
Social Media
Using our channels on Social media platforms we’ll promote your group to wider audiences. You can help here by providing extra content such as video which we can use when creating posts. If you want to talk through what kind of extra content to provide, just write to us via [email protected]
Email
Using our email lists, we’ll let former students know about your group and how they get involved.
What can I do to promote my group?
Our best advice to you is threefold:
Take some time to present and describe your group to the highest standard.
The images you choose and the words that you write to describe your group should be seen as the bridge between a student considering joining and actually making it happen. Striking images which reflect the musical and social nature of the group, perhaps also featuring yourself as the teacher work well.
Clear, precise text, divided with accurate subheadings that helps students understand the value your group will bring to them is recommended. Before writing your text, put yourself in the shoes of a student reading about the group. What questions would you have? Use your text to answer the questions you think of. Musically, think about the level of experience required, genre, repertoire and how sessions are structured. Practically, think about the venue, parking, travel and equipment that’s required. Your text will be clear and easy to read if each section is divided into a subheading and associated description.
Respond to enquiries quickly and personally.
For some students, the quality of the image and descriptive text will be sufficient for them to sign up right away. For others, there may be a qualifying question or two that will come to you in much the same way as an enquiry for a 1-1 lesson. Our experience tells us that the faster, and more personally you respond to these questions, the more likely you are to have a sold-out group!
Use your network
Depending on the nature of your group, there are parts of your network that can be used to introduce it to a wider audience. Current students could see the group as an extension of their existing learning. Former students could be ready to re-engage in a more social setting. Professional colleagues might see the opportunities for their students to benefit and, via your own social media channels, a whole new audience could get inspired to come and join.
Does MusicTeachers.co.uk charge for group lessons?
You as the teacher will be able to choose the fee per student, per group session. MusicTeachers.co.uk deducts from this amount a “platform fee”. The platform fee covers our investment in designing and building the group lessons module, together with associated marketing costs, our customer support team and the software engineers who keep our web platform running safely and smoothly. The platform fee charged will vary depending on your membership level.
Platform fees are clearly displayed when you are setting the fees for your group. This means you will always be sure of what your take-home income will be for group tuition. In order to keep platform fees as low as possible, we add a service fee to the price payable by students.
What does the service fee cover?
The service fee is a nominal amount added to the lesson price students pay. The service fee covers all applicable taxes and the administration charges associated with taking secure payments online. The service fee is clearly displayed to students ahead of purchase.
Do I get paid if a student cancels?
Yes. In group teaching, it is not possible for a student to cancel and receive a refund for group lessons after they have signed up. In this way, your income as the teacher is protected and we encourage students to commit and participate fully in the group.
What if I need to cancel a group?
You can cancel a group at any time. We will automatically notify and refund any students who have signed up. When creating a group, you have the option to set the minumum number of students required to sign up to make the group viable. If you choose to, when the minimum viable number of students has not been metn 7 days before the group starts, we will automatically cancel the group and refund any students affected. In cases where you just need to cancel one session of a regular group, you can add a reasonable replacement date to the groupschedule instead of refunding students.
Do Blocks of lessons apply to group lessons?
No. Instead, you, the teacher, decide the cost per student, per session. This amount, plus a nominal service fee is what the student will need to pay to register with the group.
If you have a question we haven't answered here, please write to us at info@musicteachers.co.uk