As you no doubt guessed, the title of this post alludes to the age-old saying, ‘Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer’, which has probably left many of you also wondering if I think you should view your fellow music teacher organization members as enemies…
and the answer is, of course… not!
But it is certainly okay to refer to these friends as competition, because, despite what many people believe, competition IS good, and competitors CAN be friends.
Here’s 3 reason why (followed at the end of the post by one REALLY important reason why!)
3 Ways Competition Makes Everyone Better Piano Teachers
1. Competition Makes You Grow (Professionally) Like a Weed
When you’re not the only show in town, you have to move and shake to keep your piano studio alive. This means you’re more likely to polish and refine your teaching skills, experiment with new and exciting programs, and just generally keep piano lessons more interesting. Nothing but good things comes from this!
2. Competitors Are Like a Super Secret Mentor
There are many ways you can improve your piano teaching and business practices (like being a devoted reader of TeachPianoToday.com), and learning from your competition is certainly one of them. If you already view another teacher as your competition, then your awareness of them means they’re doing something right! Delve into their business and teaching practices, and discover if they’re doing something that you should be doing, but aren’t.
3. You Don’t Know What You’ve Got Until…
it’s gone! But nobody’s leaving, because a little competition makes you appreciate your current piano students and work really hard to make sure they don’t fly the coup. Remember, it is much easier to keep a current student than it is to find a new one.
One Really Important Reason To Love Your Competitors
If you have competitors, this means you can can have (or probably do have) a music teachers’ organization (whether formal or informal). And if you have a music teachers’ organization, that means you have an army of individuals who can work together on shared projects to grow the music industry in your community through awareness.
Want piano lessons to explode in your community? Consider getting a bunch of piano teaching friends together to:
- 1. hold a music marathon
- 2. promote a composing competition that ends with a community concert
- 3. raise funds for a music-related charity
- 4. put together a Christmas Carol Choir for the holidays
- 5. put together a group of student Arts Stars who play gigs for local elementary schools
- 6. hold theme month concerts (African, Celtic, Hip Hop, Scrap Metal Music)
- 7. start a studio practice challenge, heck, challenge each other to practice for 88 days straight
Does your music teachers’ organization do something interesting or unique to raise awareness for the arts in your community? We’d love to hear about it in the comments below.
Leia says
I don’t view other piano teachers as my competitors at all! In fact, two of them are very close friends. There are SO many students in this town wanting lessons that none of us will be out of work.
I love working with them by organising joint recitals, sharing ideas, sharing resources, etc. In my mind, better piano teaching skills = better education for our piano students, so it’s win-win!
Cameron Weckerley says
I wish I lived where Leia does..in this neck of the woods its like a bunch of sharks and at 50 years old I seem to be aging out even though my education and experience are superlative…I totally disagree with the article and Leia…not win win…more like the famous race to the bottom.
Barbara says
Cameron, I’m so sorry your experience isn’t a good one right now. I, too, am 50ish and it is harder to like the music the kids like, be up on the lastest electronics, games, books etc., but maybe if you find just one other teacher with whom you could try a couple of the ideas proposed here it could be a turn-around point for your studio. Maybe even another teacher in a surrounding community. One that I work with is 45 mins. away but what we get from each other is well worth the commute. I’m constantly asking myself if I should still be teaching but always find something here at TeachPianoToday.com that inspires me and that I want to try with the students. My vision is for my students to still enjoy playing piano when they are my age, so when I focus on that I can forget all the “hard” and “bad” parts about teaching piano. I hope you can find a way to forget the competition and just be the best teacher you can be. There are students out there looking for what you have to offer. Best Regards.
Barbara says
What fabulous ideas at the bottom of this post. I’m definitely going to try some of these. As always, a big THANK YOU, Trevor.
Eleanor Baldwin says
Sorry, Trevor, but I have enough competition in in my life like ballet and sports. I HAVE fantasized about inviting all piano teachers in my zip code to a finger-sandwiches-and-iced-tea lunch where we get to know each other as people and learn each other’s goals and student preferences.
Andrea says
Hi Eleanor,
Thanks for your comment.
The post is not suggesting you invite competition, rather it is suggesting that competition will inevitably exist, and that it can be a good thing if you embrace its positive qualities and use them to your advantage (as outlined in the 4 strategies above).