Piano make-up lessons: 6 solutions to protect your extra time

Is your spare time under fire, at risk of falling to a barrage of requests for make-up piano lessons?

Fortify your studio policies with these six bulletproof solutions that will protect your extra time.

1. Student has a one-time conflict? Switch list

If the student wants to go to a birthday party and can’t come to their regular piano lesson, here’s how to set that up without a make-up.

A switch list is such a simple idea, I’m surprised more teachers don’t do it.

Yes, I understand that piano is a commitment, but I’ve also been a parent of children who had several interests, who had friends, who had birthday parties they wanted to go to, or had other opportunities they didn’t want to miss.

By offering your students the chance to switch with one another, you allow them to do the other activity and keep their weekly piano lesson, too.

A switch list will save you a LOT of headaches. The parents switch with each other and simply let you know about it. You teach both students inside your regular schedule, and it’s no extra time for you.

All you have to do is ask families to participate and make your schedule available to them with everyone’s contact information.

In short, by having a switch list, you:

• Keep your piano teaching inside your own schedule. No make-up lessons after regular hours.

• Eliminate requests for make-up lessons for non-serious reasons.

• Allow your students some reasonable flexibility for occasional scheduling conflicts.

• Avoid your students missing a week when they want to do something else.

• Avoid your students resenting piano lessons (like they might) if their parents forced them to choose piano over something else they want to do.

• Families who do not wish to participate in the switch list would understand that missed lessons are not otherwise made up. If they don’t join the switch list, they are agreeing to ‘no make-ups’.

2. Student has the sniffles? Online lesson

If your student is just a little sick, be ready to have their lesson online.

When your student has an illness that is less serious (meaning they’re well enough for a lesson) but sick enough that you don’t want to catch it (who wants a cold? not I!), teach online.

I recommend maintaining an account with an online service like Rock Out Loud. For a nominal monthly fee, and with a little notice from the student’s parent, you can be ready to move a piano lesson online.

If good sound matters to you, you may also prefer a platform like Rock Out Loud. As for me, I want to be able to hear the nuance in my students’ playing and I find good sound less exhausting. But other video services can work in a pinch, like FaceTime, Zoom and Facebook Messenger.

In short, by being ready to have online lessons, you:

• Avoid students coming to their lessons sick. This is a risk if you have a no make-up policy but no alternative if they are sick.

• Avoid most make-up lessons even if you have a policy of making up ‘sick day’ misses.

• Can keep weekly lessons consistent.

3. Student can’t come? Parent substitute lesson

Here’s a brand-new solution I’ve only just created, and that is inviting a parent to have a lesson on their own if their child isn’t able to attend.

I like to be very connected with my studio parents. Several of them sit in on lessons, and several of them learn alongside their children. I LOVE teaching this way, because these kids are my most engaged students.

Last year I asked several parents if they’d be interested in coming to a piano lesson on their own if their child couldn’t make it. They all said yes!

Here are several things you could cover in a ‘parent substitute’ piano lesson. Can you think of more?

• Explain the pedagogy behind what their child is learning right now.

• Help them learn pieces (or passages) their child is learning. Even parents who haven’t learned much piano enjoy a little of this!

• Teach them a simple beginner duet or chord progression they could play with their child at home.

• Demonstrate how they can help with good technique at home.

• Allow the parent to ask questions about piano or piano practice.

• Cover some basics of music history and/or theory and listen to some great piano repertoire.

• A parent substitute lesson promises to give a family value for their money, may boost the parent-student connection at home, and avoids a make-up lesson.

P.S. A variation on the parent substitute lesson is a ‘sibling substitute’ lesson. Perhaps your student has an older sibling who used to be in lessons and isn’t anymore, or a younger sibling who is interested in lessons but hasn’t started yet. A ‘sibling substitute’ lesson can allow an older or younger sibling of your current student to stay in touch with or sample a lesson. This gives the family value and may create a spark and a return to piano, or a new beginning.

4. Student too ill for lesson? ‘When I’m able’ make-up

Sometimes a student is too sick for an online lesson. What then?

It’s difficult to know what to do in the case of illness. This is up to the individual teacher to decide.

Some teachers have a ‘no make-up’ policy, even for illness.

Personally, I’m comfortable with my policy for missed lessons due to illness. If a student is ‘yucky’ sick, I’ll write their name down for a possible make-up lesson in the future. I don’t make any promises of an immediate make-up, or even a make-up within weeks or months.

I’ll say simply, “I’ll do my best to make it up sometime in the future.”

Keep in mind that I explain my policies to parents in our initial interview and do not guarantee any make-up lessons. I say something like this, “I do what I can to make up lessons missed for medical reasons, but can’t guarantee I’ll be able to. However, there are very few lessons each year that are paid for and missed completely.” Because of this, parents don’t expect or demand make-up lessons but are thankful when they do happen. I get to decide when to give the make-ups, usually before a performance when I feel it is wise to give the student a little more support. Also, by admitting that ‘very few’ lessons are paid for and missed, I’m preparing parents for this exact possibility. If they choose me as their piano teacher knowing this, they are accepting my policy.

I’ve sometimes heard piano teachers say they’re worried parents will lie and say their child is sick just to trigger a make-up. If you’re a piano teacher and would like to know my strategy for this, contact me through my website.

I’ve found these advantages for the way I handle medical misses:

• True medical misses don’t happen very often, especially with the option for online lessons for less-serious illnesses.

• When there is a medical miss, I mark it in my notes to help prioritize make-ups.

• My offer of a make-up is vague and distant in the future, and I get to offer it when (and if) I’m able. Therefore, my studio parents don’t stress about it.

• Most lessons missed due to illness are later made up within my schedule (see point 5 below).

• Sometimes these make-ups come in handy when a student needs a little extra push before a performance.

5. Student ‘A’ can’t come? Student ‘B’ substitute make-up

When a student cancels, offer the spot to your list of others who have missed in the past, to fill in.

With the spirit of paying it forward, in my studio I try to fill in open lesson times by contacting others who have missed in the past to have an extra lesson.

Sometimes there’s ample notice when a student is going to miss a lesson, like when they’re going on a trip. When there’s a longer lead time, you could email parents of kids who have already missed lessons and offer them the open spot. Sometimes you might send a group email and fill in the lesson on a first-come basis. Sometimes you could prioritize and go down a list.

With a miss due to illness, you might find out on short notice. In this case, you might call around to find a substitute.

You might be thinking, “The fill-in student has already had a lesson that week. Do they get another lesson? What if they haven’t had much time to practice?” The substitute lesson is an opportunity. Don’t treat it like an extra lesson. Give extra help on what you’re working on. Improvise. Play. Do enriching activities you may love but don’t have a lot of time for. Treat part of the lesson as a practice boost and help the student prepare for their next real lesson.

Substitute fill-ins are successful often enough to have these advantages:

• The fill-in student gets extra time that week with the teacher, which gives them an advantage.

• Rather than having a hole in your schedule, you’re using the time to take care of a make-up lesson (within your regular schedule…remember this isn’t eating into your free time).

• By offering substitute lessons, you are able to offer make-up lessons for reasonable misses (medical misses only). While your free time is protected, this allows you to have a little compassion for a situation (like illness) that a piano student couldn’t help.

• Even if a student can’t take the open spot, it’s good optics that you’ve offered it to them. Because the parent has turned it down they’re less likely to be upset if their own missed lesson can’t be made up.

6. Only create policies you are able to enforce

Your policies are only as good as YOU are.

Your job is to know your own policies and stick to them and be consistent.

The worst thing you can do is to print very strict policies and then make regular exceptions to them.

The best way to invite policy headaches is to cave in to parent requests to break your policies. Once this starts, it will not stop on its own. It will take four times the effort to get your policies back after you make one exception.

When a parent makes a request, do you assume they know your policies and are asking for an exception? Don’t. Likely they haven’t even looked at your policy.

Your number one job with any parent new to your studio is to patiently answer requests with a simple statement:

“Thanks for reaching out about [a make-up this weekend]. I’m not able to do that.” Simple. Who can argue with whether or not you are ‘able’ to do something? You don’t even have to answer why you’re not able. Perhaps you’re away for the weekend and that’s why. Perhaps you’re taking care of an elderly parent and that’s why. Perhaps you’re reading, performing, or studying for a skydiving test and that’s why. Whatever your reason for not being able to give a make-up on any particular day or your weekend is your business, and you don’t need to give a reason. “I’m not able to.” That’s your reason.

(N.B. My response is a bit more nuanced, friendlier and conversational. The above is a succinct example of the overall message.)

Enforce your policy, but I wouldn’t use the word ‘policy’ unless it becomes absolutely necessary. It sounds a bit heavy-handed.

Another word I’d avoid in messages is ‘sorry’. While it sounds fine spoken aloud, ‘sorry’ often has a sarcastic tone in written messages. ‘Apologize’ is a far better word.

You get to make the exceptions…

With solutions 1 to 5 above, you stand to take care of (or eliminate) most make-up lessons.

However, there may be times when you decide you want to give make-up lessons outside your regular schedule. I haven’t mentioned it, but another reason I give make-up lessons is for my own misses, medical and otherwise. Each year there are some make-ups I give.

Normally I will try to schedule make-up time before music festival or before my recital. These ‘pre-performance’ make-up lessons are often given as a second lesson in the performance week, rather than adding a week to my teaching schedule.

Here’s how to make an exception and yet maintain consistency with your written policy. “I’m not usually able to do this, but this time because I have time…I am able to.” This reinforces the policy and keeps your boundary in place so they will know it’s not their place to ask for make-ups outside your schedule, it’s up to you to offer.

For reference, when I do give make-ups outside my schedule, it usually only takes one afternoon. That’s how effective it is to have a switch list and substitute lessons. I never give a full week of make-up lessons. That would be a week of my life for which I’m not getting paid at all, and for me that is not possible.

Your policy is your guardian

Teaching piano lessons is only one of the many things you do in your own busy, fulfilling life. When you set up your schedule, have a personal contract with yourself that those are the hours you have set aside for teaching.

The rest of your life need not be vulnerable to your piano studio business. You have a right to have days or hours that are booked for the rest of the important things you do.

Create a studio policy you are able to follow to the letter. Be consistent with yourself and your studio families.

For interest’s sake, here is exactly what I print in my Piano Handbook, my policy that is printed for my studio families:

---

Don’t miss a post!

Follow my blog (click here)! Get instant notifications of my posts in your inbox!

I appreciate shares, comments and likes. Happy teaching! <3

Video of the Week

There’s a Name on a Stone (Intermediate, Level 4). At times we stand before a stone that is carved with a name or names. Perhaps it’s in an ancient ruin, a war memorial, or the headstone of a loved one. We may know the name or we may not. This piece is composed in the style of folk music of my beloved Nova Scotia, for those times when we remember or times when we ponder the life of the person who was so significant as to deserve having their name carved in stone. Available as the studio-licensed There’s a Name on a Stone eSheet!