Planning Summer Fun as a traveling teacher

A few years ago, I took a webinar about summer camps and group teaching, and I got SO INSPIRED! (You can check it out here!)

Only one problem: I don't have a studio space.

My house is itty bitty, and where I live, it's really expensive to rent a space. So I was faced with a dilemma: How do I capture the energy, fun, and, let's be honest, income boosting potential of summer camps in my mobile studio?

While I have not abandoned the idea of having everyone meet me at the beach every day for a week, I also understand that a big part of why parents hire a teacher who comes to them is the convenience of not having to drive their children to another activity.

Thus, I came up with a few alternatives:

1. Creative Projects

This idea originated with my colleague Dawn and her Young Composers Program, which totally rocks.

For a small added cost to cover expenses and extra work hours, over the course of the summer, students are coached through creating a polished composition which they notate in notation software and record. At the end of the summer, every participant gets a book of all of the compositions and a CD of everyone playing their pieces. It's a really fun project that students in her studio look forward to every year!

A handful of my students have participated over the years, and they are always so proud of their end product.

For the past couple of years, I've expanded upon this idea in my own studio to facilitate some other creative projects.

Last year I had a student make a video about how the piano works. 

This year, I'm offering a "Build Your Own Piano Game" opportunity, inspired by one of my young students who made up a bunch of extra rules to one of my games and made it WAY MORE FUN!

2. Quick Starts/Crash Courses/Bootcamps

With these, I put together a 6 week add-on curriculum to give students a jump start in areas like chord playing, pop music, improvising, and songwriting. They usually take up about half of our regular lesson time, with homework assignments, and a final project.  

I'll include some examples in future posts.

3. Music Clubs

I am super excited about this new offering this year, and I'm getting my students pumped up about it too. Basically, these clubs are like virtual summer camps. Students will participate in special activities during their lessons. They'll have ongoing projects that they share with other participants including games and composing activities.

This year I'm planning a Harry Potter Themed "Magical Music Club" because at least half of my studio is as obsessed with Harry Potter as I am.

I'll be sharing a lot more details about this project in the weeks and months to come, so if you're intrigued, stay tuned!

What do you do to mix things up and make a little extra money in the summer? Let me know in the comments.