The Scrappy Piano Teacher Podcast

The Scrappy Piano Teacher Podcast, formerly The Music Teacher Mastermind Podcast, is a piano teacher podcast for independent piano teachers who love teaching but struggle with running a studio or need some encouragement. I’m Jaclyn Mrozek, a piano teacher and studio owner with 28 plus years of experience, all while homeschooling and raising three kids, so yes, I get it. This podcast covers piano teaching, piano studio business systems, private and group lessons, burnout, and sustainable strategies to help piano teachers build joyful studios with clarity and confidence.

The Scrappy Piano Teacher Podcast is a business podcast hosted by Jaclyn Mrozek, with 92 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Jaclyn Mrozek hosts The Scrappy Piano Teacher Podcast, a business show with 92 episodes published.

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  Episode #91

  Your Students Are Overscheduled. Now What?

  Aug 17, 202632 minS3

  Your Students Are Overscheduled. Now What? What do you do when your piano students are too busy to practice? Between school, sports, theater, jobs, homework, and everything else competing for their time, many music teachers are trying to figure out how to set realistic practice expectations without simply lowering the bar. In this episode, I am talking about overscheduled students, piano practice motivation, and what the research actually says about kids with increasingly packed schedules. I also share how I handle this in my own studio through our Honors Program, where students look honestly at their schedules and set realistic practice goals for the year. We also talk about student ownership, Self Determination Theory, involving parents in the conversation, and why sometimes the answer to a student who only has twenty minutes is not telling them to find forty. Sometimes we need to teach them how to use the twenty minutes they already have really well. The Scrappy Piano Teacher www.scrappypianoteacher.com Coda Books www.scrappypianoteacher.com/coda Molly Gebrian, Learn Faster, Perform Better: A Musician's Guide to the Neuroscience of Practicing https://amzn.to/4gdjHjQ MakeMusic Studio https://studio.makemusic.com Use code SCRAPPY90 for 90% off your first three months of MakeMusic Studio. You can also schedule a demo to see how MakeMusic Studio could work for your studio. 2024 MTNA Member Survey Are Children Spending Too Much Time on Enrichment Activities? by Carolina Caetano, Gregorio Caetano, and Eric Nielsen Self Determination Theory Jennifer Breheny Wallace, Never Enough Molly Gebrian, Learn Faster, Perform Better Being realistic does not mean getting rid of standards. It means creating expectations that make sense for the actual student sitting in front of us and then helping that student follow through. If this episode helped you, remember, sharing is caring. Send it to another piano teacher or independent music teacher who might enjoy the conversation.

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  Episode #90

  Does Your Registration Fee Have a Job?

  Aug 3, 202623 minS3

  Does Your Registration Fee Have a Job? How to Calculate Music Studio Fees How did you decide what to charge for your studio registration fee? Did you calculate it from real expenses, or did you choose a number that simply sounded about right? In this episode, Jaci looks at how independent music teachers can calculate a registration fee using real information from their own studios. She shares how her registration fees once became general emergency money, why that approach did not solve the underlying problem, and how teachers can give each fee a clear and specific job. You will hear practical ideas for reviewing expenses such as: • Books and student materials • Recitals and studio events • Piano tuning and instrument maintenance • Studio software and payment processing • Registration and administrative work Jaci also explains how to separate shared studio expenses from individual student expenses and use that information to calculate a realistic starting point for your fee. CALCULATE YOUR REGISTRATION FEE Create three columns: Column 1: Everything you want your annual fee to cover Column 2: What you spent on each item last year, or your realistic estimate for this year Column 3: Whether the expense belongs to one student individually or is shared across the whole studio Then calculate: Shared annual expenses ÷ expected number of students = shared cost per student Shared cost per student + average individual student costs = starting point for your annual fee That number does not automatically have to become your final fee. You can still decide what belongs in tuition, what you may choose to subsidize, and what makes sense for your families. The important thing is that you are making the decision using real information from your own studio. The episode also explores two ways to collect registration fees: charging the full amount upfront or spreading it across monthly tuition. Jaci shares the results of her own studio experiment, in which 85 percent of participating families chose to roll the fee into tuition. Finally, she discusses how Profit First style buckets can help ensure that money intended for books, recitals, maintenance, or other expenses is still available when it is needed. The goal is not to copy another teacher’s number. Your fee may be higher, lower, included in tuition, or structured completely differently. What matters is that it is accurate, intentional, and connected to the real cost of operating your studio. RESOURCES Free Recital Expense Calculator and Profit First Cheat Sheet: https://www.scrappypianoteacher.com/resources FREE SCRAPPY CIRCLE Join Jaci and Eric Branner on August 14 at 1:00 p.m. Eastern for a casual back to school teacher conversation and Q&A. Eric will also share a short look at how Fons has grown into Make Music Studio. RSVP and submit your question: https://www.scrappypianoteacher.com/scrappy-circle Visit The Scrappy Piano Teacher: https://www.scrappypianoteacher.com

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  Episode #89

  Your Fall Studio Checklist

  Jul 20, 202620 minS3

  Before fall lessons begin, take a step back and make sure the systems underneath your studio still fit the teacher, business owner, and human you are today. In this episode, Jaci shares five areas every music teacher should revisit before the new teaching year: Studio policies A calendar built around margin Business bank accounts and Profit First buckets Administrative systems and studio software Your teaching philosophy Your studio may have worked beautifully last year and still need to change this year. The goal is not to keep adding more. It is to build a studio that supports your students, your income, your energy, and the rest of your life. Policy workshop replay, policy workbook, editable studio calendars, Profit First resources, and teaching philosophy workbook: https://www.scrappypianoteacher.com/resources Explore Make Music Studio: https://studio.makemusic.com Use code SCRAPPY90 to receive 90 percent off your first three months of Make Music Studio.

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  Episode #85

  Tuition Pricing With Confidence

  May 26, 202636 minS3

  <p>Pricing music lessons can feel simple until you actually have to choose the number, put it in your policy, send the email, or say it out loud to a parent.</p><p>In this episode, Jaci talks about how independent music teachers can build a tuition number with more confidence. Not by copying another teacher’s rate, not by guessing, and not by choosing the number that feels the least awkward, but by using a clearer framework.</p><p>This episode loosely applies ideas from How to Price Effectively by Utpal Dholakia to independent music teaching. The six pricing pi...

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  Episode #84

  Tuition Models and Real Talk with Eric Branner

  May 11, 202654 minS2

  <p>In this episode of The Scrappy Piano Teacher, I’m joined by Eric Branner for a practical and honest conversation about one of the biggest questions independent music teachers face:</p><p>How do we structure our tuition, raise rates, and actually get paid in a way that supports a sustainable studio?</p><p>Eric brings such a helpful mix of real teaching experience and business perspective. He breaks down actual tuition models music teachers are using, why some pricing structures work better than others, and how teachers can think through raising rates without spiraling, apologizing, or guessing.</p><p>...

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