WANTED – ENTHUSIASTIC Music and Dance Teachers!

Thank you for your interest in teaching at Farmington Valley Dance and Music, LLC. This page will give you an idea of our philosophy of teaching and our ideas on how our school can best meet the needs of our students and teachers.

If you are interested in applying for a MUSIC TEACHING POSITION after viewing our website please complete this application.

If you are interested in applying for a DANCE TEACHING POSITION after viewing our website please complete this application.

No phone calls or email questions please. Only suitable applicants will be contacted for an interview.

Music Teacher Candidate Requirements:

• Candidates must have a college degree in music, or currently, be enrolled working toward their degree.
• THE ABILITY TO WORK WITH BEGINNERS, (as young as age 5) IS A MUST.
• At least 1 year music teaching experience.
• A neat and tidy appearance and a positive attitude 🙂
• Pay rate is based upon experience and education.

School Background

• Celebrating its 29th season, Farmington Valley Dance & Music, LLC is a privately owned school that is located in Post Office Square near Highland Park Market in Farmington, CT.
• We cater mainly to children and about 90% of our students are between 18 months and 16 years old.
• Most of our students take music and dance for enrichment and will not become professional dancers or musicians.
• Our environment is fun and educational environment, with well-organized administration and first-rate equipment and facilities.

Why teach with us?

Music Teaching Positions

As a music teacher you can either teach privately in your house or in student’s homes, or you can teach in a music store or school – both have upsides and downsides. If you teach in your home or student’s homes, the upside is you can keep all of the money you charge the student. Since you have no expenses like rent, marketing or advertising you do not have to pay out a percentage to overhead costs. There are also downsides of teaching in your home or your student’s homes. It can be hard to keep your schedule constantly full with new students. Getting a full schedule can be difficult and can be expensive. Even if you are a good, well-liked teacher, it can take a long time for referrals and word of mouth to fill your schedule. If you are driving to student’s houses you also have to factor in the driving time between students which limits the amount of teaching you can actually do.

The other downside of teaching on your own can be the difficulty in enforcing your attendance and payment policies. No one likes being a collection agent. It can be difficult to concentrate on your teaching while trying to keep track of who owes money and trying to make sure you are paid.

If you are teaching on your own, it can also be difficult to enforce your teaching policies and have your time respected. For example, if a student tells you they are going to Disney World for the next two weeks, it can be difficult to still make them pay for their lesson time. Many students will refuse to pay for those missed lessons because they will think: “I’m not getting my lesson so why should I pay?”

Chances are you can’t book another student in that lesson time for just 2 weeks, so if you don’t charge the student in Disney World, you have just lost 2 weeks of pay. If that scenario happens a couple of times per month it can greatly reduce your earnings.

Now let’s look at teaching at a music school. The downside is you don’t get paid as much per student. Teaching rates that in-home teachers and music schools charge are usually pretty similar. So the pay per student to the teacher is lower because of rent, marketing and other fixed expenses. The upside can be having a consistently full schedule of students each day. Being paid a little less per student but having 5 or 6 students in a day will mean you earn more overall.

Another upside to teaching at our music school is that you do not have any collections hassles. You only have to focus on the teaching. Also our music school provides a professional educational environment that is stimulating to the students. It is also free from distractions found in a home such as ringing phones or doorbells, TVs and noisy family members.

Those are the general differences between teaching on your own and teaching in a music school or store.
Here are reasons why to choose to teach at our school over all other choices:

1. We strive to make your schedule as full as possible. – We are aggressive with our marketing and continually advertising to try to draw new students to our programs.
2. Extras are done for you,  your only responsibility is to teach. – We handle all of the “details” of teaching. From scheduling to collecting fees, these details are handled by us, not the teacher. This means the teacher is free to focus on teaching and not get bogged down by administration.
3. Your time is respected and you are paid whether or not students show up. – Teachers are paid for lessons whether students attend or not. If a student misses classes for school trips or holidays, the teacher is still paid.
4. You are paid, even if the student doesn’t – If a student does not pay for their lessons or has an uncollected debt, the teacher is still paid. Our priority for our teachers is to make sure that your time is not abused and your teaching day can be as productive as possible.

Dance Teaching Positions

As a dance teacher you have several different studios you can choose to teach in. If you have freedom to express your artistic style through your teaching, the main difference will be how the organization of the studio affects your satisfaction and ability to focus on your teaching.

Here are reasons why dance teachers choose to teach at our schools:

1. Our Culture – We run our school with our core values at the heart of every decision that we make. Notice that the biggest word on the poster is EXCELLENCE, which is what we strive for in every area of our studio.
2. Small class sizes – We limit class sizes to make classes easier to control and monitor for teachers and to give more personalized attention to students. Our classes for ages 3-6 are limited to a maximum of 12 students per class. Our classes for ages 7 and up are limited to a maximum of 15 students per class. We also have class assistants for classes that are near capacity.
3. Floating Marley dance floors in all studios – We use professional floating Marley dance floors in all of our studios. Our dance floors rest on a system of more than 2000 high density foam blocks. This dance floor helps prevent injuries and fatigue. A good quality floor is a consideration if you are going to be teaching for a few hours each day. A supportive quality floor allows you to protect your most important assets – your body and your ability to teach.
4. Extras are done for you – We try to take care of all of the extra details throughout the year. Teachers are not required to collect any fees or do any costume measuring. We also take care of all the organization of yearly recitals. We try to have everything well organized so the teachers are free to concentrate on teaching and nothing else.