Job Postings

Welcome!

Thank you for your interest in teaching positions with our school. 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 teaching position after reading this page or viewing our website, please email your resume to:

Email: [email protected]

Subject line:  Teaching Positions (please specify your instrument)

No Phone Calls Please.  Only suitable applicants will be contacted for an interview.

School Background

The School of Music is a privately owned school that was founded in 2004.  We have 3 locations:  Avon, Strongsville, and Fairview Park.

We are one of the largest music schools for children and adults on Cleveland's west side.  We cater mainly to children. About 90% of our students are between 3 and 16 years old. We welcome adult students but our suburban market area has resulted in a student base of mainly children.  We realize that most of our students will not become professional musicians. We strive to provide a fun but educational environment with well organized administration and first rate equipment and facilities.

Why teach with us?

There are several places you can teach music around the Cleveland area. Why should you consider teaching with us?  As a music teacher you can either teach privately in your house or in students' homes, or you can teach in a music store or school - both have upsides and downsides. If you teach in your home or students' homes, the upside is you can keep all of the money you charge to the student. Since you have no expenses like rent, staff, 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 students' homes. It can be hard to keep your schedule constantly full with new students. Getting a full schedule can be difficult and expensive if you have to run classified ads or small newspaper ads. 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 students' 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 of 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 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 make them still 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 fairly similar. So the pay per student to the teacher is lower because of rent, advertising, receptionists and other expenses. The upside can be having a consistently full schedule of students each day. Being paid less per student but having 7 or 8 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, tv's, 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 music teachers choose to teach at our school over all other choices:

1. A constant flow of new students to keep schedules as full as possible

Over the course of the year, students can move or quit. This can leave a teacher with gaps or holes in their schedule. Most students register and start lessons in September. Most music schools only advertise in late August and September for new students. At our school we spend a lot of money on advertising and marketing year-round to keep our teacher’s schedules as full as possible. Each year we spend over $40,000 on various advertising, mail, public communication, and other media to constantly attract new students. We are continually registering new students for our private music lessons even during typically slower registration months like May or June.

2.  Extras are taken care of - your only responsibility is to teach.

At all of our locations we have full time administrators to handle all of the “details” of teaching. From scheduling to collecting fees or arranging an accompanist for recitals, these details are handled by our administrators and 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. The only time a student can reschedule lesson is if 24 hours' notice is given. They can only have 3 per year. If a student does not pay for their lessons or has an uncollectible 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.

4. Your available teaching hours and profit are maximized.

Unlike in-home teaching services, students at our studios can be booked back-to-back with no driving time in between. In-home teaching means that it is almost impossible to be booked for more than 75-80% of the typical 6-hour teaching period because of the need to drive from home to home. That means a 20-25% decrease in pay. The high cost of fuel, traffic, driving in bad weather conditions and finding parking in high density areas can add to the frustration. When you go to a home as the teacher you are also the face of the company and the receptionist whether you signed up for that job or not.

What Some of Our Teachers Say

Minjoo Jo

"Thank you so much for everything for past three years. I have truly enjoyed teaching at Avon!"

Erin Lawson

"Thank you for the opportunity of teaching at your schools.  I have enjoyed my students.  Thank you for the gift card.  These periodic gifts demonstrate the care you have for employees, and I have always appreciated it."

Beiyao Ji

"I enjoyed my time working at ASM and hope the school continues to thrive."

Molly Cox

"Thank you again for the opportunity to work for you. I really enjoyed my time here at Avon School of music."

Elena Mullins

"I've really enjoyed teaching for you! Best of luck with the school!"

Megan-Geoffrey Prins

"I appreciate the opportunity you gave me to work at Strongsville and will forever be grateful for the teaching experience."