Comprehensive Self-Care for the Independent Music Teacher, Part I
Beth Gigante Klingenstein, NCTM
MTNA Business Digest, Volume 5, Issue 1
October 2025
How old are you? Why would I ask, you may wonder. Because the younger you are, the more value you will get from this article. The older you are, the more essential this information will be. Self-care is a broad topic, fit for all of us. For example, you might have great studio policies and marketing strategies but have ignored saving money and are headed down the slippery slope of financial insecurity.
This is Part I of a two-part series covering five intertwined areas of self-care, all crucial for our overall health. As independent music teachers, we need to keep ourselves financially secure, emotionally and mentally well, physically fit, professionally centered, and successfully engaged with effective business practices. In Part I, I will cover financial, professional, and business health. Part II will appear in the next Business Digest and will cover the equally important topics of mental/emotional and physical health for the independent music teacher.
Financial Health
Taking care of our finances cannot start too soon. If you are young, yes, any discussion of retirement or long-term savings applies to you! None of us wants to someday face financial insecurity due to poor choices made early in life. Two great resources I highly recommend are Tom Rizzo’s Five Things Every Freelancer Needs to Know About Finances and Dave Ramsey’s 7 Baby Steps (to take control of your money), which offers similar advice.
Here are six important suggestions for financial health that are well worth highlighting:
- We can create a budget that reflects our income and expenses. This helps us understand what resources we truly have and where our money is currently going. Such a budget will hopefully help us avoid purchasing beyond our means or buying “wants” if we can’t afford them (rather than “needs”).
- We need to have a sufficient and accessible emergency fund, as demonstrated by the devastating 2025 fires in California. My sister’s beautiful home burned to the ground in the California fires, with everything in it including two Steinway pianos, a collection of vintage guitars, and a recording studio. After a lifetime of working hard and doing well in their careers, the fires left my sister and her husband with her best violin, his best guitar, and one suitcase as their total worldly possessions. They were faced with an immediate need to replace the most basic of necessities. Establishing an emergency fund is one of those things that should never be overlooked!
- Credit card debt is one of the worst conceivable detriments to financial health. Although it is nearly impossible to stop using credit cards completely, we can start paying off the full balance each month if not already doing so. There are proven and successful ways to pull oneself out of credit card debt (or any debt). Dave Ramsey gives practical and doable suggestions; check out his debt snowball method or the debt avalanche method. One of my resources compares the two so you can decide which is best for you.
- One of the most important things to do for financial health is to start saving for retirement. Whatever your age, you are not too young! The resources on retirement and savings in the Resources list are meant for members of all ages.
- An additional option when working on financial health and saving for retirement is to explore the pay-yourself-first budgeting method. A pay-yourself-first budget (sometimes referred to as a reverse budget) has us set aside money in goal-based categories like retirement before tackling short-term expenses like groceries and utilities. Rizzo and Ramsey suggest something similar, in that we put away a percentage of our paycheck into savings each month before paying any bills. If we have debt, we decide how much we want to pay towards it each month and add that to our savings goals. Then we deduct the total of desired savings and debt payments from our gross income. Whatever is left is what we have for short-term expenses like groceries.
Example: Let’s say we have a monthly income of $6,000. That is just a random number— probably high for some of us and low for others; it is just an arbitrary figure.
• If we want to save 10% toward retirement, that would be $600.(10% of $6,000 a month, as Rizzo suggests; Ramsey suggests 15% or $900.)
• Let’s say we also want to add $200 a month to help grow our emergency fund and pay $200 a month towards credit card debt.
• Total monthly long-term goal: $1,000
After taking away money for our savings goals, in this case we’d have $5,000 left to cover our everyday expenses. If money is tight, it may seem impossible to put anything away first. It isn’t. If suddenly all we had was $5,000 a month instead of $6,000 to live off, we would do it. Because we would have to do it. This may seem like a lot to put away, but if we are in debt or have yet to start saving for retirement or have saved insufficiently, we will be happy we did this!
- It is important, not just to save, but to grow our savings. According to one survey, on average, only about 14% of Americans have at least $100,000 in savings. This figure varies by age, with older Americans having more savings on average. But many Americans 65 and over have only $100,000 or less saved. Take out $33,000 to live off every year, (which isn’t much) and it is gone in three years. Unless we want to be working into our 80s, that is a very slim figure to have saved.
The point of starting to save early for retirement is that the savings will compound in value. Savings that are invested properly grow over time. We can learn about how to invest and work with a financial advisor to help us get started. Ultimately, we all need to develop a savings and investing mindset.
How different are saved versus invested funds? If we took $25,000 and just put it under our mattress (no investing), after 30 years it would actually depreciate in value to only about $10,300. That is because cash has about 3% less purchasing power each year based on a 3% annual inflation rate. But if we invest that at a 10% rate of return, that money would be worth almost $500,000 after 30 years. 10% is another arbitrary figure and a bit high for now, but the point is clear: investing is much better than just saving.
Check out this link to see how your savings compare to benchmarks for your age to see if your savings are on track.
Professional Health
Moving on to professional health, it is important to develop self-respect and respect from others. We can do this by letting parents know about all we offer in our studio, all that is of value, and all that we expect. Some solid self-reflection can be a valuable step at this point. What is special about our studio? What is singular about us? What unique services do we offer?
Another significant element of professional health is professional growth. Independent music teachers are well known for being lifelong learners. We can pursue professional development by going to conferences, watching webinars, being part of teacher groups on social media, performing, reading, and researching topics online. We can approach each new day as an opportunity to learn, grow, and experience. What an empowering mindset!
Moving on to the potential for boredom: same old, same old is one of the best ways to feel burned out, bored, or frustrated. Change is good, for our students and for us. What are some ways to combat burnout? Just a few suggestions include trying a new program in our studio such as a summer camp, starting a chamber music festival, incorporating composition into our curriculum, taking advantage of state theory exams, teaching RMM to adults, teaching early childhood music classes, trying one of the MTNA festivals in our own studio, or using new materials/method books with our students.
Last for professional health, I believe it is important for each one of us to advocate for the arts; the arts are central to our communities. Some people view the arts as an unnecessary, elitist extravagance. Such people need to understand the arts are all around us. They make every day better; they make every community better. We want all parents and students to understand the privilege it is to study music, that the privilege should be available to everyone, and that the outcomes of that privilege can be unexpected, rewarding, and life-changing.
Business Health
I will start with a few basic business practices that hopefully we already embrace. First, we can charge professional rates, so we won’t be overworked and we feel our work is acknowledged as important. This also gives us more financial stability.
In addition to rates, we can adopt a proactive approach to increasing our personal income so we can teach less and teach better. Some suggestions for a proactive approach include raising rates on a regular basis, charging for new or additional services, and exploring financially beneficial sources of income and new clientele (RMM, group lessons, homeschooled groups, or early childhood classes).
Another good tool for business health is to learn the best ways to market our studios so we are never short of students. Options include marketing online (a studio website, social media, or blogs), through public concerts/studio activities, by word of mouth, etc. We also need to maximize the impact of digital marketing so that when we use it, we are doing it the right way. There are some great articles in the MTNA Business Digest archives about how to do just that.
It is up to each of us to create our own studio policies, to clearly state them, and to keep them updated; this places us in charge of our business. We can have firm make-up policies and firm payment policies (when to pay and how to pay). These help us to be proactive and avoid misunderstandings down the road. It is important to stick with our policies—our studio is our business, so we naturally make the rules. Parents don’t make the rules for our studio and do not have the right to renegotiate our policies.
One thing that is not talked about often is we need not feel obligated to stick with students or parents who cause us stress or drive us to drink. If a family is making us stressed or upset, we need not accept that stress. This is an obvious way for us to address our business health (and mental wellness), and everyone else in our life will be grateful if we make a change.
There are also legal considerations to honor in our studios. We need to be sure that if a business license is required where we live, we have one. We must be sure we are abiding by our area’s zoning laws or any HOA rules or Codes, Covenants, and Restrictions where we live that may inhibit our right to teach in our home.
Another suggestion is to continually review articles on the MTNA Business Resources website and to become a Business Digest devotee—both include a multitude of articles with great tips on upgrading our studio management, setting rates, teaching online, abiding by zoning laws, digital marketing, helpful software, and much, much more.
Next, how we manage our time can impact our business health. If we feel stressed for time, there are actions we can take. If we have trouble keeping up with all our obligations, we can reflect on the many commitments we have. Are we doing too much? Maybe we need to cut back or change our priorities. Or maybe it isn’t that we have too much to do, we just aren’t good at managing our time. If that is a problem for us, there are experts who know ways to solve time management issues, and we can benefit from their advice by doing a little research into the topic. Again, a great deal of this is within our own control to improve.
I’d like to offer some IMT-specific time-management tools we can use to take control of our time. Give students or parents the ability and role of swapping lessons when they have a lesson conflict; this takes the burden off our shoulders. Use an app that helps with recordkeeping; there are apps that handle scheduling, makeups, marketing, lesson swaps, and bookkeeping. Apps can also accept payments directly, communicate with parents, keep track of calendar events, send reminders, keep track of financial records, and more. Such apps are great time-savers and stress-relievers. We can cut back on extra activities that are stressful and don’t add to our studio health. We can make a list of where we would like our time to go, being sure to schedule time for self-improvement, family, and fun. Such work-life balance is a top priority if we are to enjoy our professional lives. Another great idea is to have our local associations schedule programs on time-savers, in order to learn from each other. I have learned a great deal from such sessions.
One big time-saver is getting rid of clutter. We can research clutter control and how to keep our studio organized. Research shows clutter can cause stress and waste time. Clutter can affect our anxiety levels, sleep, and ability to focus. It can also make independent music teachers less productive as a cluttered studio makes it more difficult to find the things needed during a lesson. I included a webinar given by Jennifer Foxx on how to unclutter our studies in the Resources list. It is good to keep in mind clutter is one of those things that is within our control. A helpful tip is to spend 10 minutes a day on decluttering. Clean out one drawer. Organize one bookshelf. We don’t need to wait until we have time to reorganize the whole studio because that kind of time is hard to find.
The last thing I will touch on in business health is learning to schedule for success. We can start by avoiding overly structured workdays or too many students. We can schedule paid breaks for conferences and charge for the days we are at a conference because they are workdays. After the conference, we can send our parents a letter saying, “These are the sessions I attended on behalf of your child.” We can schedule regular, paid vacations. We are professionals who deserve—and need—time away from music and teaching. It is important to schedule a few breaks during the day between lessons and to schedule breaks during the semester. We can take advantage of all we learned during COVID-19 about online lessons to help when students are ill or out of town. Also, if needed, we can take a mental health day. Everyone will be better off.
In Closing
For me, the main takeaway when reflecting on these areas is that a great deal (not all, but a lot) of our financial, professional, and business health is within our own control. And health in these areas is crucial to our work-life balance. When our finances are solid, we feel more at ease with today and the future. When our life is less cluttered and our time is better managed, we can feel more open to what the day has to offer. When we establish and enforce professional studio policies, we set our business up for success. And when we take pride in our studio and let others know we deserve respect for what we offer, we establish ourselves as professionals to be appreciated.
Editor’s Note: Part II of this series will focus on Mental/Emotional and Physical Wellness and will appear in the January 2026 MTNA Business Digest.
Disclaimer: Resources and information in this article are not a substitute for advice by a qualified financial professional who is familiar with your specific situation. The resources below were curated by the author to complement this article. They are offered for exploration and inspiration and do not represent official endorsements by MTNA.
Resources, Part I
(To access MTNA resources listed below, first log in as a member at mtna.org.)
*Author’s recommendations for especially helpful resources are listed first.
Financial Wellness
*Are You on Track for a Comfortable Retirement? Here’s How Much Money You Should Save Every Month Depending on Your Age and State, Amanda Breen, Entrepreneur, December 10, 2024.
https://www.entrepreneur.com/money-finance/how-much-to-save-for-retirement-each-month-based-on-age/484056
*Beware: Credit Card Debt Doesn't Disappear When You Die, Liz Weston, Los Angeles Times, April 12, 2025.
https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2025-04-12/beware-credit-card-debt-doesnt-disappear-when-you-die
*How to Plan for Retirement, Dave Ramsey, Ramsey Solutions, October 3, 2024.
[includes good tools]
https://www.ramseysolutions.com/retirement/how-to-create-your-retirement-plan
*Estate Planning: 16 Things to Do Before You Die, Troy Segal, updated on January 16, 2025, Investopedia.
https://www.investopedia.com/articles/retirement/10/estate-planning-checklist.asp
*The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness, Dave Ramsey, Nashville, TN: Nelson Books, an imprint of Thomas Nelson, 2013.
*The US Government Just Revealed How Much the Average American Couple Has Saved for Retirement — How Do You Compare Heading into 2025? Christy Bieber, Moneywise.com, December 31, 2024.
https://moneywise.com/retirement/how-much-the-average-american-couple-has-saved-for-retirement
*What Does It Mean to Pay Yourself First? PNC Insights, January 6, 2025.
https://www.pnc.com/insights/personal-finance/save/pay-yourself-first.html
Comparing the Snowball and the Avalanche Methods of Paying Down Debt, Wells Fargo.
https://www.wellsfargo.com/goals-credit/smarter-credit/manage-your-debt/snowball-vs-avalanche-paydown/
Compound Interest Calculator at investor.gov
https://www.investor.gov/financial-tools-calculators/calculators/compound-interest-calculator
Financial Health 1-uh-oh…I Mean 101, Beth Gigante Klingenstein. American Music Teacher, August/September 2021. https://www.mtna.org/MTNA/Business_Resources/Finance/Retirement/2021_AS.aspx
5 Things to Do Now to Make Your Estate Simpler for Your Heirs, Cheryl Winokur Munk, The Wall Street Journal, November 14, 2024.
https://kanebridgenews.com/5-things-to-do-now-to-make-your-estate-simpler-for-your-heirs/
Five Things Every Freelancer Needs to Know About Finances, Tom Rizzo, Plectrum Advisers.
http://www.mtna.org/MTNA/Business_Resources/Finance/Retirement/Freelancer.aspx
Learn the Best Ways to Save Money, Track Your Income/Expenses and Get Paid in 2022, Jennifer Stadler and Amy Chaplin, MTNA Business Digest, Volume 1, Issue 2, January 2022.
http://www.mtna.org/MTNA/Business_Resources/Finance/Recordkeeping/Expenses.aspx
Retire Inspired: It’s Not an Age, It’s a Financial Number, Chris Hogan. Brentwood, TN, Ramsey Press, The Lampo Group, 2016.
Retirement Planning: You Can Never Start Too Soon, Beth Gigante Klingenstein. American Music Teacher, December 2021/January 2022.
https://www.mtna.org/MTNA/Business_Resources/Finance/Retirement/2021_DJ.aspx
My Husband and I Eliminated Clutter and $32,000 in Credit-Card Debt By Turning It Into a Game, Desiree Gutierrez, Business Insider, December 16, 2024.
https://www.businessinsider.com/we-paid-32000-credit-card-debt-with-simple-decluttering-rule-2024-12
Professional Wellness (please note many of these also apply to business wellness)
*MTNA Legal Documents (log in to MTNA website to have full access), documents prepared by the MTNA Attorney.
https://www.mtna.org/MTNA/JoinAndRenew/Membership/Members_Only/Legal.aspx
Don’t Underestimate Your Professional Worth, Gary Ingle, American Music Teacher, February/March 2020.
https://mydigitalpublication.com/publication/?m=36833&i=647314&p=4&ver=html5
A Final Overview of Professionalism in the Music Studio, Beth Gigante Klingenstein, American Music Teacher, April/May 2007.
https://www.mtna.org/MTNA/Business_Resources/Career_Development/Professionalism/2007_AM.aspx
How Do You Prevent Burnout in Yourself as a Teacher? Multiple authors, American Music Teacher, June/July 2021.
https://mydigitalpublication.com/publication/?m=36833&i=705851&p=8&ver=html5
Legal Issues: Ignorance Is Not Bliss, Beth Gigante Klingenstein, American Music Teacher, April/May 2005.
https://www.mtna.org/mtna/Business_Resources/Legal_Resources/Resources/2005_AM.aspx
Self-Care: Navigating Professional and Personal Hurdles, James Huval, MTNA Webinar, July 9, 2021
[Scroll down to find this webinar + other good ones as you scroll!]
https://www.mtna.org/MTNA/JoinAndRenew/Membership/Members_Only/MTNA_Webinars/Webinars_6.aspx
Top Five List: MTNA Professional Development Resources, Lynette Zelis, MTNA Business Digest, Volume 1, Issue 1, October 2021.
https://www.mtna.org/MTNA/Business_Resources/Career_Development/Professionalism/Resources.aspx
Toward a Deeper Definition of Integrity, Karen Thickstun, American Music Teacher, April/May 2024. https://www.mtna.org/MTNA/Business_Resources/Career_Development/Professionalism/2024_AM.aspx
Towards a Higher Definition of Professionalism, Karen Thickstun, American Music Teacher, August/September 2007.
https://www.mtna.org/MTNA/Business_Resources/Career_Development/Professionalism/2007_AS.aspx
Business Wellness (please note many of these also apply to professional wellness)
*MTNA Business Digest Archives (log in to MTNA website to have full access).
https://www.mtna.org/MTNA/Business_Resources/Archives/Archives.aspx
*MTNA Business Resources Website (log in to MTNA website to have full access).
https://www.mtna.org/MTNA/Business_Resources/MTNA/Business_Resources/Business_Resources.aspx?hkey=ad1787a2-5bb3-43ae-b7af-12b3bc767849
*MTNA Member Survey (log in to MTNA website to have full access).
https://www.mtna.org/MTNA/Business_Resources/General/2020_Member_Survey.aspx
https://www.mtna.org/MTNA/Business_Resources/General/2024_Member_Survey.aspx
*MTNA Webinars (log in to MTNA website to have full access).
https://www.mtna.org/MTNA/Learn/Webinars/2024_Webinars.aspx
*Top Five Time Management Tips, Karen Thickstun, MTNA Business Digest, Volume 3, Issue 3, April 2024.
https://www.mtna.org/MTNA/Business_Resources/Balance/Time_Management.aspx
The Best Music Studio Management Applications for Music Teachers, Davis Dorrough. MTNA Business Digest, Volume 1, Issue 1, October 2021 (updated January 2025).
http://www.mtna.org/MTNA/Business_Resources/Finance/Recordkeeping/Studio_Management_Apps.aspx
How to Get More Students to Contact Your Studio, Daniel Patterson, MTNA Business Digest, Volume 2, Issue 1, October 2022.
http://www.mtna.org/MTNA/Business_Resources/Marketing/Rec_Ren/Contact.aspx
How to Improve Your Time Management Skills (7 Easy Ways), novoresume, September 15, 2025.
https://novoresume.com/career-blog/improve-time-management-skills
Invigorating Our Studios, Beth Gigante Klingenstein, American Music Teacher, August/September 2005.
https://www.mtna.org/MTNA/Business_Resources/Entrepreneurism/2005_AS.aspx
Licensing, Taxes & Budgeting: A Financial Overview for Music Teachers, Heather Smith, MTNA Webinars, September 10, 2021.
[Scroll down to find this webinar + other good ones as you scroll!]
https://www.mtna.org/MTNA/JoinAndRenew/Membership/Members_Only/MTNA_Webinars/Webinars_6.aspx
Make-Up Policies—Magic or Misery, Beth Gigante Klingenstein, American Music Teacher, December/January 2003/2004.
https://www.mtna.org/MTNA/Business_Resources/Studio_Resources/Policy_Docs/2003_DJ.aspx
Matter of Policy, Karen Thickstun, American Music Teacher, August/September 2008.
https://www.mtna.org/MTNA/Business_Resources/Studio_Resources/Policy_Docs/2008_AS.aspx
Online “Stress-free Business Practices” Workshop, Wendy Stevens, ComposerCreate [plus many excellent articles].
https://composecreate.com/piano-teaching-business/
Tidying Up! Sparking Joy in the Music Studio, Jennifer Foxx, MTNA Webinar, June 18, 2021. [Scroll down to find this webinar + other good ones as you scroll!]
https://www.mtna.org/MTNA/JoinAndRenew/Membership/Members_Only/MTNA_Webinars/Webinars_6.aspx#tidyingup
What Do You Charge? Kenneth Lee, MTNA Business Digest, Volume 2, Issue 1, October 2022.
http://www.mtna.org/MTNA/Business_Resources/Finance/Tuition_Fees/Charge.aspx
Beth Gigante Klingenstein, NCTM, is a nationally renowned author/presenter. Her multi-faceted career included independent studio teaching, university teaching, and arts administration. She currently continues her path as an author, presenter, arts advocate, and MTNA President-elect