I just wondered for those of you who travel to pupils, whether it be by car, bike or foot, how many you are able to fit in, in one afternoon. In fact how many pupils do you have in total? Would I be right in thinking that those of you who travel to an individual's home have a fairly small practice?

Yes, I travel to my pupils. It works well for me. My piano teacher travelled to me, and as (in my current home situation) I have nowhere suitable to teach without it impacting on others, it works well for me.

In answer to your questions:

a) I drive, so travelling is not usually a problem. I teach within a ten mile (max) radius from home.

b) My busiest afternoon is Tuesday, purely because this is the day the pupil's asked for! I have five pupil's in all, and they all live within a ten minute drive of each other. Three have a half hour lesson each, and two have an hour each. I'm finished by 8.00 in the evening.

c) I have twelve regular pupil's at the moment and four who have lessons on an ad hoc basis. As you know I lost a lot when I had my incident at work, and have had to re-build my practice. Most of these have come through word of mouth and recommendation.

d) This is probably a very small practice compared to others, but there is also an awful lot of competition with other private teachers in my area.

I travel to most of my pupils mainly because I don't have separate teaching room. I have a handful of singers who come during the day during term time.

I currently have over thirty pupils who I travel to and have to allow 15 minutes between each house call to allow for traffic. If they don't live within 15 minutes, I don't take them on.

Mondays: I have 3 sets of siblings = 3 hours of teaching but I'm out of the house for 4 hours.

Tuesdays: 4 individual lessons of 30 minutes but again out of the house for almost 3 hours

Wednesdays: 2 individual lessons and 2 sisters = 2 hours teaching, out for 3.

Thursdays: 2 individual lessons, then a family of 3 = 2 and a half hours teaching, 3 and a half out.

Fridays: 1 individual 45 minute lesson, then a mother and daughter taking 1 hour 15 minutes = 2 hours teaching, 3 hours out.

Saturday: Teaching from 9.30 to 2pm = 3 and a half hours teaching, 4 and a half out of the house.

Crikey! That's 6 hours of teaching time lost each week!

I'm in the process of converting the garage into a teaching room, so if I could fill those wasted hours with new pupils I'd be rich

Or, even more importantly, I could spend more time with the family

Two in the front,
two in the back
and three in the boot

(apologies to PianoNotes - please ignore me!)

And the non-practisers on the roof Maggiemay!

*Apologies, PianoNotes. But at least I gave a sensible answer earlier... *

Priceless. I had to stop myself laughing out loudly on the bus.