FAQ - Music Teacher Studio Management

Frequently Asked Questions

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How will Duet help me run my music studio?

Musicians are a lot of things: creative, disciplined, passionate, focused, expressive. But “good with spreadsheets” and “familiar with small business legalities” are rarely on that same list. Sometimes being a music teacher can feel like doing two different jobs: inspiring the next generation of music makers and being an accountant. Not many people are that talented.

Duet takes on the management so you can focus on the music. We have built software systems to simplify and automate many of the management tasks that are required to schedule students, get paid, report activities and grow your business. Our teachers say that before Duet, they spent 20% of their time on administrative tasks running their studio. That is about 8 hours a week that you could be teaching more ($$$), listening to your favorite new albums, or playing your own music.

Do I have to be a private music teacher to use Duet?

Not at all! Duet works for any teacher who needs help organizing schedules, communicating with clients, and tracking costs and payments. Private music teachers often need more help in these areas than those associated with a school. But even if you teach through a university or other school setting, Duet has tools that can help you be more productive and spend more time teaching, and less time hassling with administrative tasks.

What if my music studio has more than one teacher?

Currently, Duet is only set up to have single teacher access. We cannot currently distinguish between different teachers with different rosters and different billing needs. But this is changing so stay tuned!

Can parents and students also access Duet?

Duet relies on text-based messaging (and email as a backup) to communicate with your studio families. This means that any information your Studio Families need to access—invoices, rescheduling options, event reminders, lesson notes—arrive as text messages and links directly to your Studio Families’ phones. Because of this text-first approach, student and parent portals are not needed.

I feel overwhelmed by getting started. Can you help?

Yes! Every new teacher gets access to a personalized onboarding consultant. This consultant will help you set up your account by uploading your student information for you and even inputting your teaching schedule in your calendar. If at any point you’d like to have a 30-minute one-on-one meeting, simply schedule time here. Additionally, our Help Articles have a Getting Started Guide that will walk you through your first steps. Monthly webinars are also open to all teachers who want to learn more of the ins and outs of Duet.

Does Duet track billing and payments for me?

Yes! Duet will automatically track your Studio Families' outstanding balances. You can see how much a family owes you at any point, send a dynamic web-based statement to the family, and collect payment from the family in just a few clicks.

Plus, Duet is integrated with Stripe, a payments processor, so your families can pay via credit card or ApplePay directly through their statements. But don't worry: If they pay you by other means, you can always manually enter in the transaction.

Does Duet remind my students when their lesson is?

Yes. Duet is designed to be text-first, meaning that students and Primary Contacts will be sent a text first to alert them to new events or event reminders. If a phone number is not available or if the text doesn't go through, communication is sent via email.

Does Duet provide a free website for my Studio?

No. Tools like SquareSpace and Wix have become easy enough to use that we no longer have a website builder as part of our offering.

Does Duet allow mass emailing to my studio?

Yes. Duet provides you with tools for sending emails to all of your clients at one time, or only a selection of clients. The Student Information Organizer makes it easy to sort your students and compose emails and send them directly through the system.

What is the Season Smart Scheduler?

The Season Smart Scheduler is a Duet feature that simplifies the process of creating your recurring lesson teaching calendar. You know those dozens of hours you spend in July creating a school-year teaching calendar that works with all your students’ schedules? Get those hours back with the Season Smart Schedule. Instead of weeks of emails and texts back and forth, simply set your teaching availability, prioritize your student list, and send out lesson time requests to Studio Families. Once all of the data has been collected, Duet will magically produce a teaching schedule that works for everyone. Make final adjustments and edits, and you’re done!

Does Duet offer self-scheduling?

Yes. Duet teachers can set up blocks of availability on their calendars during which students can schedule themselves. Rather than having a student log in to see a teacher’s calendar, the teacher simply sends a link via text message. The link allows the Student or Primary Contact to view the teacher’s availability and select an available time. Once this time is selected, the lesson appears on the teacher’s calendar and the event confirmation is sent to the student.

Does Duet support group lessons?

Duet teachers can set up lessons or events on their calendars to which they invite more than one student.

How much does Duet cost?

Duet is a flat fee of $9/month or $109/year (a one month savings). However, Duet is completely free for current students - undergraduates and graduates! And we offer new teachers 50% off during their first year of teaching, even if they are no longer in school. Visit the New Teachers and University Partnership links at the bottom of the page to learn more.

In addition to the teacher's monthly subscription payment, Duet collects a 1% transaction fee each time a Studio Family pays their outstanding balance. The transaction fee does not take anything out of the teacher’s payment and requires no work on the teacher’s part. See additional FAQs for details on how this transaction fee works.

How do I subscribe to Duet?

When you register for a Duet account, you are automatically give 14 days free to get your account set up and working for you. At the end of the 30 day free trial, you will be prompted to subscribe. Simply log into your account, click on your name in the top right corner, and select Subscription.

You can choose to pay monthly or annually (for a 1 month savings). Enter your credit card information in the form and click Save. That's it!

Which currencies do you accept?

We currently have customers in 27 countries, and we accept all currencies.

How do my Studio Families pay me through Duet?

You can collect payment from your Studio Families any way you want. But Duet is designed to automatically track credit card, ApplePay, GooglePay and ACH bank transfer payments. We highly recommend setting up payment processing in your Duet account, allowing your Studio Families to pay you through a single click in their statements, and allowing for Duet to automatically track payments. All payments made through these digital payment tools will be automatically deposited into your back account within 1-2 days of payment.

Does Duet allow me to charge per lesson?

Yes. With Duet, you can create a different billing cycle (i.e. per lesson vs monthly payment) and a different rate (i.e. $60/hour vs $75/hour) for each of your students. Our system will calculate outstanding balances for each individual student, based on their individual rate.
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You can also invoice for lessons that happened in the past or for lessons that are happening in the future.

Does Duet allow me to charge a monthly subscription rate?

Yes. With Duet, you can create a different billing cycle (i.e. per lesson vs monthly payment) and a different rate (i.e. $200/month vs $375/month) for each of your students. In fact, you can select a monthly, 3 month, 6 month or yearly subscription rates for your students. Our system will calculate outstanding balances for each individual student, based on their individual subscription schedule.

How does the Studio Family see the Transaction Fee?

The 1% transaction fee will be automatically included on the Studio Family’s statement. It will appear as a single line item on the statement, so it is fully transparent to the family. The 1% will apply to an aggregated amount, not individual line items. So if a teacher is charging for three lessons at $60 each, and charging a total of $180, the transaction fee will appear as a $1.80 charge, not three separate $0.60 charges.

Is the transaction fee only for credit card payments?

The 1% transaction fee will be applied any time a Studio Family pays you digitally. This includes credit card payments, but it also includes ApplePay, GooglePay, and ACH bank transfers. Note that only credit card, GooglePay and ApplePay payments require the additional 2.9% processing fees; ACH bank transfers do not. But the transaction fee is applied any time a Studio Family pays you through their Duet-generated statement.

Is the transaction fee applied to all charges for all types of students?

The transaction fee is applied every time a Studio Family pays a statement. For example, if a Studio Family owes $300, they will be charged $303 with the transaction fee. But if they only pay part of that amount - like $101 - they will still owe $202 in the future. If additional charges are added, (for example, if another $100 fee is added to the $202 they still owe,) the transaction fee will again be calculated on the aggregated amount. ($100+ $1 transaction fee, plus the $202 previously owed.)All students except Former - including Active, Prospective and Waitlist - students have the transaction fee added to their statements.

What if my Studio Family won't pay the fee?

The 1% transaction fee is built into the automated billing system that collects your payment. Studio Families automatically pay the transaction fee each time they pay you via a Duet-generated statement, so they cannot pay your charge without paying the transaction fee. If your Studio Families have questions about why this transaction fee is necessary, or why you are using Duet to manage your studio, we encourage you to share the benefits of Duet, not just with you as the teacher but also for the parent. Duet benefits for the parent include:A range of easy ways to pay for music lessons directly from their phonesClear statements that detail exactly what they owe for which lessons or subscriptionsAutomated delivery of lesson notes via emailEasy self-scheduling tools delivered via text linkEasy ways to keep track of what and when the family paidParents directly benefit from a well-run and technically efficient studio. You are giving your Studio Families that gift when you use Duet. For the parent of a music student, that is absolutely worth paying a very small amount for.

How does the Duet referal program work?

With our referral program, any Duet teacher can receive a customized referral code to share with friends and fellow teachers. When a new teacher uses that code to subscribe to Duet, the referring teacher gets credit for that new customer and earns a commission on that new customer. Referring teachers will earn a 20% commission on the new teacher’s monthly payment for 12 months after the new teacher becomes a paying customer. For example, if Jessica shares the link with Mark and Mark joins Duet as a paying customer at $20/month, Jessica will earn $4.00/month for 12 months. This adds up to a $48 payout to Jessica for a single referral. In addition, the code gives the new teacher a 10% discount on their first year at Duet.

Are the Duet resources available only to subscribers?

No. All of our blog articles and webinars are open and available to the public.

Is Online Studio still available?

Duet currently does not offer Online Studio or a music-optimized video conferencing platform.

“Duet allows me to run my business and manage a large roster of students without needing to hire somebody to help manage everything for me.”

Pierre Cohen

“[Before Duet] I was really unorganized and not sure how to bill. I was all over the place.”

Mandy Enman

“The best features... are the invoices and the attendance so that I can be as accurate as possible.”

Linda Coad

“I love [Duet]. I would not want to do without it at this point.”

Laurece West

“It helps me save a ton of time and makes my time management really simple.”

Blake Adams

“This is the least stressed I've ever felt at the beginning of a semester.”

Lauren P.

Happy Customers

See what music teachers are saying about us!

Trusted by hundreds of music teachers and professionals nationwide.

Pierre Cohen

Manage large rosters

“Duet allows me to run my business and manage a large roster of students without needing to hire somebody to help manage everything for me.”

Mandy Enman

Organize your schedule

“[Before Duet] I was really unorganized and not sure how to bill. I was all over the place.”

Linda Coad

Stay accurate

“The best features... are the invoices and the attendance so that I can be as accurate as possible.”

Laurece West

Everything in one place

“I love [Duet]. I would not want to do without it at this point.”

Blake Adams

Track all the data you need

“It helps me save a ton of time and makes my time management really simple.”

Lauren P.

Less Stress

“This is the least stressed I've ever felt at the beginning of a semester.”

Pierre C.

Mandy E.

Linda C.

Laurece W.

Blake A.

Lauren P.