If you've taught a student with prior learning experience, you've probably heard this before. Let's deal with it the right way.

Define what it is your client is purchasing, don't make it personal, don't use typographical emphasis like CAPS, underline, italics, or bold, don't mention potentialities, and take a very considered approach when exercising discretion.

I cannot overstate the importance of having airtight policies and covering your own behind. There's no way I would be as stubborn as I am with these nasty clients if I didn't have clear policies and procedures. But this time, I compromised.

I describe in gruesome detail how I essentially dug my heels in and stood by our policies despite the nasty client threatening to post a bad review and submit a complaint to the regulatory bodies. In the end, the client didn't get their way, I got paid in full, and they haven't yet posted a bad review or made a complaint.

The most common advice is to "re-establish authority"; let's call this advice what it is: absurd. No qualified and quality educator would ever suggest that a teacher establish their authority over a parent. Instead, build genuine parental partnerships built on equality of power, a shared sense of purpose, mutual respect and a willingness to negotiate.

The takeaway message is that everything works somewhere; nothing works everywhere. Be objective, think critically, and examine your business because your decision needs to be consistent with every other aspect of your studio. Consider second- and third-order consequences of all of your policy decisions—we don't want to set undesirable precedents.

If you conduct an online search, you might stumble upon the self-published Fundamentals of Piano Practice. I think this book captures the views held by many who oppose the use of The Virtuoso Pianist; the author considers himself "firmly in the anti-Hanon school" (didn't realise there was such a thing! ...a whole school!). In his book, Chang makes his case against the utility of the exercises, citing ten reasons. You could write a PhD dissertation unpacking his ten reasons, but I'll try to be concise.

Whether through learning or teaching some of the exercises yourself or encountering someone online railing against them, most of us are familiar with The Virtuoso Pianist (Hanon, n.d.). Love it or hate it, it's clearly here to stay. But before we enter the debate, I want to understand the musical milieu in which The Virtuoso Pianist emerged.

14 key points on writing missed lesson policy! Why do I do no "make-ups"? If you allowed everyone to reschedule as it suits, you'd have no reason to keep any place for anybody. Having some kind of policy in place actually benefits your students.

Weekly learning goals are not instructions, lists of page numbers, bar numbers, and scales; they describe learning. We need to keep the big picture in mind: we teach skills, not individual pieces of music. Pick your battles—don't overwhelm your students. Develop big concepts that cover as much of the student's learning material as possible.