Last week, Joy over at Color In My Piano had a discussion on purchasing materials for students. I have tried various approaches, but this year, I discovered a method that has made life easier for me and the parents.
While I wholeheartedly believe in supporting local business, my nearby music stores don’t always carry all the books I need for teaching and have not proven particularly quick in ordering them. So, most of my studio music purchases happen online. (I reduce my guilt over this by periodically going to those local shops and getting thoroughly carried away once I start browsing around!)
I usually purchase teaching materials from sheetmusicplus.com They have a huge selection and happen to ship ridiculously fast to where I live (I may be geographically lucky in this regard since I think they have a warehouse in the area). The website also has teacher rebate accounts- 8% back on purchases. Once a certain rebate amount is reached you can opt to receive it as a check, gift certificate or via PayPal. The really nifty thing is that you can create “music lists” which can be sent via email.
I have been using these lists with great success this year. I send parents a list of the exact books needed for their child. If they prefer to go to a local music store- they know exactly what they need! If they prefer to search for the books on another website such as Amazon, that works too. But the easiest thing to do to simply add all the books to your cart right there and then! An added perk for teachers is that if someone orders straight from your list, it counts toward your teacher rebate. Works for me!