Teacher Frequently Asked Questions

Contact Us

You can contact Lessonface using any of the methods below. We will respond as quickly as we are able.

Contact Lessonface

  • Leave a message using the blue question mark bubble on the green left-hand menu (see above).
  • Leave a voicemail at 800-211-7058 or 718-577-2100.
  • Send a text message (SMS) to one of the numbers above.
  • Email support@lessonface.com
  • Report an issue here.

General FAQ

  • View the general Lessonface FAQ for students and prospective teachers at Lessonface.com/FAQ.

Get Involved at Lessonface

  • Play at Lessonface's Open Mic Nights, and encourage your students to play too.
  • Encourage your students to play in Lessonface Recitals, and attend as an audience member to cheer them on.
  • Share your expertise with students in the Lessonface Forum.
  • Ask questions and discuss topics of interest with fellow teachers in the Teacher's Lounge, which is accessible only to registered Lessonface teachers.
  • Meet the Lessonface team, get a tour of the site, and learn the essentials of teaching at Lessonface at our monthly New Teacher Orientation.
  • Step up your online teaching game with pro tips from successful Lessonface teachers at our Teacher Success Webinars.

Teacher Frequently Asked Questions:

Getting Started

Students, Booking, and Pre-Lesson Questions

The Lesson

Lesson Recording

After the Lesson

Group Classes

Self-Paced Courses

Payment Questions

​Handy Links to Share with Students

Getting Started

What equipment do I need to teach online lessons?

Lessonface has Zoom video conferencing built in, which is very intuitive and works well with most computers and tablets. There are only three components absolutely required for teaching live online lessons:

  • Computer or tablet
  • Webcam
  • Good Internet connection

Music teachers will want to optimize Zoom audio for their instrument. Depending on the subject you teach and your enthusiasm for electronics, you may want to step up your game with optional equipment.

How do I edit my profile?

From the green menu on the left side of your screen, you can hover over the options to see each category, or expand the menu by clicking the arrow at the top. Choose Availability to modify your upcoming availability, Personal Info to edit the bio, teaching style, credentials, curriculum, photos, and videos. Choose Rates and Expertise to change your rates or to set up discounts.

How do I set up discounts?

To explore the options go to the green left-hand menu and click the Rates and Expertise tab. View our webinar where we describe this section in detail. Here's an overview of the lesson and subscription discounts you can offer:

1. Subscriptions: Encourage students to subscribe to weekly lessons by offering a subscription discount. Subscribers reserve the same weekly time indefinitely and tend to take more lessons than students who book in single lessons or packs. Read more about how subscriptions work here.

To set up subscription discounts go to the ‘Discounts and Promotions’ tab, click ‘Add Price List’ and choose ‘Subscriptions only.’ Choose the price you want to offer subscribers.
To change the rate for a student who is already subscribed, first check with the student. Then, contact support@lessonface.com to get the rate changed in the system. Changing rates under 'Rates and Expertise' does not affect ongoing subscriptions.

2. Special Price for Selected Students: If you want to reward great students or help out students in financial need, you can set a lower price exclusively for those students.

Go to the Discounts and Promotions tab, click ‘Add Price List’. Choose the price you want to offer these students. They must be registered on Lessonface and be one of your contacts (they can become one by simply sending you a message). Choose ‘Limit to specific students’ and add the names of the students who should receive the special rate.

3. Buy X, get Y free discounts: These encourage new students to start with multiple lessons and motivate ongoing students to book with commitment and consistency. You have the options to cap the number of times a discount may be used (overall and by a single student), set start and end dates, and limit the offer to new students only. Here are a couple examples:

  • Back-to-School Special: ‘Buy 1, Get 1 Free’ or 'Buy 5, Get 2 Free' - Offer a ‘starter package’ for new students in September. Guide them throughout multiple lessons as they create a practice routine, see their progress over several weeks, and hopefully continue throughout the school year.
  • Summer Special: 'Buy 5 lessons, Get 1 Free' or 'Buy 10 lessons Get 2 Free' - Encourage students to continue taking lessons during the summer months with a generous discount.

Payments for these lessons to the teachers are spread across all the lessons, including the free one. If you offer "Buy 1, Get 1 free," each of those two lessons would be paid out at 50% of your usual fee, with the Lessonface fee coming out as usual.

To add a discount option of ‘Buy X get Y free discounts,’ go to the Discounts and Promotions tab, click ‘Add Buy X get Y free discounts,’ and customize your discount.

4. % Off Discount: You can choose any % discount you like and can even curate an offer for a certain month. For example: "August special! I now offer 5 lessons for 20% off" or "Beginning of School Special! 30% off 10 lessons - start strong with lessons for the entire semester!"

To add a discount option of ‘% Off Discount,’ go to the Discounts and Promotions tab, click ‘Add % Off Discount,’ and customize your discount. Remember that the discounts can be offered for a limited time, can be limited to only new students, or to specific students.

How do I offer free trial lessons?

Offering a free 15-minute trial lesson is a great way to get to know prospective students, see if you're a good teacher-student fit, and entice them into signing up for regular lessons. To offer a free trial, find the 'Rates and Expertise' section under 'Profile' on your left hand menu. Under the first heading, 'Basic Pricing', check the box for 'Offer 15 min lessons' and set the price to $0. Then click the green 'Save Base Pricing' button at the bottom of that section. Now the text 'Free 15 minute trial lessons' will appear on your profile under 'Promotions Available'. If at any time you'd like to disable the trial lesson offering, return to this section, uncheck 'Offer 15 min lessons', and remember to hit 'Save'.

How does my profile move up the list?

Teacher profiles are visible to students in an order determined by the amount of “points” a profile has. Teachers gain points by having high student retention rates, getting reviews, and participating in the forum.

How do I get tags and/or audition prep on my profile?

Certain lesson categories and tags can be added to teacher profiles only with admin approval: Audition Prep from Berklee Alumni, Audition Prep from New School Alumni, Audition Prep from Juilliard Alumni, Audition Prep from Broadway Performer, and Students with Special Learning Needs. Additionally, teachers who have a US SSN can choose to take a background check, and pending approval, have a tag added to their profile that says “Background checked.” In order to have any of these tags added to your profile, send a message to support@lessonface.com.

How do I change my account from a student account to a teacher account?

If you signed up for Lessonface using your Google account and ended up with a student account, or if you accidentally created a student account another way, contact support@lessonface.com and we will change it for you. You'll need to be set up with the correct account type in order to complete your instructor profile and begin teaching.

Students, Booking, and Pre-Lesson Questions

How can I promote my teacher profile?

Lessonface offers several tools for promoting your teacher profile including sharing widgets and your Outreach panel, newly updated in December 2023. We've also hosted several webinars featuring social media experts and successful Lessonface teachers, who share their advice for promoting your teaching: Social Media Marketing, Connecting With Students, and Recruiting Students.

How do I refer my own students to private lessons, group classes, and self-paced courses?

Recruit your own students to Lessonface, take advantage of our lessons ecosystem, and build up your site stats for a nominal fee - as low as we can make it without losing money. The easiest way to recruit students is by sharing the link that is on your dashboard in the Outreach section. The default referral link for teachers is Lessonface.com/firstnamelastname. You can customize the link to whatever you like by clicking the pencil with notepad icon, shown in the image below, with an example referral link set up to be just a first name. For more options and insights, navigate to your Outreach page from the green left-hand menu, under Profile, or by clicking on Outreach in your dashboard. You can create additional link to other site pages, including your group classes and self-paced courses, from your Outreach page. When students follow your link(s) to register, they will be marked as your referral for all future bookings.

Referral screengrab

The fee on private lessons with students you refer is 5%, rather than the standard 15%. here.View more about the fees for teachers.

How do students book lessons?

Students will book lessons directly on the teacher’s profile page, unless the teacher has not included any availability.

Teacher has availability: Students click on the button “Book a Lesson” and choose the lesson type, duration, and skill level. Next, they will be brought to the teacher’s availability calendar where students can select the lesson time. Once all of the lesson details have been confirmed, the student will be brought to the checkout page where they will purchase the lesson with a credit or debit card. Here, they will see the option to purchase a lesson package and be able to view all of the discounts the teacher offers. If the student has credits in their account, the credits will automatically be deducted on the checkout page as well.

Teacher does not have availability: If a teacher has not included availability, they will need to invite students to lessons with a date and time already selected.

How can I view students’ profiles and time zone details?

Find the Contacts section on your dashboard. Any student you've had a lesson with or contacted via messages will appear in your Contacts. Click the student's name to view their profile, which includes time zone and other details. Teachers using Lessonface Beta can also use a student's profile page to send a message, create a lesson, view past and upcoming lessons, and add lesson notes, materials, or assignments.

student profile

How do I manage my 'Contacts' and 'Active Studio' lists?

Teachers using Lessonface Beta have three categories for managing and navigating student contacts on Lessonface:

1. All Contacts: This tab shows all your student contacts on Lessonface, including students you've messaged through inquiries, students who have messaged you, students who have taken a trial lesson, and students who take regular lessons.

2. Active Studio: Click the star next to a contact's name to make that student a part of your active studio. Click the star again to move a student from your active studio and into the “All” contacts tab.
star contact
3. Archived Contacts: If you have students who have finished taking lessons, you can “archive” a student which will grey out their profile in the All Contacts tab. (You can easily restore archived students from the archive tab as well.)

Need to reorganize your contacts? Clear your entire active studio by clicking the settings button shown at the bottom of the contacts panel, then “Clear Active Studio.” clear active studio

How do inquiries work?

When a student is looking for lessons on Lessonface, instead of (or in addition to) choosing a specific teacher to contact and book, they can post an inquiry on the website with information such as lesson category, learning goals, experience level, and the date they're looking to get started.

Inquiries are site-wide posts that only featured Lessonface teachers can see and respond to. Teachers are able to see and respond only to inquiries created for categories that they teach. Important: Inquiries are not directed specifically to one teacher.

Email notifications for when an inquiry is posted are not sent to every teacher in the category, but still, all featured teachers have access to all the inquiries posted for their categories by coming to this page. Notifications are sent to the five teachers with the most lessons in the category, plus five teachers chosen at random by the system.

Learn good strategies for responding to inquiries here.

The student booked the wrong time, what can I do?

If a student booked the wrong time, they can reschedule the lesson themselves up to 24 hours ahead of the lesson time (the old and the new lesson time). If the lesson is occurring within 24 hours, the teacher will need to do the rescheduling. This can be done by going to the lesson schedule and clicking on the particular lesson to open the lesson page. On the lesson page, click 'Reschedule' and choose the new time.

I can’t make the time the student booked, what do I do?

It is important to make sure your Lessonface calendar is up to date, but there may be times something comes up. If you can’t make a lesson with a student, send him/her a message right away and ask if they mind rescheduling. As the teacher, you are able to reschedule the lesson at any time -- even if the time for the lesson has passed. Instead of cancelling the lesson, it is best practice to keep the lesson live until you and the student have decided on a time. Once you have confirmed a new time with the student, you can reschedule the lesson to the new time. If a student prefers a refund instead of a rescheduled session, reach out to support@lessonface.com.

How do I reschedule?

Up to 24 hours ahead of the lesson time (the old and the new lesson time), a student can reschedule the lesson. If the lesson is occurring within 24 hours, the teacher will need to do the rescheduling. This can be done by going to the lesson schedule and clicking on the particular lesson to open the lesson page. From there, the teacher can click 'Reschedule' and choose the new time.

How does lesson unscheduling work?

Lessons on Lessonface can be unscheduled. When a lesson is unscheduled, it will show on your schedule as "Schedule Pending". Any user can schedule a pending lesson, with the exception of teachers who don't have open availability and are responsible for handling their lesson scheduling themselves.

Here are a couple of examples of when we recommend unscheduling a lesson:

  • Your student needs to take a short break from lessons but doesn't want to cancel them altogether.
  • A previously scheduled lesson didn't take place and the teacher wants to let the student choose a new time. Since 24-hour mark has passed, the Lessonface system won't allow the student to reschedule. Unscheduling enables the student to choose a new time.

When a lesson is canceled, credit for the lesson goes back automatically to the student's account, but still the student needs to go through the checkout process to reconfirm the lesson if they wish to do so. Unscheduling the lesson allows the lesson to remain confirmed, without the need for the student to go through check-out again.

You can view your "Schedule Pending" lessons by clicking the dropdown menu on the lesson schedule and switching to "Schedule Pending" as shown below.

schedule pending

How will I know I have a lesson?

Teachers receive email notifications for lesson booking, time changes for lessons, messages received, and other important events. Be sure to keep your email up to date on your Lessonface account and to add support@lessonface.com to your address book.

How much notice will I have for a lesson?

Teachers will always have at least 24 hours notice for a lesson that is booked or rescheduled.

How do I message several students at once?

You can message a group of students by clicking the compose button on your Dashboard or Messages page and adding your students from the dropdown menu. Add as many names as needed. Group messages on Lessonface work the same way as in a "bcc" email: the recipients are not able to see the list of contacts the message was sent to. When a user replies, the reply is sent only to the teacher.

The Lesson

How can I test my Zoom set up?

Teachers and students can test and download Zoom by visiting the “Video Test Room.” This option can be found in the drop down menu in the top right corner of the screen, right of shopping cart image and links to FAQs and Dashboard. Click the circle with your profile photo (if you have a profile image) and choose "Video Test Room".

How do I join a lesson?

There are two ways to join a lesson, through your dashboard or via email.

1. Dashboard: On your dashboard, the “Lesson Schedule” displays the details for the next several upcoming lessons. Thirty minutes prior to the lesson start time, a green “Join” button will appear. If you don't see it, try refreshing your webpage. Once you are ready to join the lesson, click the lesson to bring up lesson details and a "Join" button. When you click on the join button, this will open Zoom and take you to the meeting with your student.

2. Email: 24 hours prior to the lesson time, you and your student will receive an email with a subject line “Upcoming Lesson Details.” Underneath the text describing the lesson time, duration, and type, there will be a link that says “Click here to join the session.” You can use this link the enter the lesson beginning 30 minutes prior to the lesson start time.

How does the student join the lesson?

Your student has the same options to join the lesson as you do. They can either join via their dashboard or by clicking the link in their upcoming lesson details email sent 24 hours prior to the lesson.

Zoom troubleshooting tips

If you are experiencing trouble with Zoom, there are a couple of quick fixes that you can try. First, you can try ending the call and joining in again. This is useful if the audio sounds distorted and you’re sure your audio has been working fine previously. If this doesn’t work, the next thing to try is a computer restart. This solves most of the problems we see occurring with using Zoom.

If these two strategies don’t work, visit the video test room to see if the problem persists. This can help diagnose if the issue is occurring on your end or the student’s. If nothing seems to be working, contact us and we can help to diagnose the issue. If this is a timely issue and the Lessonface office is closed, you can try reaching out to Zoom’s customer support. In an emergency, it is totally acceptable for students and teachers to meet using an alternate video conference service if this is available to both the teacher and student.

For ideal sound in music lessons, both students and teachers should follow these instructions for optimizing your Zoom audio.

How do I add notes to a lesson?

To add notes to a lesson, open the Lesson Page from your Lesson Schedule. This will bring up details about the lesson that include "Notes", "Attachments", "Assignments", and "Recordings. Click the plus sign to add your notes. They will appear along with any previous notes you have written on that lesson.

How do I upload attachments on a lesson?

Open the Lesson Page from your Lesson Schedule. Select the "Attachments" tab, and add the file(s) you want to share with the student. They will appear along with any previous files you have uploaded.

What do I do after the lesson?

After the lesson has been completed, be sure to click the "Acknowledge" button to confirm it happened. You can find all the lessons you need to acknowledge by the drop down menu in the Lessons section of your Dashboard and clicking Needs Attention. Teachers using Lessonface Beta can filter lessons to show those that need acknowledgement. You must acknowledge lessons to be paid for them. Additionally, it would be great to reach out to the student via message or the notes section to reiterate any points you made during the lesson or just to say great job!

The student didn’t show up, or tried to cancel late, what do I do?

All teachers are protected by our 24-hour cancellation policy. If your student cancels at the last minute or doesn't join the lesson, you can acknowledge as “completed, unsuccessfully”. That generates the payment but prevents the student from leaving a review. If you prefer, you may reschedule the lesson with the student instead. Important: The teacher must be present on Zoom for at least 50% of the time of the lesson in order to acknowledge a lesson as “completed, unsuccessfully.” One idea for smoothing a missed lesson with a student would be to spend some of the time waiting for the student recording exercises or example songs for the student to review later.

Lesson Recording

How do I record the whole lesson?

The recording option is only available on the teacher’s end of Zoom, so if you or your student would like to record a lesson, this will need to be done by the teacher. To record the whole lesson, just hit the record button in the menu that pops up in the bottom of Zoom. Zoom will let you know that the lesson is being recorded and you’ll be rolling! Recordings are posted to the lesson page after the lesson time.

How do I record a part of a lesson?

The recording option is only available on the teacher’s end of Zoom, so if you or your student would like to record part of a lesson, this will need to be done by the teacher. To initiate recording, hit the record button in the menu that pops up in the bottom of Zoom. Once you’ve started recording, you will have an option to then stop recording or pause recording. If you know you’re finished recording for that lesson, click on the square button on the right half of where the record option previously was to end the recording. If you’d like to pause the recording and record a part of the lesson later on, click pause, and return to this button later to resume recording.

How do I disable recording?

To disable recording, visit the settings at the bottom of the left hand menu of your dashboard. You will be brought to a section that says “Account” with a tab labeled "Site" to the right of it. Click “Site,” and scroll down to find the section labeled Lesson Recording. There is a box here that says “Do not allow my lessons to be recorded for later review.” To disable recording, check this box and click save on the bottom of the page. If you decide later to enable recording again, visit this page, uncheck the box, and hit save.

How do I enable recording?

visit the settings at the bottom of the left hand menu of your dashboard. You will be brought to a section that says “Account” with a tab labeled "Site" to the right of it. Click “Site,” and scroll down to find the section labeled Lesson Recording. There is a box here that says “Do not allow my lessons to be recorded for later review.” To enable recording, uncheck this box and click save on the bottom of the page. If you decide later to disable recording again, visit this page, check the box, and hit save.

How do I watch a recording?

In order to watch a lesson recording, you will need to visit the lesson page associated with the recording. Find the lesson under "Past Lessons" or "All Lessons" and click to view the lesson page. Click the "Recordings" tab to view any recordings captured during the lesson. Teachers using Lessonface Beta will see recordings listed as soon as the lesson page is opened underneath notes and attachments. You can also click the film icon to see recordings by themselves.

Can the recording be downloaded?

There is no download button on the recording, but lessons may be right-clicked and downloaded.

After the Lesson

How do I send my student materials and notes from the lesson?

To send your student materials and notes from the lesson, you have a couple options.

1. Send material via Lessonface message: Find the student in your contacts section of your dashboard and click "Message". You can attach most file types to the message of up to 1GB in size. Attach your files, write a note, and click "Send"

2. Attach material to a specific lesson: Find the lesson you would like to attach material to in your “Past Lesson” section and open the lesson page. You'll see tabs for "Notes", "Attachments", and "Recordings". Teachers using Lessonface Beta will see a paperclip icon instead. To attach files, click the “Attachments” tab or paperclip icon and then “Add Files.” To write notes associated with the lesson, click the “Notes” tab or (in Beta) pencil-and-paper icon and then “Add Note.”

How does the student leave me a review?

When you have marked a lesson completed, the student is prompted to leave their review on the lesson. If you mark a lesson as "Completed, unsuccessfully" (for example, if the student did not attend and did not give adequate notice), the student is able to leave a review of the platform but not of the particular lesson.

Why hasn’t the student booked another lesson with me?

It is best practice to follow up with a student after the lesson. Even if you went over a full set of goals and lessons with them in the lesson, some students still need encouragement to continue booking. Send them a message asking how they're doing with the material you taught, and invite them to their next lesson. Read our advice on retaining long-term students here, view our on turning first lessons into long-term students here, and encourage your students to subscribe to lessons.

Group Classes

How can I apply to teach a group class on Lessonface?

You can submit group class proposals to us by going to the Teach Group Classes page.

How do I view and message the class roster?

Once your group class is open for enrollment, you can find the class page under My Classes and Events on your Dashboard. Click on any class date listed to access the class page. The class page features four sections: Classroom, Discussions (for adult classes), Materials, and Roster.

group class features

To message students in the class, go to the "Roster" section and click "Send Group Message" or, if you want to message a single student, click "Message" next to the student's name. Group messages on Lessonface work the same way as in a "bcc" email: The recipients are not able to see the list of contacts the message was sent to, and when a user replies, the reply is sent only to the teacher.

message class roster

How can I share materials with the entire class?

You can upload and access class materials on the Materials tab. After uploading class materials, use the Notify button to notify the class of the updates. Students will receive a single email notifying them to check out the Materials section of the page and review their materials. Important: Make sure to click the "Notify" button only once to avoid multiple emails to the group.

group class materials

How do I start the group class?

As the teacher of a group class, you are the host and will start the class meeting. The "Join" Zoom link can be accessed from the reminder email, from the Lessonface Dashboard, and from the Enrolled class page. The Join button appears on Lessonface, and the link becomes active in the email reminder 35 minutes before the class start time. Note that the class session will start recording as soon as you join! As the host, you have the power to stop, or pause, and re-start the recording for the class. If you end the meeting, the session will end for everyone.

How can students discuss group class topics with their teacher and classmates?

Class members can interact directly on the class page through the Discussions tab. Click on any topic to join the conversation, or click the button to start a new topic. Text, videos, and images can be attached to comments. Teachers have the ability to moderate and remove any comments from the discussion.

Note: Classes don't have the Discussions tab enabled by default, and discussions are only available for adult classes. If the Discussions tab doesn't show in your class, you can contact support@lessonface.com to get the functionality activated.

group class discussions

Are group classes recorded?

Group classes are automatically recorded unless you manually stop recording during the class. Access class recordings by clicking the class session and then clicking the recording file on the pop-up. Zoom meeting chat transcripts will also be available.

group class recordings

Payment Questions

The student missed the lesson, what do I do?

All teachers are protected by our 24-hour cancellation policy. If your student cancels at the last minute or doesn't join the lesson, you can acknowledge as “completed, unsuccessfully”. That generates the payment but prevents the student from leaving a review. If you prefer, you may reschedule the lesson with the student instead. Important: The teacher must be present on Zoom for at least 50% of the time of the lesson in order to acknowledge a lesson as “completed, unsuccessfully.” One idea for smoothing a missed lesson with a student would be to spend some of the time waiting for the student recording exercises or example songs for the student to review later.

When will I be paid?

Teachers are paid on Friday each week for lessons that have been acknowledged by Thursday at midnight Eastern time (US) of the same week. The longest a teacher would need to wait to be paid is 8 days, if a lesson occurs on a Friday you will be paid on Friday of the next week - so long as it is acknowledged by the next Thursday at midnight.

My payment isn’t correct, what’s up?

Sorry your payment wasn’t correct! We promise that it is a mistake, but it unfortunately happens sometimes. If your payment isn’t correct, send an email to claire@lessonface.com as soon as you notice, and we will correct the payment ASAP.

Do I get a 1099 from Lessonface?

Teachers based in the US who make over $600 within a year that is paid via Stripe or check will receive a 1099-NEC from Lessonface. If you have questions, reach out to support@lessonface.com.

Which payment method is best?

Direct Deposit: An option for US-based teachers. Your payment will be delivered to you free of charge, on an automated basis, so long as you link a US bank account to your Lessonface profile.

PayPal: This option is required for teachers located outside the US. PayPal has a fee structure that we do not control. If you are using PayPal, check directly with PayPal to best understand their policies on accepting payments.

Check: An option for US-based teachers only. We charge a processing and postage fee of $3/check.

More resources:

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