Kids music lessons - (merged)

jamjar,

I have just been looking into this myself. My dd's school charges £15 for half an hour. I asked at the local music shop and they quoted the same, but gave me the number of someone local who is newly qualified (we know her which helps), and she quoted £10 for half an hour of piano and 15 minutes of theory (reading music, rhythms etc). I've just booked with her.

jess1974

I pay £2.50 for 15 mins for my 9 year old boy at school...

garbadine

If you have a local college or university close by with music students, their charges are often cheaper for lessons. I used to teach when I was studying to bring in a little extra income, but used to keep my rate down as I was still studying myself.

pinkshoes

I had piano lessons from about the age of 8 or 9. The first teacher I had was evil. She told me I'd never be a good piano player, and would inspect my fingers and nails before letting me touch the piano. It almost put me off for life.

My parents then found me a very passionate and patient teacher, who didn't force me to enter exams, and let me play the music that I liked. He believed that music was about passion and enjoyment, so didn't see the point in making kids sit exams and play pieces that they weren't passionate about and didn't like, as it defeated the point of it actually being music.

I cannot stress how important it is to find an inspiring and passionate teacher!

There's various websites you can use, like http://www.musicteachers.co.uk/ to help find a teacher, and prices are usually listed, along with info like if they've been CRB checked, what levels they take etc...

squibbs25

My son has lessons at school. I am billed about £78.00 per term, i think the lesson is for about 40-45 mins (he also belongs to the Local Area Music Centre,which he attends on a Sat morning, so the bill comes in at £135.00 for both).
A friends son has just started lessons privately. £12.00 for half hour.
(we're in East Sussex so cost might vary according to area)

Hth,

Squibbs

Madmel

The going rate for a qualified music teacher is approx. £25 per hour, almost certainly more in London. I teach some individual music lessons in 2 schools; in one I get paid £23 per hour, in the other £25.60.

The prices for exams can be found on their websites. The main examining bodies are the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music, and Trinity Guildhall. It costs around £27 for grade 1 AB, rising to nearly £70 for grade 8, but these change every year. They take into account the time needed for each exam. A grade 1 piano exam takes 10 minutes, a grade 1 violin exam has 2 minutes more for tuning. Grade 8 lasts around 30 minutes.

I'm afraid lessons cost pro rata the same whether you are a beginner or a diploma student. 30 minutes is the longest I would expect for a beginner (that's what my children had and what I teach). More advanced students might want longer lessons, but my most able have only ever gone to 40 minutes and that was grade 7 standard.

Anyone can enter for a graded exam, you can do it online using the 2 organisations above. You don't have to be registered or even a teacher. However, having taught a child whose mother had entered him privately for an instrument she couldn't even play :eek:, I would go with the teacher. They are doing this all the time and are the best judges of when, and indeed if a student should be entered for a particular exam.

Now I am stressing over whether my 2 entries for grade 4 should be doing it....!

pennypitstop_2

Such a useful thing I think though, to be able to play a musical instrument. I played when I was at school and hope my own kids will too, as long as they enjoy it.

My friend who was asking me about the prices has a daughter aged 8 playing the piano. My eldest is 4 which I think i a bit young. But, when do you think is the best age to start them? I started playing aged 5 ish, but when I look at 5 year olds now I can't imaging them sitting down at the piano for a session at all, other than to bang away and make as much noise as possible! Imagine that sound... and that's probably better than the sound I could get out of it after so many years of not practising :eek:

Savvy_Sue

Best time to start would be when they want to! IMO, at least.

DS2 wanted to learn violin, don't ask me why! I tried to set this up through the LEA but they didn't send peripatetic teachers to his primary school, and by the time it was arranged (by me taking him to a different school for the lessons) he'd gone off the idea. I did persuade both him and DS3 to start, and they both did OK. Then we moved and DS2 didn't carry on, but DS3 did and I found him a new teacher. After a while all he really wanted to play was the hunting horn in her lounge ...

I can't remember what led to him wanting piano lessons. He was going with a friend which was a great motivator, but then the friend stopped and he carried on. Teacher is great, and teaching him what he wants to learn (Mad World over and over and OVER again!) plus some theory and general musical background. He's picked up DH's guitar and taught himself that, really wants a bass guitar, so she's also helped him work on bass 'stuff'.

I think they also discuss the cricket and she sympathises with him about what a cruel mother I am, so it's not a 'conventional' piano lesson for that hour.

Oh, and he NEVER practises piano, unless he does it secretly at school! Guitar at all hours of the day and night, but never piano.

princess

I can certainly recommend the idea of music students if you can find a good one. My son 13 goes to a great lad who charges £6 per half hour and we had to insit he put it up from £5 at christmas! Son is getting through his grades fine, but also the teacher being only about 20 himself is seen as really cool by my son and suits him much better than a 'proper' piano teacher would.