free or help with music lessons?

barbiedoll

It might be worth sending a PM to a regular poster, "Jojo the tightfisted" who is a musician and (I think) a music teacher. She may be able to help?

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Depends partly on her age - if she's in KS2, it's possible that they arrange for a music specialist to come in to teach large groups, or the local music service comes in to offer group lessons (individual lessons are more expensive).

If she's in KS3, it's possible that the school offers a subsidy for private lessons for students receiving free school meals, but it's not guaranteed. More offer a partial subsidy for students taking GCSE Music due to the performance requirement of the exams, but again, it's not compulsory to do so. It's more likely to happen if they treat the Pupil Premium as a pot of cash for all students, rather than an individual budget.



You need to contact the local music service/hub and find out a) whether they visit her school and b) whether they offer remissions for students on FSM and c) what they offer at evenings or weekends - sometimes there will be significant reductions in costs if she has lessons in what are considered 'Endangered Instruments', such as bassoon, etc. The skills she would learn from those are easily transferable to other instruments.


The law says that students must have access to private music lessons and that the school may not make a profit on those lessons, not that they have to be free or reduced cost if you can't afford them.


Dependent upon your area, it may be cheaper (or no more expensive) to look at private lessons outside school. Some places will offer group tuition, particularly in guitar. If somebody is advertising for individual lessons at a tenner an hour, the odds are that they aren't actually an experienced teacher, it's just somebody who thinks they are good (or a sixth form student). A more realistic figure is around the £30/h mark for an individual lesson, as that's near the amount suggested by the Musicians's Union for a professional tutor. Lessons may be offered that last 15, 20, 30, 45 minutes or an hour, but if she's young or a beginner, no more than half an hour would be appropriate. Shared lessons work out cheaper.

Unfortunately, instrumental tuition is one of those things where you really do get what you pay for.


Finally, referring to a subsequent post, learning off YouTube is a surefire way to develop poor technique which can hold people back and even cause serious injury over time - and, going by the How To Play videos, invariably entail people who don't actually know how the songs/tunes actually go.


ETA: Just realised I hadn't hit send on this, as I got distracted by an invitation to audition for something. And found the post immediately above - I'm famous!!!

(And yes, yes I am!)