Music Lessons- Need Opinions from Families and Teachers

[Lisa loves Pooh]

For Piano, I have paid $80 and $100 for 4-30
minute lessons per month in Florida. First teacher moved, Dh was laid off and we dropped the second one. I like teachers that motivate my child and understand how to work with her ADHD.

For violin we paid $100 and dropped her due to layoff. New teacher after hubby was working again was $65. Same lesson count.

Not sure what I like about teachers. I like a happy medium. One that doesn't expect me to force my kids to practice. I want them to take the fall sometimes so that they become motivated to see on their own. They must mesh well with my children. I prefer an instructor that can actively control the lesson without being mean about it. Kind, but firm. I personally don't care for instructors that are too passive...almost like they are afraid I will get upset if my kids got in trouble so they remain too patient. My kids can sense that and use it to their advantage. They end up not progressing as much. It isn't a good fit.

New area, I found a music school. They charge $80-$120 depending on the instructor. When I get ready to book, I will be able to nail down the price.

 

[sharbear]

This information is a little old but I have a D who plays the flute and we lived in Ohio at the time.

We paid 15/half hour, 25/hour. She started out with a half hour and then switched to an hour. That music teacher taught after school on Weds, and I think that was her only day. She did have some homeschoolers so they could come earlier and I think she taught some on Fridays. I don't know how many students she had but she was busy. 25 students seems like a lot to juggle. And students are busy, they have to cancel and many times teaching is sporadic in the summer. Kids take the summer off, have camp or job obligations.

When she was in High School we switched to another teacher. He was 40/hour no exceptions. He was the principle of the local orchestra, and studied at Eastman and the Royal Academy of London. He was so good and we miss him still. He did not have a ton of student though, he mostly taught the kids in the local youth orchestra and kids who were more serious. Never had more than a handful of students at a time.

Now my D is in college. Her college charges 420/semester. I think that is for 10 lessons. I know that it is not for the entire 15 week semester.

 

[thebeesknees]

I taught piano for a few years. If you are willing to travel a bit, you could go to their house for a bit more $. I used to charge $15/half hour for kids who came to me, and $18/half hour for those that I traveled to. Worked great with homeschooling families, because I could go to one place, give 4 lessons in a row at $18 a pop, then move to the next family, and all during the day. My public-educated kids came to me after school, so I was able to teach all day that way. The homeschool moms loved it that they didn't have to drag 4 or 5 kids out and sit in the driveway or my living room for 2 hours at a time. I carried my flashcards, and any stuff I regularly used in my attache case, but kept my otehr more rarely used stuff in the car so it would be easy to get to.

 

[bamagirl@hrt]

I'm in East Tennessee, and both of my children take music lessons from a local music school. My daughter's piano teacher is the owner/director of the school. I pay $80/month for a weekly 30 minute lesson. She does not have a lesson the week of a recital; the rehearsal and recital are counted as "lessons." My son takes guitar lessons - same price & same number of lessons. We also pay a $25/student registration fee each year.

The piano teacher is a bit unorganized, but has a heart of gold. Her recitals are low key and low stress. She most often holds the recitals in the chapel of local nursing homes or assisted living facilities, so that the students provide some entertainment for residents. I think that is a really neat idea. The smiles on the older people's faces really brightens my day. That's the main reason I keep going back to her.

My son has a brand new teacher this year. The piano teacher's son had been my son's guitar instructor for the last two years. He finished college and moved away. The new instructor is recent graduate of UT's jazz program. My son has only had one lesson with him, but already is more excited than he's been in awhile.

 

[mjkacmom]

Music lessons here are usually $30 per half hour, regardless if they are at someone's home, or a studio. However, voice lessons are usually more, but we are lucky and found a great voice coach for only $60 an hour - most are $75 - $80+. Keep in mind, I live in a high COL area, so services tend to be more expensive here.

 

[momsully]

We take our lessons through a local music store - Music and Arts. I believe they are a national chain. We pay $25/week for piano and $30/week for alto sax. Both lessons are thirty minutes. The teachers are great, and I love that the lessons are done right at the store.

 

[mlraabe]

DS 8 just started piano lessons - $15/half hour at the teacher's home. She is a retired teacher from our district (was my 3rd grade teacher!). DS loves her. I like that she is low stress. She has been subbing in the school district but thinks she has enough students this year to stop subbing.
DD 11 is taking voice lessons this summer from the jr. high choral director for $15/half hour at her house. She only offers them to students who audtioned and made it into the show choir and only in the summer(she will have them for show choir everyday during the school year).

I took lessons for 14 years. I went to the house of my first teacher. My second teacher was amazing and he came to our house for lessons - which was nice for my mom since by then my sister was taking them too!

 

[Pigeon]

We are in upstate NY. Dd13 takes hour long violin lessons for $50/hour. Dd9 takes half hour flute lessons for $27/half hour.

We found the violin tutor from a recommendation from dd's elementary school strings teacher. They both play in the same symphony orchestra together, and she was formerly tenured faculty at a major conservatory. There are less expensive tutors in the area, but they are less well qualified.

The flute tutor was a recommendation from the violin tutor, as they perform together occasionally.

In both cases, we go to their house.

 

[dis-happy]

Since you need to fill out your weekly schedule with students, I'd looking into marketing yourself to homeschoolers---they would be free to take piano lessons during the day. Contact some local homeschool groups and see if you can run an ad in their monthly newsletters. A lot of people are getting their schedules together this time of year, so now is the time to advertise. Good luck!!!

 

[aprince&princess]

I have a DD who has been taking flute lessons for four years. This past school year I paid $26 per half hour, which I pay each week at the end of her lesson. My daughter started at the beginning of 3rd grade, so she originally took a lesson every other week at the teachers suggestion. I originally found her thru a list the school had provided of people who were offering private lessons. I know that she will always find out what the music store in town is charging and then she charges the same rate. We go to her house and I actually stay for the lesson. Originally I stayed so that I could find help her with practicing. Also the lessons go from the start of the school year and end with a recital that she holds in a local church at the end of the school year. We then go for one more lesson with the things that she would like my daughter to work on over summer. What made us stay is that she is an excellent flutist and also teaches at a local private school and plays as part of a symphony. We go very regularly and if we have a week where either the teacher or my DD can't make it we just skip the week, no charge. I do know that she has students that pay her for the month and if they miss the lesson they have to make it up another day. I would think if you had someone who misses a lot of lessons that that would be a better way to charge for them.

The flute teacher also does teach a group of home schooled students. She has one day where she is off from the private school and uses that time during the day for home schooled students to come. I know some of that group and they seem to do some activities as groups for the kids to be with other kids, so I would think that word spread through that group that she taught lessons.

My dd just started to play a second instrument, the bassoon. For that instrument we are going to the middle school teacher, who teacher right at the school. During the summer she rents the room from the school and pays for insurance. She has charged me $25 per lesson. So a very similar price. I started lessons with her for two reasons. First because she herself is a bassoonist and second because my daughter is going into the middle school this year and could take her lessons from the same person who is the music teacher. Funny she has a completely different style from the flute teacher (who is very serious) but my DD seems to enjoy both teachers.

And then I have an older DS who plays trumpet. He originally didn't want any private lessons and just went along with whatever he was taught at school. Started playing in 4th grade. When he started his freshmen year at the high school he realized that the person who taught his friends lessons came right to the high school in between school ending and marching band practice time. And he felt like he needed some lessons from what he saw what the other trumpet kids knew compared to him. He teaches private lessons, plays professionally and teaches at two universities here in CT. He does charge $30 a lesson, which is a little higher than what I pay for my daughters lessons. The crazy thing is that I can pay him whenever I want. I usually pay after every 20 lessons. I think that he prefers not to worry about being handed money each time. And most kids are right there at the high school and just wait for there turn. I'm not sure if that is how he works it with other lessons at other places. We continue with lessons thru him because my son has improved and he likes having that teacher.

I hope that helps some.

 

[sk!mom]

DD14 took piano from 1st grade to 7th grade from the same teacher. Her teacher charged $80 per month for a weekly 45 minute lesson and one 30 minute group theory lesson per month. In August, we paid an annual music, computer, supply fee of about $75. The $80 per month fee was charged every month from September to May. December was the only month that was prorated due to the Christmas holiday. All other months were full payment whether you attended or not unless the teacher had to cancel which only happened once in all the years DD took from her. Her teacher followed the public school calendar- no school- no lesson. Contests, State Theory test, recitals were all extra, of course.

The 45 minute lesson was 30 minutes private with the teacher at the piano and 15 minutes of theory on your own. The teacher had a private scheduled every 30 minutes. The teacher was extremely organized and the kids knew where to find their assigment so that they didn't disturb the private lesson.

She taught from about 2:00 or 3:00 to 7:00 or 7:30 Monday through Thursday and then group theory classes the first Friday of the month. She has homeschoolers for the first hour or so and then others.

 

[rockiesfan]

How do you make sure kids pay and show up and all of that business?

I didn't see any replies to this part of your question. DD's piano teacher uses a Paypal subscription for fees. We pay $72/month for half hour lessons and get either 3 or 4 lessons/month depending on the schedule. The payment is automatically charged to our Paypal account for 9 months of the year. No discount for missing lessons but students can make them up over the summer at no charge. If you want to continue lessons over the summer it is $19/lesson. There is also a $60 book fee charged in September that covers all lesson books and sheet music. If the kids want to pick their own music to learn, their teacher will order it for no extra charge. And one reason DD likes her so much is that DD can suggest just about anything and the teacher will incorporate it into her lessons. We spend much of last year listening to "Harry Potter"

 

[bucket o' butter]

It sounds like you have a good reputation as a music teacher. I don't know the size of your town, but word of mouth is usually the best form of advertisement. My daughter takes piano lessons from a local music professional out of her home. We pay $64 per month for 1/2 hour lessons. This is through the school year. During the summer, she encourages the children to take at least 5 lessons so they don't forget everything they have learned. Before or after the lesson, she has a computer available for them to do extra work on and really encourages her students to use that time. They are allowed 15 minutes of computer time. We pay extra for the books and it just depends on how fast dd goes through a book, so I don't really have a cost for that. I do believe we are paying "cost" for them because I haven't felt they were really expensive. When DD was younger, she went to another local piano teacher and that teacher had us buy the books. She just gave us a list and we went to the music store to get them. The current music teacher feels it is more convenient for her and for us if she orders them and we pay her. That way she doesn't have to wait until the parents buy the books. She also teaches other instruments and I would assume it is the same cost, but I am not sure. Good luck with your business! I hope it works out well for you!

 

[dj2]

we've had teachers come to us

$12 for 30 minutes for piano (college student teacher)
$10 for 30 minutes for clarinet (high school student teacher)
$18 for 30 minutes for alternating weeks of violin and clarinet (adult teacher) which eventualy became $25 for 45 minutes, with 30 minutes of one, followed by 15 of the other

we've also went to teachers' homes (current arrangement)
$20 for 30 minutes for violin
$22 for 30 minutes for clarinet

as my DD gets better, we need better teachers for her, and they seem to charge more and work out of their own homes. at least that's what happened for us. but it sure was convenient having the lessons here.