How much do you pay for music tuition in your school?

We pay for music lessons outside school - £23.50 for half an hour for one teacher, £25 for another. Lessons in our primary school (state) are £33 for half an hour because the county music service adds their slice to cover the admin cost. (And if you have lessons at a private school, it’s more because they have to add VAT.)

So the cheapest way to learn is to go direct to a music teacher as you are just paying tuition to them and not any admin fee to the school or the provider.

We pay £33 for half an hour a week (10 week term) at an independent school. And then we pay VAT on top of that! Because private lessons in an independent school attract vat even though they don’t in state school or if I was paying for private tuition to the same teacher outside of school lessons.

£35 for 35 minute lesson at an independent school in SW London/Surrey.
£20 for a 30 minute lesson privately.

I am a music tutor in a grammar school in N.Ireland, the school sets the tuition rate at £16 for 30min lesson.
Outside of school my rate is £20 per half hour.

For comparison about cost, I'm paying £25 for 45min of private violin lessons. The girls also do figure skating and it's £30 per half hour for their coaches. In addition I have to pay £85 a month to get on the ice. Music is very cheap in comparison. The music service ensemble is £57 a term only. The school ones are free.

It depends if it's a group lesson or individual. My daughter school are either 1:1 or 1:2. Her primary is a group lesson and it's cheaper.

I don't know if everyone is priced out. I live in a well off area and the school is still struggling to fill the orchestra and bands. I think it's also that kids have a lot more on then just music. I see parents spending a lot on sports for example. Also, many parents don't believe in playing instruments. At primary, both my children have full class lessons learning a variety of instruments with the county music service. Many parents refused to take the instruments home so the kids can't practice even if they are interested. One of the instruments they learned is the ukulele so it's not just orchestral ones.

My goodness you all pay so much , my children don’t take additional music lessons but at their school they are £6! Just £6 a week for any instrument that includes hire of the instrument apart from drums!

I'm paying £100 a term (3 terms a year) in a Hampshire state school. It's provided by the county music service.

Rates for 30 min lessons:

• £21 - strings
• £24 - voice

£27 at an independent.

Home Counties

I'd love to set up a fund for children who can't afford it to have music lessons. My late dad was a music teacher and it would be a great way to remember him (I lost him when I was very young). It was all free (for the kids) when I was at school and Saturday morning orchestra too. My DS couldn't do GCSE music as so few opted for it, music is dying in state schools as families are slowly priced out.

£460 for the year. 20mins 1:1 each term week.

@musiccost the cost sounds normal (and in on the low end of normal for private lessons)

Schools often subsidise the cost but I know my son’s primary had to stop because they couldn’t afford to any more.

i understand your shock at suddenly having to pay market rate. Some schools offer concession rates for low income families. Try asking about that. Or look at getting alternative tutoring out of school. Ask in local parent groups for some recommended teachers in your budget.

I charge £18 per 30 minute individual lesson. The school charges me 50p for that lesson - they give me a room and do my timetable for me. I know I'm at the cheaper end but I am finishing at the end of this term and am not reliant on it as my main source of income (plus I only have 4 students).

A local secondary school charges something like £55 per hour. They take an admin fee from that for supplying the teacher, but the some of the teachers earn less than half of that. Those with QTS command more money, irrespective of how good a teacher they are. When I worked in a primary school, this secondary school was the hub school and tried to insist that all music teachers came from there. We already had a mix with some from there and some independent and took the decision to ditch them due to the cost and poor quality/attitude of who they supplied.

A previous poster has supplied the MU rates, so that's what I would take to the school. It sounds as though they are trying to make money from the provision. You will almost certainly be able to find a teacher more cheaply; you could ask whether or not the teacher would be prepared to move to a private arrangement instead.

we pay £200 for a term (10 x30 mins) and £100 for the same in a duo class.

My DD has music lessons at school (external tutor - £15 for 30 mins), at our local music service (council run - £29 for 30 minutes) and externally (£16-18 for 30 minutes).

It was only recently that I twigged how much more expensive the council lessons are - we are lucky that we can afford it, and I’m sure they offer assistance with costs for low income families, but their rate is almost twice what you’d pay elsewhere!

£260 per long term for 11x 30-minute lessons. Hourly rate for 20 minutes lessons is marginally more expensive. Small group lessons are much cheaper. This is our city's music service which provides lessons in school or at the city music centre.

Private piano & violin lessons for beginners have ranged from £13 (bargain!) to £20 for 30 minutes.

Primary school. Around £100 a term for 15 minute lessons.

£50/45 min.

£47 per 30 minute lesson at our independent school. That does include the VAT.

I pay £20 for half an hour for my son's guitar lessons. He does this outside of school, though.

It was £20 for half hour, now £21.

OP, unless there’s some extenuating circumstance that makes sense of a reason for a very high price, like you’re playing harp on a remote island, I think you’ve caught a mistake. We have lessons both sides of what you’re set to pay. Our school lessons (London, independent but no music included in fees and no subsidy from anywhere) are £250 for ten 30 minute lessons, so that’s less. Then main instrument we do outside of school with a super top level teacher, which is £80 per hour in central London. Which is just a tiny bit more than what you’re paying if you work it out to cost per minute or whatever. That’s for professional level coaching, not student grades. Our school lessons are normal secondary school lessons like what you’d expect and their price is in line. (DC has one super talent but is trying to pick up two instruments that do not come naturally like the other!)

If that gives you a scale point to compare? I mean there are teachers who can command hundreds per hour of course but for what you’ve been quoted, I would be expecting someone exceptionally well qualified and proven and would want to hire them for quite a serious student rather than hobby level learning. Good luck!