music lesson fees

[MountOfVenus]

Son is at private school, was offered music lessons starting 2 years ago (September 2008). Didn't ask about costs - turned out to be £17 for half an hour lesson (the teacher comes in at 8am and takes students every half an hour for the whole day), which was more than I was expecting... We signed a contract with the teacher that didn't make any mention of fees or increasing them, only that there was a late payment charge if they weren't paid on time.

Last September the invoice was for £17.50/lesson. Was a bit aggrieved that the fees had been increased with no notification or discussion, didn't say anything to the teacher, as the increase itself wasn't outrageous. I did ask the school why the fees were so high, and they told us that they don't have any control over the fees and don't charge the teacher for use of the room.

This September we were sent an invoice for £18.50/lesson, an increase of double last year, and again no notification or discussion. I wasn't happy at paying 6% more at a time of wage freezes, and just called the teacher. Teacher said 'I charge more in other schools, fees are reasonable, the other instrument teachers charge a similar amount, and I can't make an exception for you, if you don't like it, you can go elsewhere.' [The issue here is that if you don't get lessons from him, my son would have no involvement with school concerts, etc.]

AIBU?

That's very true Alibaba - at our school, though the lessons are expensive, the children do numerous ensembles for free and get theory lessons as well as about 60 concerts a year (obviously they don't all do all of them, but you do get a lot of free extras as well)

what sort of music productions go on with the older pupils? what you describe sounds like not a lot even for an 8yr old but may increase drastically? if it is true that pupils with outside lessons cant take part that is absolutely shocking: what if he already got lessons prior to starting at the school? maybe thats just a departmental communication problem though rather than actual policy

my son's guitar lessons are about £15 and he is in a state school. it is meant to specialise in musical talent but there seems to be no subsidy.

£200 for term of 11x 30min lessons, state secondary, county music service, so we're paying about the same as you. Believe it or not this is cheaper than the private music service contracted by dc's state primary.

We're in the southeast ao everything is quite costly here. Fees have risen rapidly the past 2 years - govt cuts, making savings by charging more to customers.

On a slightly different tack, don't assume that if your DS is learning with a different teacher, he will not be involved in school music. I'm sure if you have a word with the head of music (or even the headmaster), he will still be able to play in concerts, competitions etc.

When I was at (an independent) school, I never had lessons with the school music teachers but always played in the concerts and orchestras. I think my parents had to make a bit of fuss but they did get it sorted out.

the only other thing is if they learn at school at least you don't have to take them somewhere.

i remember doing that when my daughter was learning flute and it was a pain. she didn't get picked to do it at her primary school so i paid for her to have private lessons. i am glad i did this as the school she attends used to partly select on musical ability.(not sure if it is allowed to any more)

I don't think it's that expensive but can understand unexplained rises getting on your nerves!

Check with the head of music about participation in concerts etc. DD's school has a massive music department and they are very clear (and send frequent reminders!) that pupils can take part in groups and so on wherever they take their lessons. It's to the school's advantage after all.

We pay £7.50 per half-hour for piano (a piano-teaching friend); about £10 per half-hour for violin (not sure as it goes via direct debit now). And £7 or £5 per half-hour for singing lessons (paid the cheque this morning but can't remember whether it was five weeks at £7 or seven weeks at £5 ). Previously I've paid £17 for half a term of guitar lessons.

£22.50 for a 30 minute lesson for DD in aprivate prep. She forgot her lesson last week and we will still have to pay!

I see this thread is a couple of months old but wanted to add my two pennies worth. We are paying for 2 x instrument tuition (vocal and Cello) for our DD at a rate of £325 each per term for weekly 35 mins lessons.

If this isn't enough, we have recently been told that our DD's lack of progress (we queried this) is due to months of 'poor attendance' and 'bad communications' by our DD. This teachers view, incidentally, is at odds with reports we have from all other teachers in the school regarding DD's attitude.

That aside, we feel that we should have been informed months before that there was a serious communications/attendance problem preventing progress in the subject. Does anyone think we are being unreasonable in expecting a refund from the teacher?

So DS first day back at school today, get missed call at 9:30am, then text from teacher

'Hope you had a good summer. Do you still want the Tuesday 8am slot. Am increasing prices £1 to £19.50 this year in line with the other teachers at the school, hope this is ok.'

The school had their music concert last term, with students from other teachers participating (piano, violin, brass, etc.), but no guitar, so he just did the class ensemble performance with the non-music-lesson kids. So I guess his teacher just can't be bothered to do anything more than turn up.

I called him back to say 'DS is going to concentrate on his 11+ preparationfor the next year, so I think he'll give it a rest for now' [code for 'you're taking the piss mate, I've had enough of you'], but no answer as yet.

Perhaps I should send him the news by text.

At least the school is professional enough to send out a letter place it in an envelope and say 'we have reviewed fees, keep to minimum, blah blah, new fees for next year are:', this joker just sends it out by text on the morning of the first day back.....

For DS1 on cello we pay around £22 for 30 mins in London (although usually goes slightly longer). For DS2 we have a music student teaching viola who will charge less - around £14 for 30 mins.

I don't think they should be able to increase their fees without notice though.

state school - we pay £30 per hour, or pro rata.