£15 for half an hour!!

[knittedbreast]

Seriously? is that normal for guitar lessons for a 5 year old???

anyone here in the south East who can play guitar and would like to teach my son for less that that please?

urgh. why is everyhting so expensive??

Individual music lessons cost between £15 - 20 per 30 minutes round here.

ok i see what you mean. but i dont want his to do gradings at this stage. i dont want him coached to pass x y and z. i just want to help facilitate his interest, if he loves it great we can think about gradings later. at the moment i just want to see if he enjoys it.

he bloody well not charge me petrol when he lives down the road.

i was thinking of a ukilalie (what?) do they use the same number of strings etc.. do you need a ukilalie teacher or can a guitar teacher teach them on one

I would seriously consider giving up on individual instument formal lessons for a year of two and go to a 'Jo Jingles' kind of group thing.

The guitar teacher will be a highly trained professional. Not sure £15 would get you half an hour of a lawyers' time, and they are also highly trained professionals . . .

A ukelele has four strings (I think) which are the same as the top four srtings on a guitar and it is tuned in fifths like a guitar too.

When I started playing the violin (at 8) I had group lessons to begin with and moved later to individual lessons. Could group lessons be a cheaper option?

Dh charges £40 per hour but then again he only teaches college level students and is uniquely highly qualified in his subject (voice) . Studentd travel from miles around to see him

When he was teaching children before he decided to specialise he charged £24 per hour. He has a music degree from a conservatoire and several years teaching experience plus various other professional development courses he has been on. The music service he used to work for charged schools £30 per hour it was up to the school whether they subsidised that.

His own training costs an absolute fortune (he believes you never stop learning) but this is at the very, very highest level.

£30 an hour if main job and it includes overheads and will of course be taxed etc is not unreasonable all sorts of stuff costs that a hairdresser beauty therapist a car mechanic more an horly rate is always more than a daily rate as there is usually down time getting between appointments if doing just 1 client you could work 9-5 and claim 7 hours ( an hour for luinch) but you could never do 7 hours work between 9 and 5 if it was in 30 minute slots in different locations it would be difficult even if they came to your house as someone is late etc some slots can not be filled or are cancelled £20/30 an hour is 31500 - 47000 before overheads and tax so would only be taking roughly 20-30k home which is not a lot for a job that requires a lot of skill last time i was at a garage they were charging at least £70 for labour

I would suggest that you contact a music teacher in a secondary school near you and ask are there any older students who would give your ds some basic lessons.
At your ds's age he doesn't need a hugely qualified teacher, but rather someone to show him the basics and get him enthuastic about the instrument. And a pupil of 17 or 18 would be happy to charge a lot less.

I know my son started his lessons from a college student making a bit of cash on the weekends and then progressed to a qualified teacher. And my son now in college himself would love to be doing the same now.

Mumanator - why do you imagine that music teaching is less skilled and valuable than verbal reasoning tutoring?
Music is a very exact skill, and good music teaching requires good teaching skills, too. Structuring lessons, good communicatiion, imagination...I don't see why the teaching should be cheaper than your tutoring!

OP... Is your son actually interested in this? You've talked about what you want of the lessons and what you want your son to be able to do... but it sounds as if YOU want him to have the lessons no matter what, just cheap ones.

If your son has an interest in the guitar there's no need for him to rush into it - in fact, I think it's better that he doesn't. I see so many children 'persuaded' into musical instruments when they very, very young and it puts them off - sometimes for life.

Apologies if this isn't the case; it's just how I read your posts.

sorry RobF i didn't explain myself very well and my computer was crashing :(

What i meant is if loads of people want driving lessons and there are a few driving companies then instructors will compete with each other for the business - Thus lowering price. Also if there is a demand for lessons this means an instructor can charge less as they know they have 7 hours booked a day etc and have built up hol/sick pay cover.

A music teacher may only have a few pupils and no competition so will be able to charge more (and will probably need to just to support themselves if this is their only job).

definitely find a teenager to teach him. When I was 17 I used to teach piano £5 for half an hour. Why not put an ad up in the newsagent?

Knittedbreast, if you approach the major music colleges they may have students who are looking for teaching work, as they will be studying for a teaching qualification alongside their performance degrees, and it might be cheaper than £30 an hour (when I was at one, they certainly encouraged us to take private pupils, but things may have changed...).
As far as cost goes, teaching an instrument well is highly skilled, because you also need to be able to play it well. £15 for half an hour isn't really a ripoff if you consider the years of training and the skill level that you'd have to attain to be really good.
The other thing to consider is the fact that if they're a member of the Musician's Union, they may well have to ask at least a certain rate for teaching (I know there are minimum pay rates for performing). Students aren't likely to be unionised, hence my suggestion above. I used to charge a tenner an hour (but that was 20-odd years ago).
I sympathise though. I still have the odd lesson/consultation session, and I have to pay upwards of 50 quid for them. Ouch.

As Musicposy said, by the way, if you don't get a teacher who knows what they're doing, you will set up problems. My sis had exactly that. Bad teaching led to bad habits which were so far ingrained in her playing by the time she got a good teacher that she injured herself trying to put them right. I had teachers who neglected to teach me fundamentals of tone production. It's much, much harder to unlearn stuff that's been incorrectly taught than it is to learn it properly the first time. Which, in the case of music, means you're best off learning from a professional musician, but, as they will be so highly skilled and highly trained, not just in how to play their instrument but in how to teach it, unfortunately, it will be expensive to do it that way.
Hence my suggestion of a student - it's the best alternative if you want to try to do it more cheaply.

One other suggestion - do you know of any other kids who might be interested in learning the guitar too? You might be able to find a teacher prepared to take a small group, and that'd usually work out cheaper per head than individual lessons. Might be more immediately interesting for your ds too.

Blu - I was thinking mostly of my neighbour who 'teaches' electric guitar with no formal qualifications and highly unproven results!!!! Obviously I have worked with colleagues who are formally trained musicians and I have total respect for that kind of 'proper' teacher in a way that I cannot muster for my dole cheat cash in hand stoner neighbour (call me prejudiced )

What is it with people who want the finest tuition for their children yet aren't prepared to accept that whoever tutors them needs to earn a living too? £30 an hour for a self-employed, experienced teacher is perfectly reasonable. But actually, it's fairly unreasonable to start children off too early with an instrument that they probably can't play easily or necessarily have a real interest in learning. Wait a little while or take up the suggestion of starting with a ukelele.

I get the same thing in my profession too, as it happens and am always inclined to tell the unrealistic potential client that they'd be best off with the cheaper, crap alternative. Because I'm not interested in sharing my creativity with people who just want everything for next to nothing.

Yes, that's about right. When my DD1 was about 16, she used to give piano lessons to a neighbor's children. The neighbor had 4 children and they just wanted to have a bit of fun with music and learn a few tunes. DD was paid about £5 per hour. If you want a proper professional to teach your DC, you have to pay accordingly.

Youtube! the free guitar tutor

Sorry but that sounds about right. We're in Surrey and a half hour is between £16 & £17.50 . Does your LA have a music department through which he could perhaps have group lessons ?

My DS is having his guitar lesson right now - at home , £15 for half hour.

I dont mind paying that as teacher comes here and one less ferrying about for me !

Reckon that's cheap. Guitar lessons at dd school are £10 for 15 mins, as are all other music lessons.

I wouldn't waste my money on guitar lessons for a 5yr old TBH.

DS is 10 and started a few months ago.

I think half hour concentration would be alot for a 5yrold espcially after a day at school .

I agree with musicposy. You do not want to start a child off with a whole load of bad habits. You are paying for a highly music graduate who (hopefully)has some sort of teaching qualification or teaching experience.

I have known students that have had to 're -learn' their instrument as when they have progressed to more difficult pieces they have not had the correct technique to tackle them. All because they didn't have expertise tuition from the beginning.

The rate sounds about right. So, yes YABU. I think 30mins for a 5 year old is too long.I'd also check that this teacher has specific repertoire/teaching methods to engage such a young student.