AIBU to be annoyed about music lessons

[MissSunny]

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well I STILL can't read music in the alto clef.

and there is nothing more frustrating than knowing all your notes in one hand - playing the notes while still trying to fathom out what notes the other hand is supposed to be playing - let alone where your fingers should be

Several instruments (bassoon, cello, viola) need you to learn a new clef once you get good enough, even if you started out reading the right one for that instrument. Piano needs two clefs from the outset and lots of brass players need to read from more than one as well. Arguably if you start reading from more than one clef early on it makes it easier to do later.

If you play descant recorder and then switch to whatever the next size up is called, the findering is all different. It's kind of similar to reading music from a different clef, so maybe that does help prepare you for clef changes to some degree?

oh no I still find it more confusing switching from my descant to treble recorders - my fingers get all confused - than reading 2 bass clefs and a treble clef playing the organ

I posted on the TES website about dd's recorder "lessons" at school. I was basically asking if I should mention that she had been taught to play F the cheating way. The general consensus was it doesn't matter.

As she had to play the note for a piece in the EAster assembly I let it go but made sure she knew how it SHOULD be played (she wasn;t capable of using the little finger). It also appears that she is the only one who tongues as I began teaching her before she started at school.

It was a real bugbear of mine but she enjpoys taking part in the school recorder events so I just have to do what I can at home to counteract the bad technique at school.

To get back to the OP, dh is a peripateic and private teacher. He charges £25 per hour to teach from home and £30 per hour in schools (to account for the travel).

Teaching is his vocation.

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well actually you can be working and on benefits .

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Sounds steep to me. One of my DCs has piano lessons out of school for £12 per half hour. At my eldest DC's secondary school all music lessons are £120 a term (payablein full at the start of each term)which also works out at £12 a lesson. This is outer London so not generally a cheap part of the country.

My son's piano teacher has taught privately and in schools for about 30 years. She's very highly thought of and doesn't believe children should start learning an instrument before the age of 7.

Have you thought of getting an electronic piano - smaller and cheaper perhaps. If you have other children a piano in the house is fun for messing around with and might be all your DC needs at the moment to encourage an interest in music. If you got one now you and your DC could sit at it together and just do some basic stuff. If you do decide to go for piano lessons in due course, I would echo what others have said about finding a good teacher. My DC had a music student for a couple of years, then moved to his current piano teacher, who has spent the last 12 months going back to basics and eradicating his bad habits.

ahh but Sunny on that vein we could start a whole new thread about things they (we) get that you don't (though I must say I would rather we didn't get it all.....)

My DD has private violin lessons and we pay £10 for half an hour one-to-one. I think that is standard around here as DH pays the same for saxophone lessons.

BTW I notice that you will be paying £40 per term instrument hire. Yikes!! Don't! Small second hand violins are usually really cheap and at that age and stage it doesn't need to be such a terrific instrument. We paid £25 for a second-hand 1/4 size violin and it was a very reliable little instrument. paid the same for a 1/2 size one a few years later.

For the 3/4 size we decided to buy new but we still only paid about £70.

Soon she will need a full size and we will probably look to invest a bit more in that.