How to find a good music teacher for children

[clv]

Hi,

I am wanting to find a music teacher for my 5 year old. Is there any websites that have teachers who have been police checked. Any suggestions on where to start looking?

I would start by asking in the school, as they may know someone. Or ask in a senior school that uses peripatetic teacher, they will all be CRB checked if they work in a school.

What sort of music teacher. Most either work within schools, run group classes often on a franchised basis or offer instrumental lessons in their particular instrument.

It is currently difficult to become police checked unless you are part of an organisation. The Musicians Union is going to be offering CRB checks soon but at the moment it is like nannies, you are not entitled to get a check done.

For a 5 year olds I imagine you are looking for some kind of group class, try your local library. % is generally considered too young for private instrumental lessons except in exceptional circumstances.

Our local council has a Children's Music Service. They provide introduction to musical instrument group sessions from nursery age. Children then move onto learning an instrument. Our DS was recommended a piano teacher by the service. If you ring your local town hall they maybe able to point you in the right direction.

The best place to find a music teacher is not through a school, the peripatetic teachers are generally rubbish and not worth paying for. You only have to look and listen to the way the pupils play!...typical frying pan left hand violin hold and holding the bow like it's nail file! Take my advice, I know what I am talking about as a professional Violinist myself. I would advise you to either go to your local music shop, library or the local pages. You want to look for a teacher who is qualified with a B.MUS (Batchelor of Music) which is a degree in performance and also a teaching qualification and if they have graduated from a decent music college such as The Royal Academy of Music, The Royal College of Music,The Royal Northern College of Music or The Guildhall, you know you will get a decent musician who is capable of teaching well. Usually they will have an LRAM after their name. You need to meet the teacher first also so that you know what they are like and go for a teacher that is CRB checked and registered.

it really depends what you want them to do. If you want tuition in an instrument then i would check the local council as well as musicians union.

Is that true about peripatetic teachers

What qualifications do they need and how do they get into the LA Music Service. Is it a normal job interview, do they need to have taught before? I've never given it a thought.

actually yamaha, i disagree with you there. letters after your name does not make you a good player or teacher. only experience will do that. DP has played guitar for a very very long time (in fact about 28 years so far). He plays and teaches a lot better than some of the BMus that are being churned out where we are. and in fact has a lot more passion about his work than many other guitar players we know!

Are you seriously telling me that if the best violin playerin the world offered to teach your DC but hadn't been to uni you would refuse?

The only way to find a good teacher is the same as a tradesman....recommendation.

imo, At 5 years old, what a child needs is someone to nurture their interest in the instrument and instill confidence in themselves.

I have to say - I agree that it's through recommendation. Though my DD learned the violin with one of those peripatetic teachers from school - and she still got a Merit in her grade 1 exam. Whereas the piano teacher who had gone to the Royal College - was great - except he was far from reliable. And after we'd turned up to his house three times on the agreed time for a piano lesson, to find he wasn't there (the last time his flatmate told me he was in France!!), I decided to give him the chop. He might've been an inspiring musician and piano player but he sure wasn't committed to my daughter's progress.

yes cat64, thats also true

yamaha12 -you seem to be quite hostile towards peripatetic teachers.
Surely they can't all be bad.
A degree will not gaurantee a good teacher.
My dd has had a great teacher (peripatetic ) and is on gr7 flute ,so they can't be ll bad.

Get off your high horse yamaha12.

Through school I had at least 3 different peripatetic teachers for Trombone who took me to Grade 8, I found all to be fab! I also had private tuition on keyboards and music theory who's number we got from a local music shop, she too was great. And now I am singer in a band after having vocal training from a retired opera singer (pensioner) who came recommended, also fantastic.
Try all routes and see how the lessons go Good luck!

Some excellent teachers do peri work and some private teachers aren't all that good. With peris, though, you often get little say over who you have. IMO really brilliant players aren't always great teachers (especially for beginners) and conversely moderately OK players can be fine in the early stages. Word of mouth is probably the best recommendation you can have, but it's hard to get that if you don't move in musical circles.

Thank-you yamaha for rubbishing my husband who is a peripatetic teacher working in schools.

Incidentally he DOES hold a B(Mus) from a major music college and has studied pedagogy (that's the art of teaching in English) in depth as well as being a professional performer.

Most peri's I know are dedicated professionals working in often difficult circumstances. You are obviously going to get better results working one to one with a student in a 45 minute lesson than working in a group of 4 for 30 mins with lessons cancelled for SATS, school trips or kids just not turning up.

Someone asked how peri's get their job. My dh was actually headhunted but he still had to send in a CV listing qualifications and teaching experience, undergo a formal interview with the head of service and a representatice from a local school plus he was observed teaching a student selected by the panel.

Many peri's working in his area are also professional musicians working for major orchestras etc but there were many fine musicians at dh's music college who could not teach to save their lives, let alone nervous children. It is one thingk to be able to do it yourself, another to communicate how to do it to someone else and be able to think of half a dozen alternatice ways of explaining the same thing according to how different pupils learn and understand.

Go to your local music shop and ask for a list of teachers - they often have one. You then ring up teachers and ask them about qualifications/police checks/teaching style, and if you like the sound of what they've told you, arrange to take your child round for a trial lesson.

I think I'd agree with others who say five's a bit young though.

And I'll join islandofsodor's outrage - only, in my case, it's my mum someone's insulted...

What a generalisation, Yamaha. There are good peris and bad ones just as there are any other sort of teacher.

The woodwind peri at our primary school is great, well qualified and an excellent hands-on teacher. She runs/conducts several ensembles and orchestras both for children and adults on a town and county level. She is well respected throughout the town by other, private, music teachers.

I would echo what others have said about personal recommendation. You need someone you and are child will both be comfortable with. Music shops and music service/repair shops often have lists of people advertising, and chatting to the staff there about the sort of teacher you're after can be useful.

Oh I was a peri so I've been insulted too. Hurrah!
yamaha12 has posted this on two threads I see, both rather old - how very strange.

I have a BA in music and and a postgraduate performance certificate. A BMus is not actually neccesarily a performance degree and it certainly isn't a teaching qualification. The LRAM qualification mentioned would only apply to the Royal Academy, not to the other institions (they have their own acronyms, funnily enough)

I also know how to use paragraphs and spacing to make my post easy to read, and how to spell 'Bachelor'

Yes, you're right about the BMus. You can come out of a 3 year uni course with a BMus which has focused almost totally on theory or history of music or whatever and had very little performance content.

Thank you for answering my question islandofsodor. I've always thought my dds' teachers were excellent and instilled a love of playing in them all. I was just concerned there for a minute about any new ones we may encounter in the future after what yamaha said but I feel reassured now with all the other posts.