Groupings for school violin lessons - should I complain?

[emkana]

dd is nearly ready to take her grade 3 exam. She has been put in a group with a girl who did her grade 1 in July. The teacher said she'd do 15 minutes each, and in the other 15 minutes dd should work on her theory, even though she already does theory on a Saturday morning. Is this something you just have to live with or should I try to get it changed? After all I'm paying for her to have a 30 minute lesson, not 15...

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Anyone?

sorry I don't know how these group lessons are organised. I would say that she does theory already on Saturday mornings so I would like her to spend the 30 minutes on improving her playing and ask the teacher how this could be managed, possibly in a different group.

I suspect the difference in level between the two girls makes it difficult or even impossible for the teacher to teach them both at the same time. Actually you are paying for a 30 minute group lesson but getting a 15 minute solo lesson since presumably the other girl does theory exercises whilst your dd is taught her grade 3 pieces. Is that right?

You should insist on a 30 minute lesson i8f that's what you're paying for.

sorry, 'if'

If you are paying for a 30 min shared lesson then 15 min one to one sounds about right I think. Are you paying between £10 and £15?

Yes about that. Just thought thought that 30 minute actually playing would be better.

You could mention to the teacher that DD already does theory and perhaps suggest that she could play some little duets with the girl on grade 1 (from Fiddle Time Joggers?) with DD obviously playing the more complicated bit of the duet.

Not good enough imo. But this is the problem with the grouping system. If there's no one of a similar standard to pair up with, you have to make do. A skilled teacher would find ways to work with both of them to get the maximum teaching time, but it's very very difficult to do. Can you manage the extra expense and fork out for a 30 min lesson? 15 minutes of lesson time isn't really enough at this standard.

Is this in school? Difficulty is that it's unlikely that you will get one to one for your dd in school so unless there is someone else of similar ability to have the lesson with you may be a bit stuck.

The amount you're paying must be for group lessons - if there isn't someone at the same level as your DD unfortunately this kind of thing has to happen. Ask the school or tutor if you can pay extra for individual lessons?