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Extra-curricular activities

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Original poster

How much do you pay private music tuition?

35 replies

nosferatu · 19/02/2012 19:22

Just about to start searching for a piano teacher for a beginner. I am in west London and I heard that it is around 20£.
What do you do? Do they come to your house?

OP posts:
Pandygirl · 19/02/2012 19:26

We're in the north, and just been offered £20 for an hour at her home or £22 to teach in our home.

livinginlondon2 · 19/02/2012 20:21

We are living in London and we pay £35.00 an hour for piano lessons, coming to our house. Assuming your child is a beginner they probably will have less than an hour, so perhaps it might work out at about 20 for a half hour lesson.

When my children started they had lessons at school which was easier for me to manage and a little cheaper. However we found that they have made better progress since the teacher has been coming to the house. I think at school there is a tendency for children to miss lessons, or be late for them so it is easy to go for ages without making a great deal of progress.

The benefit of having lessons at school is that then you are part of the school music department, which seems to mean that you are more likely to be asked to play in concerts and assemblies and the like.

One benefit of having them at home is that you can quietly listen in from the kitchen and get a realistic idea of how much practice etc the teacher is expecting from the child, and of how the lessons are going.

RaspberryLemonPavlova · 19/02/2012 21:17

We are in the north and pay £13 for half an hour, plus £1.00 for lesson being at home. I also get £1.00 discount for having 2 x dc lessons, so total amount is still £26 for the hour.

£35 - wow!!!

RaspberryLemonPavlova · 19/02/2012 21:19

Meant to say, have had experience of lessons at home and at school. At home their teacher is very keen for me to sit in on the lessons and see what is required, which seems to work very well for us.

WhereEaglesDare · 19/02/2012 23:50

I am looking into pl too although for now my dd1 is having keyboard lessons in school £50 per term (4 children in a group).
My friends son was attending (they live w8) Sheperds Bush Music House (for 3yrs) and they are ,i think £15 per half an hour or the best is to check their website.
They have fantastic lady called Emma and she has incredible background in music....I met her...
I want to take my girls,but living in nw London and with saturdays already being booked i don't have choice atm.

jennifersofia · 20/02/2012 00:02

£13.50 for 1/2 hour lesson at our house (piano)

CURIOUSMIND · 20/02/2012 09:48

Our 121 lesson at teacher's house cost 40 for an hour .But i know some teacher charge 13 for half hour in our area .

DeWe · 20/02/2012 12:20

I'm in the south (not too far from London) and we pay £14 for half an hour for piano (at their house), £11 per 20 minutes for singing (at their house) and £13 for trumpet (at school).

Primrose123 · 20/02/2012 12:35

Oh my God!!! I teach piano, part-time from home, and I charge £7 for a half hour lesson!!! I think I should increase my fees!

Lancelottie · 20/02/2012 12:41

£10 per half-hour brass, £12 per half hour for piano here.

Thetokengirl · 20/02/2012 12:41

I'm in the East Midlands and pay £17 for 1/2 an hour, but fee's are going up to £18 in April. Have two children having lessons and don't get a discount Sad

Thetokengirl · 20/02/2012 12:42

Oh, and he doesn't come to us, we have to go to him

CURIOUSMIND · 20/02/2012 13:40

Looks like I paid too much!
Hard to decide.We 'interviewed' 3 piano teachers at the begining of grade 3, one is playing keyboard in a big band ,another one is not teaching grade 6+ ,so I assumed quality is not cheap and went for the 20 per half hour one.
I was impressed that the good bits from the exam report are exactly what he talked about and worked on with Ds1(Well, the not so good bits is what he talked about too.)
Forgot to say our violin teacher(an examiner,conductor) charged 15 per half hour only.

hellsbells99 · 20/02/2012 13:45

I pay £14 for half an hour each for my 2 DCs. Older one is now teaching a couple of beginners (7/8 year olds) and charging them £5 per half hour - seems the norm here for beginners to start with local teenager and then move onto a proper teacher when they passed the 1st grade or two

hellsbells99 · 20/02/2012 13:47

sorry that was supposed to say £14 each for half an hour each! ie £28 per hour :)

QuietOhSoQuiet · 20/02/2012 13:49

we pay £35 p/h anfd that is a lesson held at sshool during school hours

mimmymouse · 20/02/2012 13:53

It will depend very much on the experience and qualifications of the teacher. A student at music college, for example, looking to build up their teaching experience will charge less than a fully qualified, experienced teacher. Cheaper will almost certainly not equal better. In W London that sounds reasonable for a good teacher.

Check them out - do they work with your DC age group? What qualifications do they have? Does your DC get along well - did they establish a rapport? This is important as a good teacher should help to build your child up.

Remember though that the teacher is only on ingredient to your child succeeding..... The rest is up to them!

HTH

Original poster
nosferatu · 21/02/2012 19:16

Thank you so much guys, this has certainly painted a good picture!
it does vary from area to area!
I think I am going to advertise on gumtree and look for a student or something. My daughter's school offer 10 instuments but not piano :(
So the kids who are home taught also can take exams and qualifications? What are they called?
Thanks again this helps so much!

OP posts:
Hulababy · 21/02/2012 19:17

We used to pay £14 for half an hour piano lesson. Now pay £15 for half hour singing lesson.

AChickenCalledKorma · 21/02/2012 22:30

£17 per half hour, teacher is also an ABRSM examiner and quality is outstanding. And yes, children who have private lessons can be entered for exams. There are different exam boards - have a look here for one of them or here for another.

CURIOUSMIND · 21/02/2012 23:23

Feel like being ripped off now after reading all the post! What can I do?Sad

BackforGood · 21/02/2012 23:38

Midlands
£9 for half hour piano at teacher's house
£9 for all other instrument tuition at our house.
But piano teacher was cheaper than most when eldest started nearly 8 years ago, and she won't increase her fees once she's started a family !
Guitar / flute / trumpet teacher is giving us "mates rates" rather than commercial too.

putri · 22/02/2012 00:02

£34/hr here in Suffolk. We interviewed four teachers ranging from £27/hr-£34. I wish we liked the least expensive but it didn't work out that way, just not to keen on their teaching style. I was torn between the £30 and £34/hr but the later won dd and I. But, despite the cost, we love her. She's an excellent musician and teacher. She was classically trained at RAM and since she's retired, she has that stern, loving, grandmother-teacher kind of attitude.

Original poster
nosferatu · 22/02/2012 00:26

yeah, the sad thing is my mum teaches at University and she is a head of piano dept, has 40 years experience, but doesn't live here , my sister teaches piano in primary, same thing. And I am not trained at all so I will be hoping I can do some interviews with their guidance. have no idea what to look for programme wise. Bus as lessons progress I am sure I will get a good picture.
How many hours a week do your kids do?

OP posts:
RaspberryLemonPavlova · 22/02/2012 12:45

Do you mean lessons or practice? My 2 DSs have half an hour lesson each. They probably don't do enough practice - no more than an hour and half total. DS2 did Grade 1 last year (Distinction). DS1 should have done Grade 2, but didn't and is now Grade 3 + standard.

They play orchestral instruments too, so that limits their time also.