How much do you pay private music tuition?

[nosferatu]

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?

[mkmurphy]

Adding to what EvaLo999 said, it might be useful to know that the Musicians' Union recommend the following rates for 2012/13 music lessons - Individual pupils: £30.00 per hour / £15.00 per 30 minutes / £10.00 per 20 minutes as a starting point, increasing with experience. London and Central London prices tend to be higher.

[valiumredhead]

I pay £10 per 45 mins-1 hr lesson, mates rates with an excellent teacher and I'm REALLY grateful!

For ds I pay just under 100 a term through the school.

[EvaLo999]

I have an 18 year old son who is heading for a conservatoire or uni in October. He has 2 Grade 8s with distinction and will shell out somewhere in the region of£40000 to get a degree. He knows now that ImNotaCelebrity is correct. It is a long hard road and in a recession career prospects are not rosy. His main aim is not to teach grade one, but you never know! you get what you pay for and there are not many people out there who are well enough qualified to teach grades 6-8 (A level equivalent). We have been lucky to have had excellent teachers who we have known for many years and consider the £30-35 per hour that they charge to be very reasonable. Once you go beyond grade 8 you can easily be paying double this amount! So, if you need a teacher for a beginner you need enthusiasm and someone who gets on well with kids. If they get to a reasonable level be prepared to change teacher. However, please don't expect a well-qualified professional to work for peanuts.

[startail]

£11 for 30 minutes at the teachers house, but rural Midlands not London.

[ImNotaCelebrity]

The grade 8 thing ... so true! When I went to university, I thought I was the bees knees with my grade 8 distinction, acquired 2 years previously. I was brought thudding to the ground when I was told grade 8 was the level to start to learn to play properly and promptly had my technique torn apart and put together again!

[CURIOUSMIND]

Schilke,
Thank you for your support! I know our teacher definitley knows what he's talking about.
The method we learned from him inspired us a lot, far beyond those a few pieces .

[SnapSnafu]

Peripatetic teacher at school is £4.10 for a shared half hour lesson, £8.20 for lone one. No transport time so it works great for us.

[pigsinmud]

Curiousmind - I don't think you are being ripped off. Some teachers are highly qualified and others have grade 8 and that is it. Dh has music degree, then went to RCM for a year. Has a teachers diploma from RCM. Now has 20 years playing & teaching experience at a high level.

Would you expect to pay the same for a maths tutor who just had a-level maths and a tutor who had spent 4 years in higher education studying maths?

He does get a teeny weeny bit annoyed when he sees adverts by music teachers who say have grade 8. Dh would say that grade 8 is nowhere professional standard. He wouldn't book his grade 8 students on a professional gig....unless he didn't want to be asked back

[ByTheWay1]

We have a lovely piano teacher who comes to our house straight after school on a Wednesday - he has many students in our area - so travels round them all on Wednesday. He advertises in our parish magazine (comes free through our door and one day I didn't just chuck it!)

He charges £23 an hour - but 4 weekly in advance, so £92 every 4 weeks. If he teaches in the child's home he requires an adult to sit in until the child is of secondary age...

I have 2 girls, and the 1 hour lesson is split depending on who is in most need - eldest (11) is going for grade 2 so she gets 3/4 of the lesson right now, unless he is starting a new piece with youngest (9) who has just done grade 1 and is having a breather.... As exam time gets within 2 weeks he may slip in an extra lesson to focus heavily on the aural tests...

As for practise - we bribe.... computer time comes AFTER piano practise (and school homework) ALWAYS , .... eldest does 20min every day as she has focus of grading, youngest 15 min every other day to get her new piece faster. They both love to "show off" to grandparents etc, so I think they still find it "fun"...

[pigsinmud]

Dh charges between 34-38 p/h. Most of his teaching is in school and set by schools. I think privately he charges £36 p/h.

A warning from dh - just because someone has grade 8 on an instrument it does not mean that they are a great teacher or that good.

He does not have many private pupils now as it eats in to evening time when he is often busy with playing work. He has a couple that come to the house and a couple he teaches at their houses.

[RaspberryLemonPavlova]

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.

[nosferatu]

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?

[putri]

£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.

[BackforGood]

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.

[CURIOUSMIND]

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

[AChickenCalledKorma]

£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.

[Hulababy]

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

[nosferatu]

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!

[mimmymouse]

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

[QuietOhSoQuiet]

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

[hellsbells99]

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

[hellsbells99]

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

[CURIOUSMIND]

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.

[Thetokengirl]

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

[Thetokengirl]

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