Cost of Music Lessons...

[fourlittlekangaroos]

Ok, we spend far too much. How much does a music lesson cost where you live? Is everything more expensive in the south? We pay £20-21 per lesson, 2 instruments each for 3 children...
I think we all need to become vegetarians. There's no extra money to do any holiday music activities (lots in our area) and it's easy to feel hard done by when friends are whizzing off to all sorts of Pro Corda type things. I keep telling our children what a privilege it is to even have a piano in the house, let alone have lessons! I need to remind myself that too.

[SlaaartyBaaardFaaast]

In Wales, I am paying £15 for 30 mins home based classical guitar tuition (1 to 1) and £20 an hour for piano lessons.

[HettyStThomas]

Through school DS1 has 1x 30/40 min guitar lesson a week. I pay £65 a term

[chickensandbees]

£15 for half hour for most instruments in the south west.

[NotAnotherJaffaCake]

£44/hr for piano here after April (currently £40). School offer 30 mins for £18, so not a million miles away. We only have a piano because I play; I'd find it very difficult to justify spending serious money on a piano for a child if I wasn't sure they would stick at it.

it's one of my bugbears about music - just how exclusive it's becoming. We go to one of the Guildhall Saturday schools and it's a sea of private school hoodies. The fees are in the low hundreds a term (to be fair, quite reasonable for what you get) but compared to £6/session plus kit for football, it's very expensive. So many children just don't have access to music.

[dairymilkmonster]

We pay £22 for 40mins individual cello lesson. Same price for any instrument - external teachers coming into a prep school - you can choose 30 or 40min lessons. Preprep can do 20min lessons.
Recorder group lessons are half the price, 2-3 per group.

[April2020mom]

I teach recorder. I have a recorder in my apartment somewhere. We are planning to start teaching recorder lessons to DS and DD next month. I need to get a recorder book first.

[Melfish]

Going rate round here (outer SW London) is £20 per half hour individual lesson. That’s what mine and DD’s teachers charge (all different teachers).

[finova]

£58 per term for school drum lessons but that’s for 20 minutes in a group of, so not great.
So have supplemented with the the local council drum lessons. £13.50 a month for a weekly 45 minute lesson, currently just 2 in the group. My 6 year old has started the 30 minute drum lesson for £9.50 per month

[TheWildRumpyPumpus]

£10 for 30 mins piano.
£20 for 30 mins violin.
Recorder free at school
County choir £80 a term 75 mins a week
Additional regional music group £10 a term for 3 hours a week

X 2 children

Haven’t dared add up how much we spend a year on music 🙈

[hertsandessex]

School around £200 per term for half an hour a week. Privately around us £35-40 per hour if travelling to teacher. Have paid £100+ occasionally for top level. Specialist music school - 3 hours a week for free (well included in fees with MDS assistance so I think of them as free ) Overall 3 DSs and multiple instruments really does add up. Too scared to work out the total over the years. Incidentally one of my DCs who is still at school has started teaching and I think charges £6 per half-hour teaching very young children the basics on piano to get them going. Some people seem happy with this budget option.

[PetraDelphiki]

£48 ph first instrument, £55 2nd (both outside school), £25 per half hour 3rd at school

Plus aural lessons £25 per half hour every 2 weeks when have an exam coming up, £65 per term Orchestra....

It really does add up quite scarily!!!

[fourlittlekangaroos]

Sounds like we're in good company then! I find that if you are earning under 30K then, rightly, there's quite a lot of help available eg, through future talent and other trusts, but if you earn between 30-40k then you are treated in the same bracket as 200k!
I think we live in the least affordable city too!

[NeleusTheStatue]

Well, if you start counting the cost for more specialised training like JD, a proper investment on instruments, and with multiple DCs, the total spending can easily be equivalent to independent school fees!

It wasn't that expensive at the beginning. Swimming or tennis were more expensive! But as DS advanced and started challenging all sorts of opportunities, the cost gradually increased. A good thing for us is it happened gradually over the years so we had time to adjust our expectation. However, I am sure I would be shocked if I knew how much we would be paying in a few years time when DS started his music lesson...

[Eroica]

It varies quite a bit, even in one place!

Piano- £36 p.h.
Clarinet- £40 p.h.
DD percussion- £24 p.h. 1:1 via school
DS percussion- £20 p.h. 2:1
Conservatoire... shit loads. Can't even begin to calculate
NCO is also c.£2k p.a.
Choir is £200 p.a.

[Moominmammacat]

One year, with courses, travel, junior conservatoire, concert dresses, music, accompanists, exams, the whole lot ... it came to almost £10,000 for my two.

[elfonshelf]

A lot...

Piano - £24/half-hour via school
Voice - £70/hour private 1:1

DD is only 10, but performs professionally and I know her teachers stop her from developing bad habits and are teaching her in a way that means she should, if careful (and lucky) have the training and skills necessary for an adult career in this area. So I consider it money well spent - and at least I haven't had to fork out thousands on a tuba or have the logistical joy of managing a harp on the tube.

Her primary has fantastic schemes for children on FSM (and those who are in the 'just can't quite run to it' bracket) where individual lessons are subsidised or completely free, plus a huge amount of free group music, drama and dance. We are very fortunate.

Most extra-curricular activities seem to end up costing a fortune - DD dances as well but not competitively like many of her friends. Lessons might only be £10/hr which seems a snip compared with music, but add in exams, shoes, costumes, entry fees, travel etc even the singing begins to seem reasonable.

[rememberatime]

My daughter has had cello lessons via her school since she was 8. This was incredibly cheap at around £60 per term. Orchestra fees are £30 per term, plus cello hire.

When she started college the school lessons stopped and a replacement teacher was too much for us to afford at £500 per year.. term time only. So we looked into a scholarship and were lucky to win it. it now pays for two years of lessons and she will get to grade 8 in that time. We have only just been able to buy her a cello of her own.

As a single parent on a low income I have been reliant on local council run lesson schemes and orchestras. But looking at her orchestra friends, they are invariably very well off and do not struggle like we have. Music lessons really are often only for those who can afford it - which is so sad.

[Toomanybaubles]

Ours are really cheap, excellent teacher goes into secondary for the whole day to teach several wind instruments £14 for 30 minutes.

[horseymum]

Piano is £10 per half hour ( non-qualified teacher, oboe is £20 ( not told the piano teacher this!). I still see it as excellent value for the years of training he had done, plus he comes to the house, which is worth loads to me.

[Trumpetboysmum]

I can’t bear to add it up - but it’s a lot !! I feel your pain . There are bursaries around ( for example Future Talent) which can be used to pay for things like Pro Corda might be worth a look

[Enb76]

£30 for 45 mins piano
£24 for 1hr classical guitar
£50 for 1hr voice (classical and mine)
My daughter has lessons every week, mine are fortnightly.

I do understand the cost, people have to make a living. The music education in school is done by the non-specialist class teacher and is more hindrance than help whereas I went to a specialist music school. I would like to see more music in schools but curriculum and time constraints seem to make it one of the first things to go. When I was at school we also did a double lesson of drama each week and had an afternoon of art. Admittedly I was at an independent school and my daughter is at state but it was the same number of school hours and arguably better results. I don’t know what the answer is but narrowing school curriculums doesn’t seem to be a force for good.

[Boyskeepswinging]

£35 for an hour 1:1 lesson for first instrument. About £200 per term for weekly half hour 1:1 lessons for second and third instruments. Eye watering membership fees for NCO. Less eye watering for County and local music service.
I was so lucky to have free lessons and instrument loan when I was at school. I am paying a small fortune to give my DS the same opportunities nowadays.