Music - would you pay for this?

[wishiwasinbarbados]

hi. I'm wondering how to make a bit of money whilst the music industry is closed and we have no money coming in. (This would be from a pro classically trained musician.)

Would you pay for any of the following..

1. an on line brass lesson not from usual teacher
2. an on line theory lesson not from usual teacher
3. a pay-per-view type of access to online practise exercises or tips.
4. assessment of a performed piece on line.

Or any suggestions that you would pay for?

Thanks.

TeaAndBiscuits666
That's not really what I was thinking at all. I was thinking people might be keen to pick up some tips from a top professional player.

Imagine asking Lewis Hamilton for a driving lesson and expecting to pay £5 for 30mins! I'm not saying we are a Lewis Hamilton equivalent, but we're worth a bit more than £10 per hour! We both have a lot of teaching experience and qualifications by the way. We just need to generate more teaching and wondered if it was worth advertising one a national scale.

I think if pitched like an online masterclass it could work. I don't know if 'public' brass days are a thing but I've done a couple of flute things (in person) and getting a 1 off lesson from an orchestral pro is very much a thing there. Worst bit is having an audience! So online solves that! Think I paid around £50 on top of the weekend fee for the live masterclass.

In person brass/wind lessons probably on hiatus for a while at a guess so having something to aim for could be a good thing for those who do have time!

Probably similar to in person rate of the teacher, so would expect to pay more for LSO than a regional orchestra.

Maybe charge similar to a (non-subsidised) festival class entry fee for an assessment of a recording?

£5/ 30 minutes sounds like a school/music centre basically funding lessons and charging a nominal amount to try to increase engagement. Would expect £30/half hour, £50/hour, but my experience is very much based on rural areas so limited money/demand for high cost teaching (both my teachers that I paid for had diplomas)

Fair enough @wishiwasinbarbados I think I had the wrong idea of what you were offering.

It's not something I would pay for, but I hope you find a way to generate some income. Best of luck.

Yes I would (and I have) if you are "prestigious"

To give an example. I paid for an hour online lesson for ds with a West End Assistant Musical Director. I paid £40 for an hour which is obviously cheaper than his usual rate.

People have paid my dh for one off online lessons too. He is a specialist voice coach and is known for being able to help with specific vocal issues or sometimes a persons regular teacher will recommend him.

I did say no to £200 for an online lesson with someone from Hamilton on Broadway though!!!!!!!!

Maybe yes for a few sessions for advice lessons or Masterclasses. (Not in brass in our case, I'm afraid.) I would have reservation for getting weekly lessons in this format, though, as a good musician doesn't necessarily equate to a good teacher. I really value 'teaching' experience and expertise of my DC's instrumental teachers. On the other hand, it may be interesting to get a few pieces of advice from a professional musician. I don't know the rates for other areas, but parents around here (Greater London) on average seem to pay about £20 per 30 minutes for 'normal' face-to-face lessons. People would probably pay a bit more for a special advice lesson. Are you thinking of just for brass? Or do you have a group of professionals who can offer lessons in various instruments? Oh, another point to bear in mind is that some music teachers do not like their pupils to have second teachers, as they could confuse pupils, or for fear of poaching. Anyway, I wish you good luck with this endeavour!

I done think the racing driver analogy is helpful!
If I want to pass my driving test I don’t want or need tips to excel at formula 1 driving, just as if I’m starting out with an instrument I need to learn the basics properly first.

You might do better with pitching to adults? They may not be bothered about grades and doing it forever - might just want a boost and help to learn a specific piece? With less commuting going on they might have time? A local fb group that will have an older audience without young kids would be the one to market at. More likely to be able to pay a good hourly rate too.

Eg got a trumpet? Not picked up your trombone since school? Would you like to learn ‘insert cool music piece?’ Blah blah etc

I think adults might be a good market to tap into. I'm self taught and play first horn in my local brass band and am definitely suffering from lack of band practice! FB group Bored Bandsmen is massive and they'd probably give you some ideas?

DD is doing quite a few masterclasses in drama and singing alongside her normal music lessons (both of those have switched to FaceTime and are working really well).

I've paid anything between £15 and £70 for an hour depending on whether 1:2:1 or group and how good a fit the masterclass is. A lot of the small group classes are around the £25/hr mark and no shortage of applicants.

If she was at the stage where she was about to sit theory exams, then I would definitely pay someone to tutor her (I can just about supervise the homeschool videos, but any attempt at teaching is a nightmare for all concerned).

We're singing and piano I'm afraid, but I wish you lots of luck!

I, too, think you might do best to go after adults. I play in two amateur orchestras, and there are a lot of amateur musicians out there who have got some time freed up by cancellation of rehearsals, and who are in need of something different to do with their music-making. Some are dusting off the studies or solo pieces, and I suspect some would like some external input to help motivate until there's a concert to work towards. Some are taking up a second instrument, if they have one in the house.

The other advantage of adults is that they're probably interested in "during lockdown" - whereas with youngsters they've probably got a tacher, and even if not, they'd want one who will be available for face-to-face lessons post-lockdown.

Maybe contact amateur bands and orchestras and ask if they'd put out an advert. You could even ask if they'd like some sort of zoom masterclass - if you offered that, people would have a chance to see whether they liked your style.

One of my orchestras has a weekly zoom meeting where we meet with a professional musician (often one who has played a concerto with us) who tells us a bit about their career and so on - it's a good way to keep in touch as a group.

There's usually a market for short-term courses in music theory, but that's probably on hold a little until ABRSM have a definite plan for exam dates!

This is exactly the kind of thing I'm looking for for myself, though unfortunately I'm strings and not brass. I'm a fairly serious adult learner and my regular teacher doesn't want to do online lessons. I'd be willing to pay £40-£60 per hour for a teacher with good teaching and performing credentials (before lockdown I had a one-off lesson with a conservatoire professor and I think I paid £40/hour and actually I would have paid more if necessary). I don't know where I'd start looking for teacher who'd be willing to do this though, and I don't know where you could look for students either, unfortunately. I do agree with other posters that it's probably not something that parents would look for for their children, except maybe for exam or audition preparation, unless it's for an older teenager who maybe wants to experience some different teaching styles or get a different perspective on their playing. And someone made a good point that teachers often don't want their students learning with someone else - I do think this is an abnormal situation though.

(Sorry for the less than coherent post. I couldn't see what I was typing for some reason, so I just had to hope for the best!)

Both my DDs play brass instruments and are lucky enough to have teachers who are in a position to teach them online so I wouldn't be looking to double up on those.

DD1 is in Y10 and doing GCSE music. She's very aware that even once schools go back, it's unlikely that things will be straightforward for brass and wind groups because of concerns about transmission via water droplets or aerosol distribution. As far as we know, there is not yet any plan for what GCSE assessment in 2021 will look like so DD1 feels she needs to find a way to record something that would work for an ensemble performance. With that in mind, I might be interested in a professional brass player spending some time online with her to help explore suitable repertoire, how a decent home recording might be achieved and how to improve her confidence/self-belief.

Personally, whether or not you hold a good position in a prestigious orchestra/wherever wouldn't matter to me. If you are a state-educated, female trumpeter, I would be more likely to consider finding out if you might be able to support DD1 than if you're male or privately educated. This is because it's hard to find trumpeter role models that reflect DD's background and she is becoming increasingly intimidated by what she feels are extremely confident, often privately educated, male trumpeters - she's never had a female trumpet teacher.

In terms of pay, I'd expect to pay whatever the MU recommended rate is. That's what we pay DD2's teacher (DD1 attends a JD so it's harder to isolate the cost of instrumental lessons).

DS has drums and brass for £17/ half hour and piano for £13/half hour normally. I wouldn't pay more than that for tuition online.

I know this conversation is a few weeks old now but I hope you’re discounting the £5 suggestions. You’re time is clearly worth more and there will be a market for you. I’d have thought the master class option would be good for teens. My sister has looked at similar things for my niece in ballet and would jump at the chance to have more input for my nephew who is doing a diploma (different instrument).