Music lessons for children - cost

[greyweek]

I emailed our local authority’s children services music lesson provider for prices as they’ve got many ads at the moment about how beneficial and affordable they are. And this is what I got -
Prices / Durations:
30 minutes - £30
45 minutes - £40
60 minutes - £50
As this is not fully private provider, but one supported by the council, I was very surprised - to me these are unaffordable, especially as this will have to be a long term commitment.
Is music a more accessible extracurricular option where you live?

2) around grade 4/5 where technique and musical interpretation become more of a concern.

Technique is crucial right from the start.

During Covid we had two university music students come to the house to teach. Both played beautifully. Both were dismal at teaching.

I was relieved when the full time teachers re-opened.

Well of course, there's increasing difficulty of playing technique as you advance though.

There's dismal professional teachers too - I've had them! Royal Academy of Music and Royal College of Music graduates with years of teaching under their belts. I was exclusively taught by professional accredited teachers and still picked up bad technique that had to be later corrected by more competent teachers.

My point was more that if lessons are totally unaffordable from the avenues OP has already explored that they could also see if there's cheaper lessons being offered elsewhere - e.g. by students who could have become professionals, who were talented players with diplomas under their belts (and/or ex-NYO players or competition winners) who have a solid technique and a willingness to engage with children in a positive manner.

My students have all attained merits and distinctions (more distinctions than merits) and have won scholarships and competitions despite the fact that I didn't go to a conservatoire. I have also been very honest and upfront to the parents of my students and signposted them to professional instructors when children have shown talent, but two returned to me because I made Music more enjoyable and the children didn't want to be professional performers.

Bad technique can be corrected - if it's a toss up between never learning music and having to correct technique later on, then I'd prefer the latter as a parent

yes 20 mins is about a £1 per minute, then 30 minutes is £25 ish. Council is similar to private firms in London. There are union minimum rates that the council have to abide by.

Yours seem a bit pricey though for 30 mins but they seem to even out with longer lessons.

Shared lessons is the way forward! Especially as a beginner.

Some elements of what teachers call "bad technique" are actually things which children will improve at naturally as they grow and gain strength. I learnes two instruments beyond grade 8 and now notice as an adult that some teachers will go on and on about technique as a bit of an excuse for slow progress.

I've seen videos of me playing as a primary school child with quite a lot of dodgy technique and the comments on some of my early grade sheets note aspects of that, it didn't stop me getting merits to grade 8 & enjoying playing in lots of local & selective orchestras etc. I just got better as i got older and had maturity and more control & strength.

No, i'll never be a virtuoso performer but most parents want their child to have music lessons as a hobby, not with a view to them going to music college or a career in music.

@AgingLikeGazpacho you sound like my ideal teacher! Ive got frustrated with the "professionals" teaching my son, as they refuse to acknowledge what we actually want, which is for him to learn and enjoy music to hobby standard. No he won't be practising for an hour a day at age 8, or having two lessons a week, and I'd rather he got 115 in abrsm grade 3 than spent 2 years over grade 2 in order to get a distinction.