Piano Lessons for DDs and myself

[newpup]

Have just hired a secondhand piano for DDs and myself to learn on. We have never played before although we all read music and DDs are learning an instrument already. I have no idea how much lessons are.

Also, can the DDs share a lesson? Do tutors come to you or you to them, if they come to you is this extra? DD1 has music lessons at school (clarinet) and DD2 has music lessons privately (violin). We go to the violin teacher. Is it better to have lessons on your own piano or does it matter?

Would be grateful for any advice.

Music lessons - I think there are recommended rates for qualified teachers. (Perhaps have a look on web?)

We have a teacher come to us, and I think that makes it a bit more (teacher's travel costs, & time spent travelling which could otherwise be spent teaching, all makes sense). I don't think the exact piano really matters in the early stages - ds used to learn on a ropy school one & then practise at home on an electric one.

Re sharing lesson - wouldn't do that, but you could do sequential - that's what we do, half an hour for dd, who's pre- any grades, 45 mins for ds, who's coming up for Gr2. If they're behaving [once in blue moon, ahem] they can listen in to each other's lesson (like a "concert").

Re finding teacher: school peripatetics often do private lessons; music college can give you names; music shops; word of mouth.

Thanks Bink. I did try and look for costs on the web but none of the links gave a price.

I pay £12 for 30 minutes for DS to go to teacher's house, if this helps.

Thank you Mrs Muddle. I had no idea how much, we pay £12.50 for 30 minutes violin so that sounds about the same. I guess they charge travel costs to come to your house. I am really looking forward to learning, always wanted to as a child. DDs are both musical and have been asking for one for about a year now too.

Hope they get on with it, but we are only hiring for 6 months just in case. The first thing I noticed about this house when we looked around was that there was room for a piano!

I teach piano, cello and flute (along with doing other musically minded things). Generally, in my area (South East) lesson are charged at around £10 to £15 a half hour, depending on whether the lessons are held at the teacher's venue, or at the pupil's house. It will also depend on the teacher' qualifications - a student (albeit one of a high standard) will charge less than a teacher of established reputation.

It really doesn't matter if you learn on your piano or another piano, although they will have a different 'feel' - some actions are stiffer than others, others are more responsive - it depends on the quality of the instrument.

I'd expect you to have separate lessons - I teach a child and her father and they follow on from each other.

When looking for a suitable teacher, make sure that you have someone who can connect with your DC as well as yourself - it's quite a different matter to teach children as opposed to adults.

Thank you shellingpeas. Do you think it is acceptable to ask for a half hour lesson and for each child to have 15 mins each? I did not expect myself to join in with the DDs but hoped they could share a half hour lesson between them.

Initially, while the children are beginners, I would have no problem with splitting the lesson although 15 minutes each doesn't give a great deal of time. Having said that sometimes 30 minutes with a single pupil can seem like a VERY long time indeed!

I think you'll need to discuss this with prospective teachers and find one willing to split a lesson, perhaps with 20 minutes per child, rather than 15 minutes.

I don't think it matters having lessons on your own piano, in fact, it can be useful to know how different pianos feel as if you ever perform anywhere or take exams you will be playing a different piano. My dcs have always had 30min lessons from beginners to grade 7 standard & found that to be fine. In the early days they covered a little music theory in that time as well. Costs vary hugely, our first piano teacher was very inexpensive as she wasn't highly qualified, but a good teacher none the less, fine in my opinion for beginners although there does seem to be a lot of snobbery in music circles around who your teacher is so it wouldn't suit everyone. Ds (the only one of the two to continue with piano) now has lessons at school - this is brilliant in terms of convenience, and as it happens in terms of having an excellent teacher and free lessons, but this is more luck of the draw - worth looking into though.

I have found teachers through musicteachers.co.uk/

I pay £12/30 minute lesson for teacher to come to the house, as it fits in well with her own timetable.

Thank you everyone for your advice.

Snorkle - our school offers some music lessons but not piano, unfortunately.

Shellingpeas, 40 mins shared between two sounds better to me - thank you.