How much do you pay for music tuition in your school?

[musiccost]

Our school (well, the provider) has just increased music tuition in school by over 60% in one year and Im just curious what others are paying if you wouldn’t mind?

Last year we paid £505 for the whole year (split into terms) for 20 minutes (private) sessions. This year they’re increasing to £825 which equates to £25 a session. I don’t think they differentiate between instrument.

Is this average or a lot for you?

(State school in the midlands).

That does seem high. DD has private lessons outside school. One is £20 for 30 minutes (about the going rate) and the other £35 for an hour. When she had private lessons in school, they were about £20 for half an hour.

Thank you. That’s what I thought, I suspect it’s a mistake because the school have just switched from a 5 term year to 6 term year (the payments are termly so that’s adding it up to £825). I’m pretty sure it’s wrong but the teacher I spoke to seems adamant. So building my case 🤣

I could believe that amount for half an hour although still find it on the high side, but not for 20 minutes - that’s ridiculous.

£65 per term (3 terms) for group lessons of 20 mins - dd has these and shares with one other. Just had a look and it’s £130 per term for individual 15 min lesson.

I pay £350 per term.

Privately we pay £18.50 for piano.

School cap half an hour costs at £16.50 (Cheshire)

£260 per term for 30 min lessons.

We pay privately - £19-20 per half hour (two venues).

Musicians union suggest £45.50 an hour as the minimum. So this works out a good bit higher than that. I guess if you are in a very remote area with a small number of pupils for each teacher it may well be higher to include travelling.

£30 for 30 mins. Private teacher coming into a private school

40€ per child per month, for :

2x30 min individual lessons per week
1x60 min group theory lesson per week
1x 120 min orchestra rehearsal per week
Instrument hire for 1st year, and beyond, if required.

Not in UK. State funded.

OP, unless there’s some extenuating circumstance that makes sense of a reason for a very high price, like you’re playing harp on a remote island, I think you’ve caught a mistake. We have lessons both sides of what you’re set to pay. Our school lessons (London, independent but no music included in fees and no subsidy from anywhere) are £250 for ten 30 minute lessons, so that’s less. Then main instrument we do outside of school with a super top level teacher, which is £80 per hour in central London. Which is just a tiny bit more than what you’re paying if you work it out to cost per minute or whatever. That’s for professional level coaching, not student grades. Our school lessons are normal secondary school lessons like what you’d expect and their price is in line. (DC has one super talent but is trying to pick up two instruments that do not come naturally like the other!)

If that gives you a scale point to compare? I mean there are teachers who can command hundreds per hour of course but for what you’ve been quoted, I would be expecting someone exceptionally well qualified and proven and would want to hire them for quite a serious student rather than hobby level learning. Good luck!

Thanks all. So the finance manager has doubled down and told me that the school has been covering the rising costs over the last few years but no longer can and that’s why parents are seeing a sudden increase in one year.

Ive asked for the provider’s details (as it’s their costs apparently) because either there’s a mistake, or if there isn’t as they say, there is some serious profiteering happening. We are in a very low socioeconomic area, music curriculum is next to zero in the school, no music teachers any more, it’s a damn shame. I’m not letting it go though. They are part of a trust and I’m interested to know what arrangements there are with this provider. I’m sadly not joining up my son again though.

It was £20 for half hour, now £21.

I pay £20 for half an hour for my son's guitar lessons. He does this outside of school, though.

£47 per 30 minute lesson at our independent school. That does include the VAT.

£50/45 min.

Primary school. Around £100 a term for 15 minute lessons.

£260 per long term for 11x 30-minute lessons. Hourly rate for 20 minutes lessons is marginally more expensive. Small group lessons are much cheaper. This is our city's music service which provides lessons in school or at the city music centre.

Private piano & violin lessons for beginners have ranged from £13 (bargain!) to £20 for 30 minutes.

My DD has music lessons at school (external tutor - £15 for 30 mins), at our local music service (council run - £29 for 30 minutes) and externally (£16-18 for 30 minutes).

It was only recently that I twigged how much more expensive the council lessons are - we are lucky that we can afford it, and I’m sure they offer assistance with costs for low income families, but their rate is almost twice what you’d pay elsewhere!

we pay £200 for a term (10 x30 mins) and £100 for the same in a duo class.

I charge £18 per 30 minute individual lesson. The school charges me 50p for that lesson - they give me a room and do my timetable for me. I know I'm at the cheaper end but I am finishing at the end of this term and am not reliant on it as my main source of income (plus I only have 4 students).

A local secondary school charges something like £55 per hour. They take an admin fee from that for supplying the teacher, but the some of the teachers earn less than half of that. Those with QTS command more money, irrespective of how good a teacher they are. When I worked in a primary school, this secondary school was the hub school and tried to insist that all music teachers came from there. We already had a mix with some from there and some independent and took the decision to ditch them due to the cost and poor quality/attitude of who they supplied.

A previous poster has supplied the MU rates, so that's what I would take to the school. It sounds as though they are trying to make money from the provision. You will almost certainly be able to find a teacher more cheaply; you could ask whether or not the teacher would be prepared to move to a private arrangement instead.

@musiccost the cost sounds normal (and in on the low end of normal for private lessons)

Schools often subsidise the cost but I know my son’s primary had to stop because they couldn’t afford to any more.

i understand your shock at suddenly having to pay market rate. Some schools offer concession rates for low income families. Try asking about that. Or look at getting alternative tutoring out of school. Ask in local parent groups for some recommended teachers in your budget.

£460 for the year. 20mins 1:1 each term week.

@Elembeeeewe’re not a low income family. It does not appear to be market rate from what I’ve found online or on here.