Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum How much do you pay for lessons?

I pay 280 dollars a semester for half hour lessons once a week. but usually miss a week or two out of the 15 week semester. Mondays and Fridays are the worse days for lessons because those are the most probable days in which Holidays fall. I figure it cost somewhere between 20 and 25 dollar per lesson.
Considering the calaber of most university teaching, I feel its the best bang for your buck out there. That is if your university is a low cost one like mine.

I'm sorry if I deviate greatly from the present thread but since replying above, I was minded of my previous experience of "Piano Lessons" some 50 years ago. At the time, my brother and I were forced to sit in front of a large black grand piano in our home to practice for a half hour each day. We had piano lessons, in fact, over a period of about three years we had three different piano teachers; our mother thought it was the tutors who were failing not her precious son's who were not absorbing. Our final piano teacher was a man who these days would be politely described as "morbidly obese", he sat beside his old upright piano, chain smoking cigarettes, occasionally noisely clearing his throat and spitting into a nearby open fire. His method of teaching involved a 12 inch wooden ruler which he held poised to crack down on the knuckles of any pupil who was unfortunate enough to hit a wrong note. On the day of our lesson my brother, who was my elder, had the first slot, whilst I waited my turn I often witnessed him getting the ruler across his knuckles. I can never understand why, but despite my only sitting in front of our grand piano at home and not doing any real practicing, when my turn came to show the teacher what I'd learned I was note perfect....I never got the ruler. When I recently returned to piano playing I could only remember that middle "c" was opposite the keyhole on an acoustic piano, and neither my brother or I can remember the name of the grand piano we had in our home, therefore, the ruler method of teaching is not recommended.

Paying money to get punished for playing a wrong note? Unreal. I'm glad times have changed. Especially since I play wrong notes very often at lessons.

In any case, my lessons are about $80 per month. That's for 4 weekly half-hour lessons, a good price, I think. Being able to play on the digital pianos there makes it even better.

21.50 half hour

I have seen plenty of ads here in Mn for $10 per half hour in peoples homes.

Mmmm... I get mine really cheap I guess.. I pay € 13,00 for a hour. That is $17 or 8.8 brit pounds. I told her (my teacher) she should charge more but she is happy ... well I'm too of course

would you say one 30 mins lesson per week is ok?

Yikes ... at these prices (taking into account the absurd conversion rate in Pretoria) ... for £20 (UK) or $40 (US) I’d lay on a lesson ... lunch and a beer ... the return air-trip could prove a bit pricey though!!

Choppin,

In my experience one 1/2 hour lesson per week is the norm, especially for beginners. There are definite advantages to a longer lesson for more advanced players or adults, which I will try to explain below.

One lesson a week is usually perfect for most people. It's kind of hard to make enough progress to justify two or more lessons a week unless you practice 3 + hours every day. IMO, that would be for someone who in very advanced already.

As far as the length of the lesson, it depends on both the student and what different topics are covered in the lesson. When you think about everything you might need to cover in lessons, 30 minutes can end up a bit rushed. However, if you are mostly just playing the pieces you are practicing, then an hour lesson is hard to prepare for.

I find that 30 minutes often cuts out (or limits the time spent on) some of the following topics:
- sightreading. (Learning to play music you have never played before correctly at first try.)
- theory.
- ear training. (learning to recognize notes and intervals by sound.)
Of course, the above topics can also be assigned for your own practice with occasional checks during the lessons.

Check some of the postings by John v.d.Brook in the teachers forum. He uses a longer lesson - about 45 - 50 minutes and records the lesson on DVD-RW's for the students and teachers to review.

Hope this helps answer your question,
Rich

Choppin, I think the important thing is to get into a regular routine. I personally think a longer lesson is more beneficial, but I'm sure there are other people on the forum who are making very good progress with 1/2 hour lessons.

I take a one hour lesson every other week, and I don't have any trouble with slacking - usually I can only just about manege to get through everything my teacher assigns in time for the next lesson. The only complaint I have is that I very rarely have the chance to work on anything my teacher hasn't assigned!

Donna

$23/hr now. New teacher and not like my previous teacher, who I think is still one of the best out there and then I paid either $10 or $12 for a half hr.

$1 per min here in central New Jersey

We could save a lot of money and time if we could sidestep piano teachers and replace with the limitless power of the Piano Forum ... teachers are characterized by a certain level of competence ... all know the basics ... which initially allows them to give lessons to beginners ... but when the pupil overshoots the Piano teacher’s limit of competence (so often at the plateau stage) ... surely it’s time to look to the power of the Forum to guide the next stage of progress ... and access daily support.

I am paid in Spanish Doubloons by Frank I ... to write this rot ... but think it over folks ... why pay those fat dollars, Pounds and Euros ... when you have a 24000 membership to help point the way at the touch of a button.

the Piano Forum is not next to you as you play.. it cannot point out flaws in execution.. it cannot hear what you play... it cannot show you how to hold your wrists or shoulders or how to proceed from note to note.


the forum is indeed invaluable. One of the most important things it taught me was the importance of a teacher.. something i pooh poohed vocally and wish i could retract, now that i have one.

perhaps btb you were being funny.. i'm not sure.

(i pay pretty much and would pay more if i could).

btb:

You again, same subject, different column! You are stirring

OK, I'm opening Pandora's Box here quoting something in your posting, and I'm going to twist it both ways, just to make a point. Is my twisting stuff okay with you, or do you have the edge on that? I think there is great room to misunderstand people's intentions in this forum. After all, we are simply "ink" in our communication efforts, and that is a small part of our identities overall.

FROM btb: "....when the pupil OVERshoots the piano teacher’s limit of competence"....(to teach)

This partial quote reverses nicely to....when the self learner UNDERshoots his or her level of competence....(to teach him/herself).....

My comment is merely to suggest that it works both ways, and in truth, we should always be aware of when that is happening.

I enjoy the forum very much, but it is not an end all source of information - sometimes it is downright faulty - or misleading - however, the forum is very supportive at the same time and there is a wealth of information here if you can discern the difference.

Certainly "Frank" can find a better use of his money if he's "paying" you, as there are quite a few accomplished teachers who frequent the forum's already doing this "service". This should be an equal opportunity employer situation and there should certainly be an interview involved - or have you simply been ordained?

New venue!

Here in San Francisco, lessons go from about $40-$75 and up per hour...$40 is generally for a younger teacher with not as much experience, or even a music student.

North East England here - £24 p/h

I had 1/2 hour lessons to begin with and went up to 45 mins after about 5 months, just now gone up to an hour after 2 years.

Have a look on here for London teachers - you might someone more affordable:

http://www.uk-piano.org/piano_teachers/London/2-0.html

You can get lessons in the South East UK (which includes London and is one of the most expensive places to live in Europe) for £20 or less an hour and this may be fine for adult beginners and children.

In my personal experience, some people who claim to be able to teach the piano, and who are typically charging at the lower end of the scale, are not especially skilled in their chosen field. It is cheap per hour, but expensive in terms of value. You may make slow progress.

You can also pay £50 and hour or more for a seriously skilled concert pianist with excellent teaching skills. Beginners may not get as much value out of this as a much more advanced player would.

You tend to get what you pay for. If you aspire to rapid progress, excellent technique development and the ability to play - and crucially, have demonstrated to you - advanced repertoire, then a top notch teacher is money well spent in my opinion.

I also think that our value judgements are awry at times. It can easily cost you £200 an hour, even £500 and hour to hire a partner in a law firm or Chartered Accountancy practice. Fees for consultant surgeons and such like are also high.

It takes many years to learn to play the piano extremely well, and to add first class teaching skills to that, so one could argue that paying a fair price for the benefit of all that skill and experience is cheap at the prices typically charged.

Kind regards

Adrian

Here in Hamburg I pay €80 (approx $109 or £54) per month for four one-hour lessons. My teacher is a young Japanese lady who recently graduated from the Hamburg Conservatory. The only problem I have with her is related to the fact that she speaks no English, only German and Japanese! Nevertheless, I think I'm getting very good value for money, especially since I get to play a Sauter Grand once a week!

Putting down $ or £ per hour really tells you very little. As DragonPianoPlayer and AJB note, the type of teacher and level of training can vary. Searching out a teacher based primarily on price ignores the other side of the equation ...return on your investment.

Having said this, in my area the price charged by most piano teachers is in the mid thirties per hour. These are mostly teachers who work with beginning and intermediate level students, and most of them do not have graduate training or a conservatory background, and most are not earning their daily bread by performance.

At the local university the hourly rate is higher (50+ per hour). Here you receive training from performing pianists with conservatory and/or academic credentials.