Are 30 minute lessons sufficient? I've never had piano lessons, but am self taught, playing as long as I can remember, yet not great by any means...

I guess I could start off with 30 minute lessons, then bump them up to an hour if I'm not satisfied. But at the same time... I feel the idea of the additional cost would make me content with the 30 minute lessons.

Any advice would be great.

Start with 30 and see how it goes. If there is a rushed feeling then you need more time. Does this teacher do 45 minutes? That might be perfect.

Thank you for responding. I posted to another board and people seem to think 30 mins is best as well. Not sure if he does 45 mins, but I will ask should I feel the 30 mins isn't sufficient.

I find for most of my adult students that 30 minutes is never enough, even for beginner adults. 45 minutes is good if the teacher offers it, otherwise an hour certainly won't go to waste.

The last teacher my son took from - a very high level teacher, laughed when I asked her if it would be a 30 mintue or 60 minutes lesson. "He won't be able to handle more than 30 minutes of me!" She was right. She moved the lessons along quickly, crammed a lot in, and they accomplished an amazing amount in 30 minutes.

As I've mentioned before, piano was not his primary instrument, and it was all he could do to keep up with what she was giving him in half an hour. But I believe that even with her most serious students, she only did 30 minutes. She is probably the most respected teacher among other teachers here in the area, and teaches many of the top students.

I've found that on the occasion that I teach a longer lesson - perhaps because I'm making up a missed lesson at the same time - I have to slow down, repeat pieces a lot more, do flashcards and more theory and such. My students (all beginners) don't have enough attention to work hard on music for 60 minutes straight. (Some of my more distractable students could do with more time, but that would be punishing me.)

I find that when we get to intermediate levels of playing it's very hard to get through everything they're working on. Many of these students have interests in composing and/or playing jazz, and so there's supplemental things we do on top of that. In a 30 minute lesson for these kids, I'm always rushing through and I still don't get to hear everything they've worked on. That extra 15 minutes gives me time to cover details that I would otherwise have to gloss over.

30 min lessons are standard but it depends on how much practice you are going to put in. If you are going to put in a lot than more can be covered at the lesson and you would need more time, 45 min. or an hour. 30 min or hour or 45 min is never a waste of money if you have the correct teacher and are improving.

Thanks for all the responses. I've decided to go with 60 mins to start with. He needs to see where I am and I don't know how he is, etc, etc. Plus, the idea of 30 minutes seems too short to me. But I like the idea of 45 mins... If I feel it's too much, I'll probably drop it down to that.

Good call!

30 minutes is too short to get anything accomplished.

Best of luck to your lessons!

+1

1/2 hour lessons are a monumental waste of your money and time. Most of my lessons are 50 min, right from day one, unless the parents/students indicate there might be tight financial concerns, then we down-size, with the understanding that in the long run, they are paying more.

I want my adult students to have an hour lesson. How we use it will depend on where they are musically, how fast and how far we can accelerate levels, and how much remedial work might be needed. I want time for building in some additional knowledge besides the music assignment itself: music theory, music appreciation, composer eras and characteristice, time for touch and technique, scales, chords, arpeggios and movement studies to help the physical development of the student. Time to talk to each other and plan and assess the music choices as to contents and difficulty factors. Time to learn how to practice.

Lessons of 30 minutes give you about 20+ hours of lessons per year. An hour will give you 40+ hours of support and forward motion to reaching your goals.

It doesn't seem like a lot, but combined with the students efforts at home of about 3 - 5 hours of practice as a minimum for an adult student on their piano, it is enough to make good progress and to be working toward establishing good musicianship skills.

As someone who has been teaching yourself, don't be discouraged if there are places where you teacher wants to review or even reconstruct. This is what you are paying him or her for - their intelligence and guidance - do not think of it as an attack to your ego. It isn't. Don't think of it as a waste of time, it isn't.

Being able to take instruction from your teacher is in your ball park. When you hear yourself saying negative things, you must turn that around to find the positive of what is being asked of you. There are certain mind sets that do incredibly well with piano study, and cooperation and collaboration for an adult student and the teacher is way up there in desirability.

So be that kind of a student, you won't regret it. Communicate with the teacher, don't try to hide problems or things you are not understanding. Lessons may take weeks to master, and things may have to be repeated many times before it clicks into being.

Patience. Self discipline. Perseverance.

Sometimes, a teacher offer the hour lesson at a reduced rate. I do that to encourage people to take the hour because we can do so much more given ample time in which to do it. Half hour lessons always seem to cut you off in mid-sentence of something important.

Good luck!

Betty Patnude

Good to hear the thoughts of John, and betty, morodiene, azn. I think I have finally come to that realisation too, so it's good to hear that others have found the same. The longer lesson means faster progress, which leads to a momentum and excitement about piano which ensures a satisfying long term development. If there isn't time to do *all the other things besides obvious first priorities things can really drag for a student. And when it comes to even the easier exams, 1/2 hour a week is definitely not enough!
*not that i've ever managed to fit in all important things :-/

Interesting discussion. I teach 30 minute lessons to most of my adult students. It seems they are so busy that they aren't prepared to handle more than that. My younger students all have 45 minutes or an hour.