What do you want to learn? I think, people who are returning to playing should spend some time on their own. Read through some old pieces, improvise, compose some little ditties, etc. Find out what you really want to do. Music is a vast field that no one person can know.

In 1995 I decided to find a good teacher after a few average ones. I was working in Manhattan at the time. I found an add in the Yellow Pages and decided to call that person. We spoke on the phone for a while and when I asked him what he charges, he asked me to come to his studio and he will discuss everything face to face.

When I arrived I found that he was an older person which appealed to me. We spoke about where I was in my playing and where I wanted to be. I told him I wanted to do a combination of classical and popular. He spent about an hour with me giving me some pointers. He told me that he was the band leader on a TV program in the 50's and that he had taught Peter Duchin (Eddie's son). I listened to him play and I could see he was quite accomplished at the piano. I asked him what he charged and he said he usually charges $125/hr but that was for the adult students that were able to afford his rates. He offered to charge me $75/hr. Previously I was paying $45/hr. I told him that was quite a lot for me and I would let him know.

I went back to my office and thought about what we had discussed and what he had shown me and decided to try him out so I called him and accepted.

I took lessons from him for 5 years. He was the most outstanding teacher I ever had. I progressed beyond my wildest dreams at the time. An hour lesson time meant nothing to him. Many times I had to stop him because I had to get back to work. I never had a lesson less than 1hr 15 min. Sometimes one and a half hours.

As they say, "you get's what you pays for". Unfortunately at the age of only 84 he decided to retire. I had teachers after him but none to compare.

Jerry, that's a marvelous anecdote about your finding a fine piano teacher. And via the Yellow Pages, no less.

But if he had not offered to lower his fee ($125) by a whopping forty percent for you (to $75), would you have still signed on with him? Maybe just seen him less often?

Did he ever raise his rate for you during those 5 years, or did it remain $75? I have a feeling that the most expensive piano teachers tend to have rather flexible fee structures.

Peter,

He never raised his fee in the entire time I was with him. Furthermore he never mentioned raising his fee.

You are right. iIf he told me the charge was $125 I could not see my way clear to take lessons from him.

Most of his students were wealthy individuals. Some names he mentioned were from the superrich class. I think he made enough from them to give poor me a break. He was that kind of person. Never once did he mention again what he charged others.

I also think he liked teaching me because I was very enthusiastic and generally practiced so that I did adequate justice to the prior weeks material.

If he were still around I would have continued taking lessons from him.

This thread seems to make some statements I'm not sure how I feel about. Firstly, Ive been with my teacher 2 years & don't really know much about her credentials besides how well she plays & knowing she was a performer. And that shes taking me through the Alfred adult beginner series so many others are going through with their teachers. Anyway, I get charged $40/hr for lessons. Based on things I think people are saying, my teacher couldn't be very good? If we get the word out that if you teach piano no one will think you're a good teacher unless you charge $60/hr they'll probably all raise their prices, lol.

It also sounds like people think you get what you pay for & the high priced teachers are better then lower priced teachers. But one of my worst ever teachers was also one of the most expensive. This teacher had nearly no ethic & no called no showed multiple times proving they didn't care about the student. A teacher that doesn't show up to teach is worthless..

I'm just saying I don't think we can make sweeping statements like all $30/hr teachers suck and all $70/hr teachers will bring out your inner Rachmaninoff.

Meanwhile, I have been considering a lesson or two with another teacher for comparative purposes. Not sure if a lesson or two would prove much though, lol.

I will add a post script to my adventures in taking lessons.
After my expensive teacher retired, I found a teacher located about 3 min from my house. I met with that teacher who was a retired airline worker and about 80 years old. He said he only teachers popular.

One of my goals was to learn to play directly from a fake book, something that my prior teacher in the city did not teach.

This new teacher charged $15 for a half hour. At the first lesson he gave me rules of chord progressions, something I had not learned before. We progressed from there.

I stayed with him for about 3 years afer which time he said that he taught me everything he could. He never once raised the price.

The moral is that there is always an exception to the rule.

I dont think the price should be the main factor here. If youre not advaced yet, teacher's level is not THAT important either (any teacher can explain basic / intermediate stuff. If they can explain it so you understand it, that doesn't depend on their overall skill).

The most important thing in my opinion is (as the others have pointed out) to ask the teacher about their adult-teaching approach.

I have had my teacher for a year and a half and I am very content. She understands adults (or teens like me) who want to play piano for fun, but, despite their late start, do it with some amount of musicality. I am very glad that my teacher criticizes me if it is needed, and takes me seriously. I play scales, etudes and various exercises, get scolded (in a good way) for seemingly unimportant things that could hinder my later progress.

There are other teachers who seem to have much more 'relaxed' approach towards late-beginners. My friends has one, he has been attending the lessons for about 5 months. He has only played pop pieces (some were inadequate for a beginner, there was no way he could play them right, he refused. Poor adults who don't.) I have seen him playing, his posture (and therefore arm position, hand position) is completely wrong... He is loving it and says I'm too uptight and snobby but I think he will find out eventually.

The point is, he pays more than me. I pay 150 CZK for 45mins or 250 CZK for 90 mins. He pays 300 CZK for an hour.

I am really surprised at the price of teachers in US / UK. Your average payrate is much higher of course, but I pay 5 pounds/7,7$ for 45 mins lesson haha. That must be a revenge for everything else. I always get mad when I see people who ''recently returned to playing'' or ''decided to learn'' and purchased a grand as a start sadly, here, piano = upright. Grands are mainly used for jokes.

Funnily enough, it's actually easier for us to fit a grand in our house than an upright, as we have the floor space for the former but not the wall space for the latter. Either way, I don't think you can make hard and fast judgements about what's appropriate to get. It's obviously far from necessary to have one if you're a total beginner (and don't know whether you'll stick it out), but then again if you've got the space and the money, then why not. For me and my situation, it was a no-brainer - not least because I've always wanted one. Even if I hadn't started pushing myself again it would still have been pretty much worth it as the easier pop/rock/showtune stuff still sounds a million times better on it and feels far superior to play.

Anyway, I had the lesson. It went well, and I've been practicing since then and enjoying myself while making satisfying progress. The teacher seems to understand well how to teach adults and to achieve a good balance to ensure good progression while maintaining enjoyment. I am going to stick with her for the moment, but keep it to every other week at first.

Hi The Hound. I'm glad your first lesson went well. It's a good idea to stick with her for awhile as it may take time to get comfortable with each other. The important thing I think is to be learning and gaining in technique while also having fun! Enjoy your journey!

Thanks Zoe - pretty much my feelings on the matter.

That's great news, good for you I too have been thinking about having lessons only every other week, because 7 days are sometimes too few for a significant progress.
And I'm sorry you took my comment as critique, I never meant to say a grand was in any way inappropriate or ''too much'' for you, it was just an envious sigh heck, I would buy it too if I could