Bouncing off another post asking how long people think they will be taking private lessons....I'd like to know how frequent y'all are studying - and - what your ultimate goal of your studies is.

For me...[/b]I have started going twice a week for an hour (2 hrs/week) and try to practice at least 1.5hrs/day if not more. The goal is to be "good" (subjective, right?). As another user said, I want to "get lost in the music" someday.

**BTW, I know the "how long" question has been asked before, but my goal is to see the frequency of your lessons and how it compares to your goals. So, just a different take on a question that has sort of been asked. Thanks for humoring me!

Mine are a half-hour each week. It can easily run more than an hour if my teacher starts rambling or starts discussing theory (that's usually over my head).

A half-hour a week is about right for a beginner I think. It helps keep me motivated to work on my practice during the week. Even so, occasionally I feel like going to a lesson is a waste of time because I haven't made much progress on the pieces I'm supposed to be working on.

My lessons are 45 minutes, every other week. This works well for me and allows me to fit piano into my very busy life. I try to practice at least 45 minutes per day, but find that if I’m having a busy week, then any time on the piano is helpful, even just a few minutes.

My progress is pretty good overall. The thing that is a constant battle is that to really make progress with piano you have to be really into it. You have to hear yourself playing and constantly try to find out how to make it sound better, not just “hit the right notes”. Fortunately my teacher pesters me continuously about this. Sometimes I play something technically correct, then look at her proudly only to see her eyes rolling back in her head. She says, “oh bore, can I applaud now?” Or, “you sound just like a metronome”. She really gets me to thinking about what it is I’m trying to do with the piano and what the music means. This is tough for me, I’m an engineer, I don’t do “passion” or “feeling” and all that sappy stuff, but I’m trying hard and I sound much better now. In fact lately I have been making negative progress (not really) as she is having me re-visit some older, easier pieces again to see if I can go back and make them sound more musical now that my technical skills have improved a bit. This is hard, but rewarding, and I’m excited.

Anyway, that was a little off topic. I guess what I’m trying to say is that for me its not so much about the time I spend doing it, but rather the physical and emotional investment I put into it. That was my point.

Kirk

Mine are 1 hour/week. I wish I could do a two hour lesson or twice a week. But right now I am obsessed! However, I know that when school starts again I won't be able to handle that. Then I hope to go to every other week or even one two-hour lesson per month. When I took years ago I did 45/60 minutes every other week and that worked well. As Bob mentioned, going every week didn't always give me enough time to really "work" something.

What works for me is an hour every 2 or 3 weeks, whenever my teacher and I both can fit the time in (since I don't have a regular time slot).

I work on the lesson that my teacher gave me plus other things that I'm working on by myself. For example, I have an "Easy Piano" book that contains over 100 Beatles songs. I'm practicing a few of them when I'm not practicing my lesson assignment. I can then turn those songs into a future lesson if I want to.

And lately, my teacher has been giving me more than one week's work to do before the next lesson.

So it's not necessary for me to take a lesson every week.

Bob

Man, I get the feeling that I'm moving quickly....just don't know where I'm going with all of this!! it's funny because at times I put these strange goals on myself even though I haven't been playing very long at all[/b]. And then I step back and think "what exactly are you trying to achieve?" The answer hasn't exactly been ironed out yet...but I think it's something between a performer that makes myself thrilled when I hear what I can play and a performer that thrills the masses on the stage of the Chicago Symphony Hall!!

Can anyone relate?? I know I'm sick!!

Dare to dream dude!!

Kirk

I have an excellent arrangement with my piano teacher: if I want to take a lesson, I call my teacher to see if he has any time for me. My lessons are an hour (sometimes longer). For the past several months, my life has been so demanding that I've been too exhauted to practice. Hence, on a few occasions several weeks lapsed between scheduling a lesson. If I can manage it, I take one lesson weekly.

Lucy, Thank you so much for posting your lesson arrangement. Until now, I'd always simply assumed that a lesson would be weekly or bi-weekly -- and that's been my hesitation in going back to "lessons." I'm still working full time and know myself (and my job) well enough to realize that some weeks are just "impossible." I'm going to start looking around for a teacher in my area who would entertain a flexible arrangement like you've found. Thanks again.
Virginia (from Virginia)

Because of my consulting work, I can be called at any time. So I may not be able to make my scheduled appointment. But my teacher is very willing to reschedule to a different day, (and even reschedule the delayed appt.) when that happens.

I have lessons twice a week at one hour each time. If ever I can't make it for some reason, My teacher is always willing to re-schedule.

I have a lesson once a week for 30 minutes. Typically we go longer (about 45 minutes). This seems to work well. I practice on my own about 1 hour a day during the week. On weekends, I try to have several short sessions in between chores. This seems to be an excellent way to learn as my brain seems to continue processing what I'm learning when I walk away. When I come back, I seem to have made progress on what I was working on. If for some reason I have had insufficient time to practice (vacation, work) I'll cancel that week's lesson as far in advance as possible.

I have lessons once a week for one hour. I've found that with a one hour lesson I usually get too much assigned for one week, but during those times when a lesson may be skipped, I also have plenty of material to work on.

I also at times feel like the lesson is going to be wasted if I've hadn't practiced enough during the week, but it is important for me to still go to reduce the chance of me falling even more out of practice. I know if I went less than once a week, I would procrastinate on practicing until a few days before the lesson, i.e. I would be cramming for my lesson...um...just like I use to do on tests.

30 minutes once a week. This works well because my teacher can tell in a minute what I am doing wrong. Usually the corrections don't take very long to explain. On the down side though, I am always working on 3 or 4 things at once and we don't always have time to get to everything. This is frustrating because if I am doing something wrong I have to wait another week to get it fixed.
I would like to have a little more time on occasion but there is always the next person waiting for their lesson so my teacher keeps to close schedule. If I have any complaint this would be it. I have discussed this with him and he says that at this point 30 minutes is plenty of time to do what we need too. He also said that between 3-4 years of lessons there comes a transition (not sure what that is) and then we should go to an hour lesson. Has anyone heard of this before? I have my lesson today so I will try to remember to ask him about it.

You know, Frank, you might ask if your teacher will take you to 45 minutes. This allows more time for picking new songs and discussing theory. We also sometimes listen to a CD recording of a song I'm doing to get ideas or so I can hear what I should be striving for. And when a recital is around the corner, she records me and we listen to the tape.

All of this takes time. I figure I've driven 15 minutes each way to get there, so I might as well have a lesson longer than the drive time!

Good luck! (BTW, I think teachers adjust their schedules at the beginning of the school year, so this might be a good time to raise it.)

on the contrary to some people, i find that by having bi-weekly lessons i usually sort of lose the 'momentum' of what needs to be worked on towards the end..so right now my lessons are 1.5 hours per week..but then its also cuz its currently the summer and im not working full time.

Wow, I just have lessons for half an hour per week. BUT my teacher doesn't teach me theory, which I sincerly miss now.

--DR LO

This reminds of my first two teachers. All I did was play for them. A waste of time and money! If you have a quality teacher a half hour is nothing. I have now have a teacher who has me spending an hour a day on technical exercises which I now see are critical for KB control. I have half a dozen pieces in various stages. It is impossible for a beginner who is serious about the piano to get through it all in half an hour.

I go half an hour once a week. I run through a scale, chords, arpeggios etc., some theory, & usually 2 pieces. The lesson typically runs for 45-60 minutes though b/c my teacher & I end up talking.