Piano lessons - cost

[Anonymous]

How much do you pay for piano lessons? Ou teacher just proposed a price increase of 25%, and I’m trying to figure out what is fair. The lessons are private and usually in our house (remote for now). Thanks !

[Anonymous]

Teachers who travel are usually the bottom of the barrel, since no reputable teacher has the time to do that. Reputable teachers have their own studios or teach in well-known schools of music, are fully booked and may be selective in whom they accept or have a waiting list. They charge upwards of $80/hr. Yours should charge significantly less.

[Anonymous]

We had a few piano teachers who charged $35 for 30 mins and one who charged $60 for 30 mins. She was a lot older, had a smaller student list and was very prestigious. She said. But she'd always stop about 20 mins through and say "I think we've done 30 mins, are we done?" and we most definitely were not done.

[Anonymous]

$40 for a half hour lesson. She comes to us

[Anonymous]

Music & Art charges $50 for 1/2 hr.

[Anonymous]

$35 online or to them. Had a different instructor who came to us for I think $30. Depending on what she charged that's a huge increase.

[Anonymous]

Maybe she has fewer students since she’s teaching remotely? Certainly, she’s going to have fewer new students.

Perhaps that’s why she’s increasing her rates.

[Anonymous]

If the lessons are not in person they are basically useless unless the student is advanced and independent. Even then, the student should record and send it to the teacher who will make another video commenting on specific parts of the piece.
Zoom lessons don’t have much worth in terms of musical quality.
Have the kids review the pieces on their own until in person lessons. As for traveling teachers, you might find very good ones committed to talented students.

[Anonymous]

I’m paying $45/30min for a beginner student in McLean. It was a little expensive for us pre-shut down, but now that we are still virtual after all these months it is hard for me to feel it is worth the price. Essentially the teacher listens and corrects the performance for 10-15min of the prior weeks work and then assigns a new piece and they end the call after about 25-28 minutes in. Genuinely it seems mostly about maintaining the expectation of practicing week to week.

[Anonymous]

$115/month for 30 minutes a week. At her house. Kensington.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If the lessons are not in person they are basically useless unless the student is advanced and independent. Even then, the student should record and send it to the teacher who will make another video commenting on specific parts of the piece.
Zoom lessons don’t have much worth in terms of musical quality.
Have the kids review the pieces on their own until in person lessons. As for traveling teachers, you might find very good ones committed to talented students.

Ridiculous. First, it's Facetime. Zoom has issues with instrumental music, it's made for conversation, even when you play around with settings. Second, with the exception of beginners, anyone can have a perfectly acceptable online lesson without going through your rigmarole of recording and commenting. Finer points of tone and sound quality don't come into play until well into advanced pieces, and even then, not all the time. You work on technique and phrasing most of the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If the lessons are not in person they are basically useless unless the student is advanced and independent. Even then, the student should record and send it to the teacher who will make another video commenting on specific parts of the piece.
Zoom lessons don’t have much worth in terms of musical quality.
Have the kids review the pieces on their own until in person lessons. As for traveling teachers, you might find very good ones committed to talented students.

Ridiculous. First, it's Facetime. Zoom has issues with instrumental music, it's made for conversation, even when you play around with settings. Second, with the exception of beginners, anyone can have a perfectly acceptable online lesson without going through your rigmarole of recording and commenting. Finer points of tone and sound quality don't come into play until well into advanced pieces, and even then, not all the time. You work on technique and phrasing most of the time.

I think first PP is dismissive. It is going to be hard for a first lesson from a beginner perspective. But my kid has been playing his guitar for YEARS and so his weekly lesson via zoom or Skype or whatever with the teacher who has been teaching him for YEARS works out just fine, no problems. That's the difference.

[Anonymous]

As someone who has tried out various platforms, both as a music teacher and as a student, I've come to prefer Zoom. I've even participated in and attended performance competitions done on Zoom.

Zoom's quality for music can be perfectly good as long as you properly configure the audio settings and turn on "Original Sound'. Zoom also just introduced a new stereo high-fidelity option specifically for music (apparently done in collaboration with Yale's conservatory, which of course is conducting lessons online.)

Also, both the student and the teacher's setup make big difference in quality. You will get much better quality on Zoom (and other services) if you used a wired Ethernet connection rather than wireless. You will get better quality if you use a good-quality camera and microphone. Professionals favor Zoom's Q4n portable camera / webcam, which has decent-quality HD video plus very good microphones. That's a $250 investment (the Q2n and Q8n are also good cameras at relatively similar price point) plus about $25 for a tripod.

Online lessons for a beginner are a struggle unless the parent plays themselves and can help with physical correction. But for more advanced students where techniques are mostly described rather than taught by physically manipulating the student's body, online lessons can be highly effective.

Now, in terms of Flipgrid and the like: Feedback throughout the week is very useful. My child's teacher asks for a one-minute video assignment to be sent daily, and provides daily feedback and encouragement. Some teachers, even pre-pandemic, were available for questions with short video exchanges.

[Anonymous]

NEC (New England Conservatory) did a study early in the pandemic. Zoom won out.

https://www.ianhowellcountertenor.com/preliminary-report-testing-video-conferencing-platforms

[Anonymous]

$30/30 minutes, comes to your home. We are in Bethesda. Not a renowned teacher but does the job.