All About Piano Lesson Costs

[miltonia]

Hi, I’ve just joined the forum, am new here!!


Just want to do some comparison on individual piano lesson charges.

My kids are learning piano from a new full-time teacher at her place. Her charges as follow :

Grade 6 @ $210 (1 hr); Grade 2 @ $150 (45 mins)

Terms & Conditions
4 lessons per month.
No lesson on Public Holiday (no make-up). No lesson on every 5th week.
No make-up lessons if students go on vacation or missed lessons during exam period.
Month of December - only 2 lessons (3rd & 4th week - tr annual leave). But must still pay full month fee.

Are such fees and terms normal for a full-time piano teacher? The fees seem ok for me but I thought the terms seem to benefit the teacher more than anything else.

In a calendar, there are bound to have certain months whereby public holiday falls on either 1st to the 4th week. But there is no replacement lesson. Effectively, only 3 lessons in that particular month even though there may be a 5th week in the same month. And if we choose to go on vacation, we’re penalise (no replacement), but we still have to pay her full month fees in Dec, supposingly vacation period.

Having said that, if the terms stated above are normal, then I rest my case.

Hope to hear some advice. Thanks.

[honeybeel]

miltonia:

Hi, I've just joined the forum, am new here!!


Just want to do some comparison on individual piano lesson charges.

My kids are learning piano from a new full-time teacher at her place. Her charges as follow :

Grade 6 @ $210 (1 hr); Grade 2 @ $150 (45 mins)

Terms & Conditions
4 lessons per month.
No lesson on Public Holiday (no make-up). No lesson on every 5th week.
No make-up lessons if students go on vacation or missed lessons during exam period.
Month of December - only 2 lessons (3rd & 4th week - tr annual leave). But must still pay full month fee.

Are such fees and terms normal for a full-time piano teacher? The fees seem ok for me but I thought the terms seem to benefit the teacher more than anything else.

In a calendar, there are bound to have certain months whereby public holiday falls on either 1st to the 4th week. But there is no replacement lesson. Effectively, only 3 lessons in that particular month even though there may be a 5th week in the same month. And if we choose to go on vacation, we're penalise (no replacement), but we still have to pay her full month fees in Dec, supposingly vacation period.

Having said that, if the terms stated above are normal, then I rest my case.

Hope to hear some advice. Thanks.

My girl is learning grade1 at home. The teacher charges $120/ 4 lesson. THe teacher is flexible in the way that she will replace missed lesson (reason like child is sick, go on vacation etc...) provided we inform in advance.

[watmekiasu]

Miltonia, your teacher’s lesson schedule, sounds similar to music schools. The only difference being that instead of every 5th month no lesson, they do not conduct lessons during the June holidays altho you’ve to pay the full month. My dd’s music teacher (at a music school) follows this schedule even when he does home teaching. His rates for the higher grades are also higher than what you’re paying.

[vfong1]

honeybeel:

miltonia:

Hi, I've just joined the forum, am new here!!


Just want to do some comparison on individual piano lesson charges.

My kids are learning piano from a new full-time teacher at her place. Her charges as follow :

Grade 6 @ $210 (1 hr); Grade 2 @ $150 (45 mins)

Terms & Conditions
4 lessons per month.
No lesson on Public Holiday (no make-up). No lesson on every 5th week.
No make-up lessons if students go on vacation or missed lessons during exam period.
Month of December - only 2 lessons (3rd & 4th week - tr annual leave). But must still pay full month fee.

Are such fees and terms normal for a full-time piano teacher? The fees seem ok for me but I thought the terms seem to benefit the teacher more than anything else.

In a calendar, there are bound to have certain months whereby public holiday falls on either 1st to the 4th week. But there is no replacement lesson. Effectively, only 3 lessons in that particular month even though there may be a 5th week in the same month. And if we choose to go on vacation, we're penalise (no replacement), but we still have to pay her full month fees in Dec, supposingly vacation period.

Having said that, if the terms stated above are normal, then I rest my case.

Hope to hear some advice. Thanks.

My girl is learning grade1 at home. The teacher charges $120/ 4 lesson. THe teacher is flexible in the way that she will replace missed lesson (reason like child is sick, go on vacation etc...) provided we inform in advance.

hi honeybeel, how old is your girl? Did you get a piano or keyboard for her at home?

[miltonia]

hi watmekiasu, thanks for sharing your info. at least now I’ve got a better idea. Still, I was hoping to have a teacher who can be a bit more flexible / accommodating in their schedule, I mean occasionally.

[honeybeel]

vfong1:

hi honeybeel, how old is your girl? Did you get a piano or keyboard for her at home?

My girl is 6 years old. I bought a 2nd hand piano for her when she started her home lesson.
She use keyboard before that, when I started her with some music enrichment course when she is much younger.

[watmekiasu]

miltonia:

hi watmekiasu, thanks for sharing your info. at least now I've got a better idea. Still, I was hoping to have a teacher who can be a bit more flexible / accommodating in their schedule, I mean occasionally.

Actually, most music teachers who teach at home are more flexible. I understand that many charge by per lesson and not per month, whether there's lesson or not.

[miltonia]

watmekiasu:

miltonia:

hi watmekiasu, thanks for sharing your info. at least now I've got a better idea. Still, I was hoping to have a teacher who can be a bit more flexible / accommodating in their schedule, I mean occasionally.

Actually, most music teachers who teach at home are more flexible. I understand that many charge by per lesson and not per month, whether there's lesson or not.

That's what I thought too!!

Before we had a young piano teacher who'd taught my older girl until grade 5, then she recommended we find another teacher, a more professional teacher, since my girl had shown interest to pursue higher grades in piano. She recommended her own piano teacher, aka master teacher. That's why we made a switch only abt 8 mths ago.

Frankly, I'm not a paper-chaser. Since my kids told me of her keen interest in learning piano, I try my best to get a good tr and give them a good learning environment. I believe in establishing good foundation.

I must say their techniques had improved under the new teacher, even my neighbours could tell the difference when they practised on the piano.

Still, I feel restricted by the terms & conditions laid down by the teacher and am hoping to see if I could find other alternatives. I'm looking into music school too (e.g. Methodist School of Music), are they better as compared to private teacher?? I'm also searching the internet for NAFA teachers. Do you have any recommendation??

Thanks for reading.

[concern_mum]

hi, i need some advise on getting a good piano teacher. The agency recommended me a piano teacher who told me that Theory and Practical Grade 6 can be taught together within 1hr. Do you think 1hr for both theory and practical is sufficient?

[caroline3sg]

Maybe the norm now is 1.5hr for both theory & practical. As learning piano is not cheap, usually agency / teacher quote 1 hr. If you can afford and also you think your child cannot learn much from 1 hr, then you can ask for 1.5hr.