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Cost of Piano Lessons?



 
 
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  #1  
Old April 12th 06, 11:58 AM posted to misc.kids
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Default Cost of Piano Lessons?

In article ,
Cindy wrote:

My daughter is interested in taking piano lessons and I have no idea what
they
run privately. I realize prices differ region to region but I'm trying to get
a
ballpark number.


No idea, but consider group lessons. They might be cheaper, and they might
also be more interesting.

--
Chookie -- Sydney, Australia
(Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)

"Parenthood is like the modern stone washing process for denim jeans. You may
start out crisp, neat and tough, but you end up pale, limp and wrinkled."
Kerry Cue
  #2  
Old April 12th 06, 02:16 PM posted to misc.kids
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Default Cost of Piano Lessons?

Chookie wrote:
In article ,
Cindy wrote:

My daughter is interested in taking piano lessons and I have no idea what
they
run privately. I realize prices differ region to region but I'm trying to get
a
ballpark number.


No idea, but consider group lessons. They might be cheaper, and they might
also be more interesting.


Eh, I'm not a fan of group lessons on piano. You
don't get near enough attention, and the early years are
really important for hand position. It's *really* *really*
hard to break bad habits in hand position. If you get the
chance, before signing up for lessons, see if you can attend
a studio recital. A good teacher will have kids who are
very musical and have good hand position and "touch" even
among the youngest students. It makes a big difference in
the long run. Not only that, but proper positioning
protects against pain and nerve damage too.

Best wishes,
Ericka
  #3  
Old April 12th 06, 05:29 PM posted to misc.kids
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Default Cost of Piano Lessons?

Ericka Kammerer wrote:

Eh, I'm not a fan of group lessons on piano. You
don't get near enough attention, and the early years are
really important for hand position. It's *really* *really*
hard to break bad habits in hand position.


This is why I'm not really a fan of violin Suzuki instruction, or of
taking only the school orchestra classes and not also lessons from a
private instructor.

I would estimate, *especially* with beginning students, that I say
something or other about hand position about every five minutes while
I'm teaching private violin lessons. The same frequency holds in my
lessons with my private teacher, and I've been playing the violin for a
quarter of a century. At least some of that is ongoing correction of
residual habits from when I was 11, although violinists do talk about
hand position absolutely all the time as well. :-)

--
C, mama to three year old nursling

  #4  
Old April 12th 06, 06:03 PM posted to misc.kids
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Default Cost of Piano Lessons?

wrote:
Ericka Kammerer wrote:

Eh, I'm not a fan of group lessons on piano. You
don't get near enough attention, and the early years are
really important for hand position. It's *really* *really*
hard to break bad habits in hand position.


This is why I'm not really a fan of violin Suzuki instruction, or of
taking only the school orchestra classes and not also lessons from a
private instructor.

I would estimate, *especially* with beginning students, that I say
something or other about hand position about every five minutes while
I'm teaching private violin lessons. The same frequency holds in my
lessons with my private teacher, and I've been playing the violin for a
quarter of a century. At least some of that is ongoing correction of
residual habits from when I was 11, although violinists do talk about
hand position absolutely all the time as well. :-)


;-) I think that issues vary somewhat by instrument,
but it always helps to have good instruction. The boys did
spring piano festival about a month ago, and it's always
an eye-opening experience for me. An astonishing number
of students were *very* ill prepared, had terrible hand
position, and so forth. Now, a poorly prepared student
or a student with poor technique isn't *always* the fault
of the teacher, but there are clearly many teachers who
either don't place a priority on good technique or don't
have effective means of teaching good technique. DS1 has
started percussing in band at school and I don't have him
in private lessons yet. However, he is actually getting
good instruction at school and is being taught good
technique. We'll likely do some lessons this summer
to get his feet wet, and if he keeps it up, he'll start
lessons a bit later.

Best wishes,
Ericka
  #5  
Old April 13th 06, 05:10 AM posted to misc.kids
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Posts: n/a
Default Cost of Piano Lessons?

In article ,
Ericka Kammerer wrote:

No idea, but consider group lessons. They might be cheaper, and they might
also be more interesting.


Eh, I'm not a fan of group lessons on piano. You
don't get near enough attention, and the early years are
really important for hand position. It's *really* *really*
hard to break bad habits in hand position.


We are doing group lessons through this mob:

http://www.fortemusic.com.au/frameset00_index.htm

It isn't all piano (for 5yos); they are learning about beats, they sing, dance
and clap, and there was a music activity with two parts yesterday, which is
not uncommon. You can't do that in a class of one. The teacher does inspect
the way they play, and does help with positioning, but it seems to be treated
as a gradual thing. The kids don't move their hands yet; they are only
learning to play notes between C and G atm. My guess is that the keyboard
activities are kept short in an effort to prevent bad positions becoming
habits. But I will bear it in mind!

--
Chookie -- Sydney, Australia
(Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)

"Parenthood is like the modern stone washing process for denim jeans. You may
start out crisp, neat and tough, but you end up pale, limp and wrinkled."
Kerry Cue
  #6  
Old April 13th 06, 02:46 PM posted to misc.kids
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Posts: n/a
Default Cost of Piano Lessons?

Chookie wrote:
In article ,
Ericka Kammerer wrote:

No idea, but consider group lessons. They might be cheaper, and they might
also be more interesting.

Eh, I'm not a fan of group lessons on piano. You
don't get near enough attention, and the early years are
really important for hand position. It's *really* *really*
hard to break bad habits in hand position.


We are doing group lessons through this mob:

http://www.fortemusic.com.au/frameset00_index.htm

It isn't all piano (for 5yos); they are learning about beats, they sing, dance
and clap, and there was a music activity with two parts yesterday, which is
not uncommon. You can't do that in a class of one. The teacher does inspect
the way they play, and does help with positioning, but it seems to be treated
as a gradual thing. The kids don't move their hands yet; they are only
learning to play notes between C and G atm. My guess is that the keyboard
activities are kept short in an effort to prevent bad positions becoming
habits. But I will bear it in mind!


Ah, if it's sort of a music/movement/fun with piano
class, that's one thing. I was thinking more in terms of
traditional piano lessons. I would think those would be
boring in a group setting for a young child. What you
describe sounds reasonably appropriate.
I always have some mixed emotions about that
sort of thing, though. I think the overall music exposure
stuff is good, but I think it is good for you to keep an
eye on the technique just to make sure he doesn't learn
any bad habits. At piano festival last month, I heard a
lot of young kids play who just had *horrible* hand
position. Their wrists were hanging below the keys,
their fingers were all splayed out and not playing on
their tips, their fingers were all floppy, etc. I sure
wouldn't want to clean up that mess! They also didn't
seem to have much musical sense. They were just banging
out the notes with no sense of phrasing or musicality
(or much rhythm, for that matter). On the other hand,
I suppose it took a lot more for them to get to that
state than a little bit of early piano ;-)

Best wishes,
Ericka
  #7  
Old April 14th 06, 11:12 AM posted to misc.kids
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Default Cost of Piano Lessons?

Chookie wrote:
In article ,
Cindy wrote:


My daughter is interested in taking piano lessons and I have no idea what
they
run privately. I realize prices differ region to region but I'm trying to get
a
ballpark number.



No idea, but consider group lessons. They might be cheaper, and they might
also be more interesting.


How do group piano lessons work? Is there just one piano, and the
children take turns, or do they have several pianos?

FWIW, in the UK the national average for a half hour lesson is £12.

--
Penny Gaines
UK mum to three
  #8  
Old April 14th 06, 01:00 PM posted to misc.kids
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Default Cost of Piano Lessons?

My mother considered that it was important to have the BEST
instruction, and as early as reasonably possible. Her mother's
siblings all either sang or played an instrument or both. But her mom
couldn't afford the "best" instruction until she was older, so she
didn't start to take lessons until she was older (probably 9 or 10)
and she took violin.

I never heard my mom play nor do I think she felt that she could sing.
She could read music - my dad had a nice singing voice, but he
couldn't read music. His parents did have a piano, but I doubt he
took any lessons..

Consequently, when my dad was a relatively poor professor, my sister
and I took group lessons where we played paper keyboards in a group.
The group lesson teacher later came to our house to give us individual
lessons.

Later we took lessons all the way up through high school from the
daughter of the head of Peabody in Baltimore. Sometimes he would be
teaching upstairs while we were having lessons downstairs and we could
hear him stomping on the floor to keep the pupil on time.

I went to Oberlin College, but I took lessons right through the 4
years from teachers in the Oberlin Conservatory.

My sister supported her husband in grad school by giving piano
lessons, and she taught in a system which was geared to younger
children. She sent me the materials and I started my older two
children when they were about 5 and 7. My oldest child still takes
lessons along with her youngest son.

When we moved to Baltimore, my two older children (who were in 1st and
3rd grade at the time) started to take lessons with my old teacher.
She had to be hospitalized for an operation and her dad took over her
students including my two girls. He was a crusty old German, and not
exactly used to teaching little girls.

I remember once when he was trying to explain to dd#2 why she should
hold a whole note for the entire measure.. He started out asking
whether she liked pie. She said yes. Then he said, would you rather
have a whole pie or half a pie. She said "If I ate a whole pie, it
would make me sick." [I think that dd#2 knew what point he was trying
to make BTW.]

grandma Rosalie
  #9  
Old April 14th 06, 02:31 PM posted to misc.kids
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Default Cost of Piano Lessons?

Penny Gaines wrote:
Chookie wrote:
In article ,
Cindy wrote:


My daughter is interested in taking piano lessons and I have no idea
what they
run privately. I realize prices differ region to region but I'm
trying to get a
ballpark number.



No idea, but consider group lessons. They might be cheaper, and they
might also be more interesting.


How do group piano lessons work? Is there just one piano, and the
children take turns, or do they have several pianos?


Turns out Chookie was talking about a different
sort of thing, but a typical traditional group piano class
would have a piano for each child. These days, the pianos
are often electronic keyboards so everyone can wear headphones
and hear themselves play, or else they just all play in
unison.

Best wishes,
Ericka
  #10  
Old April 20th 06, 11:38 AM posted to misc.kids
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Posts: n/a
Default Cost of Piano Lessons?

In article ,
Ericka Kammerer wrote:

Ah, if it's sort of a music/movement/fun with piano
class, that's one thing. I was thinking more in terms of
traditional piano lessons. I would think those would be
boring in a group setting for a young child. What you
describe sounds reasonably appropriate.
I always have some mixed emotions about that
sort of thing, though. I think the overall music exposure
stuff is good, but I think it is good for you to keep an
eye on the technique just to make sure he doesn't learn
any bad habits. At piano festival last month, I heard a
lot of young kids play who just had *horrible* hand
position. Their wrists were hanging below the keys,
their fingers were all splayed out and not playing on
their tips, their fingers were all floppy, etc. I sure
wouldn't want to clean up that mess! They also didn't
seem to have much musical sense. They were just banging
out the notes with no sense of phrasing or musicality
(or much rhythm, for that matter). On the other hand,
I suppose it took a lot more for them to get to that
state than a little bit of early piano ;-)


LOL, I would think so! The only thing that worries me about Forte is their
annual concert, where the kids play "ensemble" pieces in unison. The pieces
they play at the lower levels are very simple (it's all just to get them used
to performing). Last year, DS1 played from C to G in sequence, for example,
to imitate a rocket countdown. That's fine. But there is something terribly
wrong when a bunch of 10yos are playing the start of Fur Elise in unison!

--
Chookie -- Sydney, Australia
(Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)

"Parenthood is like the modern stone washing process for denim jeans. You may
start out crisp, neat and tough, but you end up pale, limp and wrinkled."
Kerry Cue
 




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