Private Music Lessons

We are so delighted to hear of you or your child’s interest in learning music. Music is such a
wonderful way to learn all sorts of fabulous life lessons. In addition, research shows that there is a
strong causal link between learning music, and academic success.

However, the most important things for us, is the joy a student gets from their achievements and
the link to long term positive mental health. #loveit

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It is important to choose a teacher you are comfortable with. It is also important that as parents,
you can be confident of the quality and expertise of the teacher you are engaging for your or your
child’s musical journey. Hence the following information –

We have had many students (more than 50 in fact) who have gone on to study performance at
university and drama schools, and then on to professional careers as recording artists and stage
performers round the world. One might think that “Oh that won’t be my child, so I don’t need such
a good teacher!” But actually, setting a strong foundation by working with a high-quality teacher
right from the start means that a student is much more likely to do well with their music. Certainly,
they are significantly more likely to enjoy it and are therefore more likely to continue to a higher
level. That alone is important for all students as many, many brain studies show a strong positive
correlation between music lessons and academic achievement.

Our approach is to customise the learning to each individual student. We often see results very
quickly, although that does, of course, depend on the student.

We teach all ages, from very beginners right up to university performance music level.

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​Lesson fees

25 minute lessons are $45 per lesson

55 minute lessons are $90 per lesson

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In addition, there is a $5 printing/photocopying fee each term for each student/instrument.

Any other resources required (books, sheet music, instruments etc) are additional at the students’
expense.

There will typically be between 7 and 10 lessons per school term. We will communicate which weeks
we are teaching and those weeks with no lessons (due to public holidays or those I am unavailable
for).

The term fee will depend on the number of lessons we will be offering in the term. For example, if
we are teaching 8 lessons, the term fee will be 8 x $45.

Fees are emailed on a per term basis (in the same way fees are invoiced at gymnastics, ballet,
football and private schools).

The term will be invoiced before or at the start of the term. Payment is required within 14 days of
invoice/email date.

A commitment to lessons is a commitment to the whole term. Just like other commitments (ballet,
gymnastics etc), missed lessons will be chargeable. We make exceptions for the following reasons -
compulsory school trips, attending a funeral, or hospital admission. Please give at least 24 hours’
notice of a pending missed lesson.

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Practise​

Students enjoy learning an instrument most if they are making progress (of course!).  Progress comes from practising regularly – ideally 5 times per week (although 3 times per week will have them achieve steady progress).

 

It can take some time to work out how to fit practice into your child’s life.  But we encourage you to think of it like homework – it just needs to be done.

 

Practice is best if it is short but focused.  A 6-year-old student will make significantly more improvement with 5 minutes per practice of focused practice, than 10 – 20minutes of unfocused practice.  Up to 5 minutes practice is appropriate for a beginner that is 5 or 6 years old – at this stage we are really just building their ‘practice muscle’.   A beginner student who is 9 or 10 could probably cope with anywhere up to 15 minutes practice a time.

 

As a student progresses, the volume of practise needs to increase.  The appropriate amount of practise becomes a question of age, stage, focus, time available and the complexity of the music they are working on, and we will guide individual students about this during their lessons.  A rule of thumb for grade 4 level students will be 60 minutes of practise each day. 

 

The discipline of practice is not natural (or fun!) for the very large majority of us – it is a learned behaviour.  As a result, in the early stages, it is something students are going to require your help with – to set them up for success, to get them used to the idea and to develop what I call their “practice muscle”. 

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​Exams

We are more than happy to prepare students for exams.  Please let us know if you would like your youngster to do exams.  To prepare for exams requires consistent, focussed and longer practise by a student over the course of up to 18 months.  It also requires longer lessons as we need to prepare the student for theory and aural testing in more depth.​

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In closing

A commitment to lessons with us is an agreement to adhere to our terms.  As a result, please ensure you are comfortable with our terms.  

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