Periodic Lessons - could this work? Options

[Yorkshire]

Hello everyone. I?m a new member of the forum and this is my first post.

After giving up piano lessons many years ago, I have been only peripherally involved in music since then. However, I was given an inexpensive digital piano for Christmas this year ? very much a surprise gift. Since then, I have found myself very keen to play (practising daily and already thinking about upgrading?), but rather at sea about how best to progress. For information, I completed Grade 5 as a teenager and so I am just working my way through the current pieces/scales Grades 1 through 5 for the time being.

I?d like to start lessons, but here?s the dilemma I face: available funds and schedule (small child at home, with attendant commitments, full-time job with frequently irregular hours) will not allow me to commit to weekly lessons for an indefinite period.

Instead, I could probably commit to a monthly lesson, or perhaps something more intermittent, for example taking a few weekly lessons at a time (say 4-6), followed by a 3 or 4 months of self-directed study agreed with the teacher, which I could then keep repeating.

However, I don?t know if a non-standard approach is something that piano teachers could/would work with, either because of the scheduling issues, or due to the educational value. I am currently looking for teachers in my area and will be asking the same questions, but thought I would post on this forum as well, as I suspect that this is not an uncommon issue that adult learners face.

Any advice (or other alternatives to weekly lessons) would be most welcome.

[sbhoa]

I think the answer is you don't know until you ask.
Some teachers can fit this sort of arrangement into their schedule and some can't.
Most likely this would work with either a daytime lesson or in what would be the last slot of the day.
The other possibility is taking filling in a cancellation time though this might be trickier to make work.
I have one adult who comes fortnightly but has to text on the day for a time as she is a childminder and doesn't know much in advance when she's going to be free and another who sometimes has to be away for work and will have a lesson when she's not.

[corenfa]

I want to have monthly (piano) lessons but am currently on weekly lessons because teacher and I agreed that if I want to have my technique deconstructed and built up again, I need the weekly guidance. I plan to go to monthly lessons when I am more stable.

Monthly lessons was the first thing I told her I wanted - she was happy to take me on under those terms and our agreement to go weekly for the next few weeks was because of what I need to learn rather than her not being happy about the scheduling. Had she not been happy I would have found another teacher; I respect that monthly lessons don't work for all teachers and would not have thought less of her for it.

So, teacher's scheduling aside, here are some of my thoughts about how I want to approach my monthly lessons - these may or may not be applicable to you. It may help to address your question about educational value.

I think that I can get a lot out of monthly lessons and I intend to be very specific about what I want to learn, and try to write down / absorb as much as possible so that I can give myself as much to work with in between lessons. Most of what I'm working on is technique, and that's hard to write down. So what I am trying to do is write down the physical things I need to do to get things moving in the right way. For example, I have been given an exercise where I must stand in front of the piano and play in a certain position, that position is what I need to aim for when sitting down. If I just tried to write down how it felt to sit, I'd go off track when practising on my own.

Good luck! Hope it works out for you.

[Maria]

I have my singing lessons like this. I email and arrange them as and when, rather than on a regular basis. It works very well for my and my teacher is happy with this. I think it's just about finding someone who is able to accommodate you. I know that I've been in touch with a piano teacher who also does this, though haven't managed to get as far as booking any lessons yet!

Good luck! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[JamesK]

Some Teachers may allow you to book a lesson a few days in advance. That way, you are not tied into a routine in say 7pm every thursday, but instead one week it could be 7pm thursday, then 3 weeks later you decide to have a lesson at 2pm Saturday. This only works if the teacher is flexible, obviously.

[TSax]

As others have said - it all depends on the teacher. My teacher is quite happy for irregular lessons (although mine are mostly fortnightly), this is because the majority of his work is gigging / recording and since they are by their nature irregular he can fit in irregular teachng as and when it works. I know several other musicians who mix performing with some teaching, and again irregular lessons work for them.

[Tenor Viol]

I have a full-time job with unpredictable demands to be in London or elsewhere. All of my teachers ( (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif) ) are very flexible. I basically have a lesson with each of them once a month or thereabouts.

I did have a teacher for while who was fairly inflexible in that regard and it just wasn't viable with my work routine (and to be honest, I also couldn't afford block booking him at his fee level for blocks of 6 lessons).

I have my lessons and we agree each one as we go along.

[ansatz496]

I think the idea is great, but somehow for me it's either weekly, biweekly, or some amount of time long enough for me to forget how to play the piano... My problem though, certainly not my teacher's. I'm amazed she's still willing to schedule lessons with me.

[Cyrilla]

I don't think any of my adult 1-2-1 students have a 'regular' lesson. Some do come fairly regularly once a fortnight/three weeks/month, others roughly weekly/fortnightly but on a much more ad hoc basis, and some just whenever they can.

I'm working more in schools just at the moment (because I'm broke (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif) ) so am finding it very hard to fit people in, but fortunately everyone seems very willing to be flexible.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Yorkshire]

Thanks so much everyone. I really appreciate your advice and suggestions.

[louise1712]

I've been thinking about this for the flute, nice to hear that it can work (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) Hope all goes well for you Yorkshire (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[DaisyChain]

As a student: My (ex) piano teacher was a stickler for routine and we set lessons for every fortnight. If I (or sometimes my teacher)couldn't make the lesson, I had to wait for the next fortnight.

My (fairly new) singing teacher asked me after my first lesson if I wanted regular lessons or lessons on an ad hoc basis. I chose fortnightly and she's happy with that. She's very flexible though and has been able to move lessons around where needed (sometimes to suit an unexpected event on her part). She's also flexible in regards to payment..I can pay after each lesson, or for a half term at a time. I chose to pay after each lesson.

As a teacher: Most of my student's have regular weekly/fortnightly lessons. One adult has a lesson whenever she can fit one in as she has a very busy life! We book the next lesson at the end of each lesson. That way we both know where we are. Having said that, I wouldn't mind if she couldn't book until nearer the time, so long as she gave me a day or two's notice.

I've often suggested to some of the younger student's who just cannot find the time ( (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif) ) to practice that it might be best if they call me when they want a lesson, but they (and parents) insist they are happy for me to go back every week.