I have a Grade 3 pupil who has his exam on the Recorder coming up this session. My old Piano teacher, who is definitely the best person for the job, charges £75 for his services. This will pay for:

2 sessions of practice with himself and my pupil at his home;
Travelling to the exam centre, which will be in Bromley (he lives in Dulwich);
Playing as an accompanist in his exam.

Does this seem reasonable to you? I think it does, but my pupil's parent says it is a bit too much for her, which I can of course understand. I have offered to pay half for her which she seems happy with but I was wondering what other people thought?

Is it a bit steep do you think? How much do you know people charge (bearing in mind my teacher studied at the RAM under York-Bowen and has been teaching and accompanying for 30 years)?

Thanks for your reply David. I think you're right, it's the paying for it all in one go that is the scary thing. My accompanist did offer to reduce his costs to £60 - £65 but to be honest, he is worth far more than that and he needs to make a living too! So I insisted he stay on the £75, even though it would be more convenient for my parent, because he simply shouldn't have to compensate on his rate.

I was just wondering what other people thought as it's the first time I have needed an accompanist. If I could play for him myself I would but I don't feel it is the responsible thing to do, I'm only of Grade 5 standard on the Piano myself, and even then I've never accompanied before. Far better to get a professional who knows what he's doing!

Depending on the grade, on a sliding scale, these are for the exam plus one rehearsal.

£20 for Grade 1

£34 for Grade 5

£50 for Grade 8

If it is just for 1 person, I will add travel expenses too, if there is a group at the centre then I don't bother. Asides from the actual time spent with the student there, there is practise time certainly with the higher grades this can be a couple of hours or more.

For grade 3, this seems a little steep, £25 per half hour - The 2 practise sessions might be nice, but you could prob get away with just 1 if you are definitely going to go with this teacher. For a relatively low grade, I wouldn't find the finest accompanist, the examiners don't care how amazing the accompanist is as a performer, it will be all about the student.

Hi There,
I can only reply from very limited experience. Normally I take Jazz exams (on Sax), so I use the CD for accomp. However, back in March I did Grade 5 (Classical) on Alto Sax and hence needed a pianist. For the same level of service you describe I payed about £50 (the pianist/teacher normally charges £26/hr for lessons, she is well thought of and very capable !). So, in conclusion, yes I do think £75 is a bit steep !

Hope that helps -D-

P.S. I guess you don't feel like doing it yourself ?

As a parent, I would feel that was too much for grade 3 recorder accompaniment. By the time you are at grade 7 or 8, the accompaniments are much more difficult and you are paying much more for the exam, so you are willing to pay for a good accompanist.

At grade 3 anyone of around grade 7 standard on piano should be able to cope fine with the accompaniment - I accompanied for my own children up to grade 5 with no problem for clarinet and violin. You don't really need the world's best pianist for the early grades, and a good young pianist around grade 7 or 8 would be glad of the experience to accompany and charge much less.

Just my opinion, for what it's worth.

Thank you everyone, this has certainly given me a lot to think about. His exam is coming up really soon and I do need to sort an accompanist as soon as poss. I do wish I was of sufficient standard to accompany him but I'm not, even though I'm working towards being better so I won't have this problem in the future.

I have a lot to sort out, clearly! Maybe this time I'll pay half as I suggested and then next time I'll convince him to lower his rate.

Thanks everyone, especially to Berkshire Mum, as your opinion on this as a mother is exactly the same as what my parent feels, quite understandably! I'll know better for next time!

I do a lot of accompanying for exams, and charge just like BoogieCat on a scale, which include one rehearsal as well as playing at the exam. If the candidate requires another rehearsal, then I charge at my teaching rate. If I have to travel to a centre, I charge extra for this depending on the distance and the number of candidates.

It is vital to have a good accompanist who will be able to follow the candidate if he/she makes mistakes... In one of the exams I helped recently, a Grade 6 violinist skipped a whole line of music!!!

that's the sort of price I don't mind paying

For what it's worth I think that £75 is an awful lot to accompany a G3 exam. I have done quite a lot of accompanying,but wouldn't feel comportable charging this much at this level.

That is a very high fee for a grade three exam. I would ask the local rep to reccomend someone who will be there on the day accompanying other exams. You should not need much more than a short run through if your pupil is used to playing with the piano accomp already. Are you sure that you really cannot play at this level?

I wish I could, but the truth is I haven't played in so long I wouldn't feel like it is the responsible thing to do. Piano isn't my first study instrument, and I have only just started playing again in the last six months. I'm keen to accompany exams in the near future but I don't think I'm ready yet, hence why I'm looking for an accompanist. I did think it was too high too but I can see the arguments for and against...

I suppose it is because it's my first pupil that I'm not as prepared for this as perhaps other teachers are; I know of teachers who categorically say they do not ever play for exams and they have their own accompanist, but I was in such a rush to find one so my pupil can meet them and get used to them. My pupil has aspergers and he gets very stressed when meeting new people (his first lesson with me was the same), so the idea was that I arranged 2 practice sessions with him and my accompanist so that they are not just another face in the exam, they are there as someone who knows him and supports him.

Does this all make sense?

That's a tricky one. Although I can understand that £75 is very much money for some people (also for myself!), I am heading into a similar direction like David here:

It is not the point how difficult the grade is you are accompaning (or just indirectly, i.e. if more practice time is needed), but how much time is involved.

If the hourly fee of the pianist is £25, 3 hours are covered, and this isn't much for practising/rehearsal, travelling AND accompaning, not even at a lower grade - the more since this accompanist offers two practice sessions, and he probably won't sit there with a stopwatch. I can't see anything steep about it considering what he offers ...

Of course you might find someone who charges a lower hourly fee, then you might be able to get the price down to something like 45 to 60£, but then again £25/h for an experienced accompanist isn't really much. Experience is important, especially in accompanying. A good accompanist will catch a student, even if it gets wobbly, while an inexperienced one (who can be a brilliant solo pianist!) will not always manage to do so.

Maybe you could bring him down to one practice session if that is comfortable enough for the student, that would definitely bring the price down. I know pianists who are only willing to do one rehearsal anyway, but it is as well down to the student how much practice with the accompanist they think they need.

Aspringmusicteacher -

I would advise against offering to pay half the accompanist's fees. Firstly, it is not your responsibility Secondly, the parent willl come to expect it every exam. Once you build up a decent number of students you will be considerably out of pocket (in my teaching practise it would equate to over $1500 a year!)

Well said, nic ...

What you could do to help in this particular case: Offer instalments. Even if the pianist wants his money straightaway, you could pay him fully and then the parent pays you three or four (or more, depending on their needs) instalments ...

Nic and Mezzo, you beat me to it. I was thinking the same as you guys as I rad aspiringteacher's post. If you do it for one pupil, all the rest will expect it.

This is what I was thinking as I was reading through this thread. I think £75 is a little on the steep side, which means it costs £110.90 for the exam in total and it's only Grade three!

You can't go back on your word about paying half the fee, but remember they are paying you to learn how to play the recorder. It's a professional service you offer. You're not mates who are chipping in together to go on a night out! Instalments is a great idea, paying half is ridiculous!

My accompanist charges £10 to accompany my pupils... and £5 for the practices if they are at her house. She doesn't charge when she practices at the school I teach in as she has often come in for something else. She is an excellent pianist and a good accompanist. I think our local rep charges a similar amount.
One of my pupils complained about that price in the last session.... and yes there is a 20-25 minute drive each way to the centre and she has never charged petrol. I think I'll tell him next time he is lucky he is not being charged £75!!!
Last time I had 4 low grade candidates and she was there for under an hour (2 grade 1's, a Grade 2 and grade 3)... so she got £40 plus practice money....

Thank you so much everyone, really, you've all been so helpful.

Does anyone know how I get in touch with my local Rep then? It's the first time I've entered a pupil for an exam and I'm eager to know what to do and where I stand as soon as possible. I'm in South London, is there a rep I could speak to here?

Take a look at this list, or look in the Examination Information and Regulations booklet.

£75 may be reasonable for 3 hours of rehearsals & playing & learning, I don't think that 3 hours of rehearsals etc are actually necessary at grade 3 though.

It may seem quite a lot (money, time, both) at this level.

However if the pupil is one who particularly needs to feel safe and secure, which aspiringmusicteacher suggested may be the case, it may be money and time well spent. If it's a first exam it may be worthwhile in terms of investment in the child's future exams.

If your gut feeling is that this is right for your pupil, I'd go with it, especially if the parents are willing to fork out. I wouldn't go down the road of offering to pay half though.

You also need to consider geography. Fees are considerably more in London than elsewhere. A cursory glance at the location of forum members who said that they consider £75 too much suggests that they are all outside London.

I hope that you will charge for this service, and therefore that you do have this problem in the future. You are a professional, and people need to pay for your years of exams, lessons and practice.

I hope that he won't agree ... he is a professional, and this is how he earns his crust.

This is interesting as I have a few piano pupils at the minute asking me to accompany for them in other exams like flute/violin. I think they just want to have a friendly face in the room on the day

About 5 years ago I accompanied a grade 1 Sax exam after my piano teacher referred me to the parents. I hadn't a clue about charging, and thought a tenner would be roughly what to expect. I had 2 rehearsals at the pupil's house and then the exam itself. I was very surprised to be given an envelope with £80 in it after the exam!

It could be that the parents were just very generous, but my piano teacher seemed to think that was about right

In my final year at Uni one of the instrument teachers asked if I would be prepared to accompany the child of a friend of his who was taking grade 7 violin.
It took me several hours of my own time to learn the accompaniment to standard, then I sat in and helped at about 4 lessons.

I drove to the exam centre, paid about £3 parking fee, and was rewarded with a box of Roses chocs.

I did feel that the tutor could have dropped them a hint on my behalf because I had no idea about charges! It would have been nice to have the parking fee reimbursed at least.

Perhaps you could chum up with a piano teacher who has a mug student in need of experience, but do have a word with the parent to offer some kind of a fee.

We live and learn.

Mel

I started accompanying for the last exam period - it was quite scary but very rewarding work

Currently my fees are £25 for the exams (payable on the day of the exam) and rehearsals are £20 and I advise at least one rehearsal if they're not my own students, but most I accompany during lessons so they're usually ok without one

I only do grades 1-5, including jazz, as I'm not sure I'm ready to go above grade 6

...well, I did end up calling the AB about this and they recommended I call the centre Rep where he'll be having his exam. This is in Bromley and apparently they don't have one rep, but they did have a few accompanist numbers that I called...

the response was varied, some said that they would charge up to £65 for 2 rehearsals and the accompaniment, and others said they would charge a lot less. But I went to my lesson today and because my pupil has aspergers his parents wanted him to be as comfortable as possible with his accompanist, so they just handed over a cheque for £75 without me even asking for it. They were really nice about it, saying if this is the accompanist I'll use all the time for my pupil's exams then it's worth the investment because he'll know him by the time the next exam comes around, which means they won't pay so much. And they refused point blank to have me pay half, saying I was being too generous and silly!

I wonder why though that there is such a differentiation between the prices accompanists charge, even if they work for the same music service?

That's fair enough - if they are willing and able to pay then at least you know he'll be happy and comfortable with the chap by the exam.