I have been teaching in this particular music school for a year. Each student only gets 30 minutes lesson. I find that it's enough for young students like 4 to 8 or for the beginner students. But as they reached grade 1, I find it isn't enough. It took me ten minutes to get the scale right. I sometimes spend 20 minutes to teach the new ones. I really wish they pay an hour meeting instead of 30 minutes. And you know what? In 30 minutes I had to cover the theory too!

Any suggestion so I could make the time as efficient as possible?

I think 30 mins is quite enough for children to concentrate at grade 1 level usually. If you are taking a long time to teach a scale, perhaps break it down into right hand and left hand - one a week - to reduce time spent on it.

I also do theory in a 30 mins. lesson, but usually it takes only 5 minutes. I find lots of little chunks of time eg. 5 mins on scales, maybe 10mins on one piece, 5 mins on another and 5 mins on aural, and then the theory works well because it builds skills up slowly and you can kind of put one layer on another, correcting any misapprehensions as you go along.

It's a interesting question. I tend to give 30 minute lessons - with beginners you can't really get much more done in any additional time as people need a chance to practise. From about Grade 3 onwards I think 45 mins works better, and even then it's a struggle to fit in everything. It also, of course, depends on a fairly smooth lesson - if a pupil is strugglisg with a specific problem then that can take the whole lesson to iron out on its own.

So, it's normal if we used the whole lesson just to correct the problem? I am worried if the parents would say I am incapable to teach their kids because I need a long time to correct the wrong ones.

At the moment mine are getting 30 minutes up to Grade 3, 45 for Grades 4 and 5 and an hour above that.
Seems to work so far, though you have to be flexible.

I think it depends so much on the pupil, and also on what kind of practice they have been able to do since the last lesson.

Agreed - most of mine in the early grades have half an hour. A couple of youngsters have 45 mins - sometimes there is good reason (eg one really enjoys the lesson, loves to jam, and half an hour is never long enough ... another needs a bit longer on each topic if we are to do it justice etc etc). I would prefer to have 40 or 45 once we get to around grade 3 or 4 but it isn't always possible. In general this doesn't include formal written theory, although it will include lots of "oral theory".

Adult beginners sometimes say they want an hour's lesson - I actually find this too long with a beginner and don't usually offer an hour to start with. Intermediate level 45 mins is about right, and an hour is ok if preferred.

Most of my beginners have 30 minutes but at school some of the really young ones (year 1, sometimes year 2 which is 5 and 6 year olds) have 20 minutes until I feel they are ready to cope with a bit longer.


I agree, splitting the lesson up timewise on all the various things like exercises, theory, pieces etc... works well for beginners and helps with concentration.

I've never had longer than 30minute lessons. I think that an hour would be too long for anyone below G4 or 5 - I don't know many beginers who could play for an hour anyway! Once you get to the higher grades though, when a piece lasts 5 or 6 minutes at speed, then theres a need for some more time.

I have hourly lessons on piano and violin; I've been having hourly piano lessons since I started learning it. I normally practise for 45 minutes a day, so an hour is manageable. We often run over as well; there is just too much to fit in. I couldn't have a half hour lesson now.

No, well not for me anyway. I have my lesson at school, so some weeks I get 20 minutes and other weeks I get 30. It's areal struggle trying to fit in all my work for grade 8, especially considering one of my pieces is 8 minutes long. WE used to be able to do the, "we''l work on it then play it with the piano" thing, but now we just don't have time. That always seems to make me feel depressed, that I work hard on a piece and never actually get to hear all of it with the piano in my lesson.

I would say for grade 1 - 5 that 30 mins is enough though, because generally the pieces aren't very long, and scales can be learnt at home, but mayve that's just the woodwind perspective.

My lessons are 30 mins (although they usually go onto being 40 mins as I'm the last person of the day!), and I think the time is enough. But maybe that's because I practise so much at home...

I've always had 1 hour lessons since I began violin. I am around Grade 4 now and sometimes an hour is isn't enough. We normally do around 70 minutes. My teacher normally does scales, Sevcik and Wolhfhart and then pieces.

I give 30 minute lessons to younger players and early-graders, and 45 minute lessons to everyone else in my private teaching. The lessons at school and college are 30 minutes, but they've just started giving the A2 recitalists 45 minutes, which is great (especially as one of mine is doing DipABRSM this term).

I receive one hour lessons in flute, piano and singing, but only piano is weekly.

I think 30 minutes is plenty for Grades 1-5. (I usually give Grade 6+ an extra 15 mins, as long as they're prepared to start coming later in order to allow me to put younger pupils in the earlier slots! We sort of do a deal.) Whether it's enough or not depends on how you use the time. I'm really quite strict about not using lesson time for 'practice', as such. Where scales are concerned, I would consider 'teaching' to mean making sure that they understand what's required - but the actual practising of the scales is something that should be done at home. I'll make sure they have a note (so to speak ) of what notes to play and what fingers to use, but I wouldn't sit and put them over scales again and again till they were 'learnt'.

And the same would apply to pieces. I would make sure there was nothing that they didn't understand in the sections that I wanted them to prepare for next week, but I wouldn't get them to keep repeating bits for me there and then. As a recent organ student myself, apart from anything else, I know how soul-destroying that can be! Once the pupil catches on to what's required I think it's much better to let them do the actual practising alone.

There are exceptions, obviously. With a more advanced student, for example, who's trying to get to grips with something like a cantabile tone, or dipping very suddenly from ff to p, they don't always know straight away what they're actually aiming for, or how to achieve it, so on these occasions I would spend some time on that sort of thing. But as soon as they get the idea, I really think that acquiring consistency should be done at home.

I can't quite agree with Dulciana. I don't think my pupils would manage very well if I didn't take a lot of time in lessons to go over and correct mistakes, to work on weaker points and difficult passages and to help them to understand the type of work I want done at home on each piece. I don't believe that teaching is just a question of correcting and showing.

This evening I had a boy whose practice is rather irregular and who missed last week's lesson. I spent a lot of time going over the same phrases prompting him to find the answers to the techinical and reading problems himself, showing him what I wanted and then letting him have several attempts at a phrase until it began to come right. It wasn't at all soul destroying for either of us - and at the end of the lesson he had really achieved something. If he consolidates with work at home during the week we will move forward. If not I will feel challenged to try again, or try another approach. That's what makes teaching interesting - always having to ask yourself how you can get them to do it and enjoy it. (OK you don't win 'em all but .....)

For lesson times I find 30 minutes is only sufficient for young beginners. If you vary the activities most young children can concentrate in a one to one situation for that amount of time. I have taken pupils up to Grade 2 with only 30 minutes but I am not really comfortable even at Grade 1 with less than 45 minutes.
I have to include theory as well as aural and sight reading and I like to include a bit of listening / general musical culture when I can. I won't teach Grade 3 on less than 45 minutes and from Grade 4 onwards they have to do an hour unless there are exceptional circumstances.

If the children are tired - say towards the end of term - there are plenty of less strenuous activities one can do. But on the whole I tend to hear "Is it finished already?" quite often.

Yes I tend to do the same. Once I've shown then exactly how to practise a piece, or isolate a certain section, they get used to working on things like that at home. For the beginners I'll make a note like "practise these bars the way we practised the other ones today" so they know what to do. With a new piece I'll cover any new elements they might not have come across before, then leave them to get on with it.

I'll ask them to play the scales they were working on suring the week, and if all has gone according to plan ( ) I give them a new one. They know the theory of how to work out a scale, so it's just a matter of writing A major has 3 sharps. I won't even write any finger numbers down for them unless there is a new pattern to learn. I'll just write "same fingering as C major" ... saves time

edit - Sorry! In answer to the OP, yes I think half an hour is plenty for grade 1. I find the theory elements are learned through playing anyway at that stage, so I don't normally do it seperately. If they want to take the theory exam I'll wait until we've covered the material in piano lessons then give them a practise sheet to try. By that stage they are more or less ready to sit the exam if they want to.

i remember my very first piano lessons were 10 mins long. I was so proud when i got to the 20 mins stage and it felt like ages lol.

whoaa! only ten mins!! it wasn't like a lesson, was it? hahaha

well, my first lesson was 30 mins till i reached grade 3...
(without any exams preparations and not yet started theory that time)
then, i got a better (and the best in my opinion.. hehehe..) teacher in grade 4 and then the lesson with my teacher since then is about 60mins to 75mins.. with theory lessons included and exams preparations.

My 8-last-week yr old couldn't cope with more than 30 mins - especially coming at the end of a busy school day. My 10 yr old, on the othe hand, could certainly do with longer lessons. She's working for G6 piano and G5 violin and 30 mins simply flies by. I notice that some of the children where mine learn have 2 half hours a week rather than one and that would suit my younger daughter perfectly.

However, for me and I imagine many parents - the deciding factor is cost. I'm already paying for 4 lessons a week (2 instruments each) and they're not cheap. That is quite as much as I can afford, especially when you add in the cost of music, strings, exams, insurance, and renting/buying new instruments (isn't it irritating how, just when you think you're OK for a bit, children put on a growth spurt and you need to get a bigger one!). Just in the process of buying the older daughter a full size violin, so at least that will be her done.

I have hour long singing lessons - but only once a fortnight. I couldn't sing for that long but then enough of it is taken up with things like breathing, demonstrating etc that I don't have to. (No grades at the moment, just learning)

When I have flute lessons (which I haven't for a while) they were 3/4 of an hour and it was never long enough! (was working at about G6 last time I had lessons)

Piano lessons are 30 minutes and sometimes they overrun but usually it's bang on 30 minutes, and sometimes I'm the one who calls it a day because sometimes even 30 minutes is more than enough for me at the piano. (working slowly towards a G5 ish kind of level)

Like some others, I give 30 mins Grade 1-5, then 45 minutes for Grade 6 & 7 - anyone more advanced gets an hour. The problem I have is fitting in theory when it gets to the stage of preparing for the G5 theory exam. I fit in approx. 5 minutes theory in the earlier stages, which works fine, so it's not that they are left behind - it's just that going over G5 level takes up such a huge chunk of the lesson! Perhaps I'm just not very good at teaching theory! (To be honest - I loathe it!!)
What do other people do? Do you timetable extra theory lessons? Do you farm the theory teaching out to someone else? (I'd love to do this, but don't know how it would go down with parents!)

Like you, I use 5 mins of the lessons for theory in the early stages, but when we get up towards grade 5 level, I either schedule a seperate theory lesson or replace the piano lesson with a theory one every other week, as long as we're not working towards a practical exam, of course.
But, unlike you, I LOVE teaching theory! Wish I could teach it more

What a shame you live at the other end of the country, Jenny! I could send them all to you!!

Mercifully I've never been asked for theory lessons beyond grade 5. But I tend to keep them ticking over on the theory at 5 - 10 minutes a week, - if you have to explain something in more depth at grade 4 or 5 it can run to 10 minutes. Then if we're working towards a practical exam. the theory takes a back seat for a few weeks, and if it's a theory exam, the theory time might get bumped up to about half the lesson.

(Just looked back at my own old certificates and discovered that I did quite well at grade 8 theory in the days when we had the little black and white books!!! Does anyone else remember them? )

Oh yes, I'm old enough to remember them. And I've still got the little red 'rudiments' book the AB used to publish too...

But to go back to the original question, I'll generally, where possible, schedule an extra theory lesson at grade 5, and if that isn't possible, I'll divide the usual 'lesson slot' into two - half theory, half instrumental.

Yesterday gave lesson to a pupil preparing for Grade 5 theory exam - tried to be strict with myself and limit theory to first 15 minutes - pupil kept professing not to understand, and asking me more and more questions, and it was only when we finally started the piano part of the lesson that I realised this was a deliberate ploy, as she had done no practice! (In fairness she did admit to it, and we eventually had a good laugh - especially when I told her I knew what she was up to because of using similar tactics myself in my distant youth!!)
I think from now on I shall use Jenny's idea of alternate practical/theory lessons - then we will all know where we are!

Intresting, im doing grade 8 singing and flute and both of my lessons are half an hour! saying that i could do with more time but untill 7 or 8 i think half an hour is enough
x

In schools I often have to do 15 or 20 min lessons (sometimes in a group of up to 4) because the school insist that they can't charge the parent for more. These 15 min lessons are a waste of time - the kid doesn't have time to focus, and there's always some problem with kit / books / instrument to waste the first 5 minutes. These parents would get much better value for money by paying for a longer lesson or an individual lesson. To be fair, the music service usually asks schools not to do less that 20 mins, and our time can only be booked for a minimum of 30 mins, so a single pupil would have to have 30 mins, but if there were two at the school they could either share the 30 mins or have eg 2x 20 mins. I have just been asked by one school to put my 20 min individual pupils into pairs, so that they don't have to pay so much. This in a tiny room with not enough room for me to move around if there are two kids and two keyboards ...

I always had 30 min lessons, (Back in the 60's/70's) but when I got to Grade 7/8 I had two lessons a week, one for pieces and one for technical. I would prefer my G5+ kids to have more.

With piano, I had 30min lessons up until Grade 6... For Grades 7 and 8 I had/am having 45min lessons...

On drums, I only ever had 30min lessons, and now only teach 30min lessons...

On clarinet, I had 15min lessons at school, which were ridiculously short, and then 45min lessons with a private teacher...

On saxophone I've never had any lessons!




Is this helpful? I don't know - possibly not! But if 30min lessons are not long enough for grade one, are you sure the time is being used effectively??

I have a 2-hour lesson for piano, which is nice and long. My teacher and I always find ourselves short of time, somehow. She enjoys teaching a lot!

For violin, 1-hour lessons are just right. I can't stand up for long.

I think 15 minutes are ridiculously short... you can't teach anything in that short time! I haven't even gone through scales and such properly before 20 minutes. The minimum lesson time should be 30 minutes, in my opinion.

I think most of us would agree with that. A 30 minute lesson is fine for beginners and should become a 45 minute lesson once exam work is started. Even then, it's quite difficult to fit in everything and I often have to leave out something and make sure I include it the next time. (Or run over time, which happens quite a lot!)
But my biggest priority is sight reading and I start off every lesson (from the youngest beginner to the most advanced student) with that. I tell parents that it's the most important skill I can help their children to learn and explain why. It's good to know that my students don't have the "oh no, not the sight reading!" feeling in exams that we know many candidates have.

Well, actually I am pretty sure that the 45 minutes some of my Grade 1 pupils get are all used effectively. You see, I don't just want them to learn exam stuff:I want them not to be Grade one "passers" but Grade 1 "players".

I also feel that in a 45 minute lesson you can lay much better foundations for the next Grade. This is a long term view. When they get to Grades 5/6 and upwards they are often at a critical point in their schooling - with public exams looming and pressure from school teachers quite fierce. If they have a broad musical background, built up slowly and patiently from the very early stages they find the higher grades much easier and much more pleasurable. They are more likely to continue their musical activites than to give up under pressure. so I like to take the lower Grades at a comfortable pace with lots of general music thrown in.
For that I need lessons in which neither I nor the pupils feels rushed. Of course, it doesn't always work out like that because of timetable difficulties.

I don't have problems with faltering concentration, but I should perhaps point out that the children I teach are mostly French and they are used to being required to concentrate for quite long periods of time. Their school day is longer than in England.