Dear All,

I am a 17yr old singer in progress from London. Although I love singing and I believe I have the talent, supporting my ambitions is a real struggle financially. Does anyone else identify with this?? I just want a rough idea of how difficult people find the funding of instrumental lessons.
If you think about the amount of money pumped in to get from the beginning to potentially fully trained singer/instrumentalist is staggerring!!Any sponsorship idea would be great for me and I'm sure alot of people! So please post your comments and ideas here.

Music is my life, the expense means nothing because I know that I'll come up with ways and means of paying for it, even if I don't have the most money in the world, I'll figure something out. I'll beg and plead with relatives, not spend a penny for months on end just so I can get the things I need for my music.

I'm glad to see that the top option is there for all the modest amongst us .

I believe the ABRSM do some sort of scholarships to the Royal Schools (although I think that you need to be older than you are now to study singing there) but I think that you'd have to be incredibly brilliant to get one of those: it may be worth looking in to. As for actual instrumental lessons rather than courses you're unfortunate in living in London as lessons are more expensive there (the teachers need more pay because it's more expensive to live there). I don't really know what to suggest for that: perhaps you could try some teaching (if you're good) to get the income to pay your teacher; although if it's singing there are a lot of pitfalls (taking care of the voice, I think I'm not a singer...) so you may want to take advice from someome with experience before doing it (or maybe you know from your singing lessons anyway).

I think that the poll at the top is a little unfair though: music lessons are expensive but you can't say they're too expensive as music teachers have to make a living and, as far as I'm aware, not many of them are multi-millionaires from their teaching income. The tuition is expensive because it has to be one to one; whereas things that are taught in groups or classes (think of sports say) are cheaper because to get the same amount of money from 15 people instead of just one is a little cheaper for each individual.

I take it your first instrument is Vocal. To answer your question. You have to be prepared to spend money to get money.
First. There is an excellent book published by the Musicians Benevolunt Fund 0207 636 4481 called "Handbook of Music Awar

What are your expenses? Tuition and Scores, (CDs to listen to the Divas ) (Attending concerts with the Divas ) (Travel to concerts ) (No you dont need gowns yet! )
You have to be prepared to spend money to get money.
First. There is an excellent book published by the Musicians Benevolunt Fund 0207 636 4481 called "Handbook of Music Awards & Scholarships" It is published annually and there is a small charge but a good investment.
Second. You are very young for singing and you will note as you look around for sponsorsip that most singing competitions or awards start at 22! Frustrating but be patient you will be 22 one day and your voice will be terrific! so try and get support for your second instrument (if you have one) while you wait.
Third. You live in London so do we! Get a small job, this is what my eldest did (at 17 & first instrument singing) and it paid for extra rehursal time and scores! There are many jobs in London - cafes, coffee bars, shops etc., compared to out of town.
Fourth. Get a consultation with a vocal professor from the Royal Academy of Music or Royal College of Music or Trinity or Guildhall all of which are in London or even CYM at Morley College. You are in one of the most exciting World Cities for facilites and all these people at these colleges have the names of sponsors on their fingertips. Use them!
Fifth Good luck!

I'm 22 this year n currently taking my dipABRSM piano on top of my university degree in business.. i admit that its difficult to come up with the money for lessons... and I've made a lot of sacrifices to make my dream come true before I got my grade8, i took part time jobs during holidays to be able to afford to upgrade my piano.. fortunately at that time my parents still can afford to pay for lessons.. Now I'm teaching a few students so that I can pay for my own lessons. I'm lookin forward to graduating from uni.. so that I can have a full time job and not worry abt having not enough money for lessons.. but by that time i think i'll have to worry abt not having enough time to practice!

I play the piano, harp, cello and flute(ish). I was lucky enough for my parents to pay for these, I can remember one summer when I was younger, we weren't going on holiday for the first time I could remember, but it was so we could buy a piano so I was really happy. Some friends of ours had an old harp in their attic (crazy people) and we renovated it quite cheaply, and then went on to get a deal on a slightly bigger harp when I grew out of that. We also got a deal on the cello too, and the flute was my brothers.

At the moment I'm fundraising to go on a 5 week expedition to China next summer, and today I've been playing my harp in a music shop in York, making about £50 in 3 hours! When I've finished fundraising (I've got to get £3500) I'm going to carry on busking to go towards my music lessons.

can't remember all of the info, but at school we were told about a few bursaries etc - one of them was the fame academy bursary, and then there were some competitions etc. where you could win instruments, or money towards tuition and instruments etc. Sometimes you might be able to get a grant from your local council/music service but I think this can also depend on which instrument you play. Can't think of anything else at the moment!

The governers at my school pay for my violin and sax lessons/exams because i come from a single parent family and they feel it is a good cause! But it definatly is an expensive interest! Take up bellringing, its free!

The county i lived in pay for one to one music tuition free, so i had twelve years of violin tution for nothing!!!! You had to play in the school orchestra, but i didn't mind that. But you could only learn one instrument with the county so i had to have private piano and singing lessons. So i guess i was really lucky.

With the loss of schools instruments on loan for free and free lessons in schools then, unfortunately, it is an expense many families cannot even consider.

Private lessons are quite a big expense. Then there is an instrument and music to provide.
I always wanted to learn piano (this was when instruments were available in school and lessons free) but I started on clarinet when I began secondary school as that was what was on offer.
I was 14 before I got piano lessons (a church organist who charged very little). I used to have permission to use the piano in church to practice.
Then an aunt sold us her piano for £25 .

This year the cost of my music lessons and orchestra course and tour fees will be more than £3,000, not to mention the fact that I have to buy my own horn which will probably cost another £3,000. My parents can't really afford it, but my whole family is making sacrifices. I have won £1,000 for festival performances in the past year, I busk regularly and usually make about £20 an hour and I have also received grants from various trust funds including the Musicians' Benevolent Fund, Awards for Young Musicians and Music Sound Foundation. The Awards for Young Musicians website is really helpful because it has links to lots of other organisations that help young musicians with funding. I think the website is www.aym.org
Good luck everyone!

Thankfullt my school covers some of the cost for my lessons, but the music and instrument (plus care and accesories) can cost loads!

my school ran out of cellos for hire so i had to by one myself and now im almost stuck with it and feel obligated to play! My parents pay for my singing lessons and i would sacrifice everything i own for piano lessons but my parents can't afford them and i am too young to get a job that pays more than minimum wage so now am am job hunting plus i need to buy a piano im getting soooooooo tried of the computer type noise this old keyboard which i have loaned from one of my parents friends makes!!

Join a band and gig on a weekend! There are a lot of bands out there crying out for a good singer. We are going to have to find a replacement ourselves soon and although we have advertised have had very little responce. We gig at least once a week and earn good money although the hours are long and carrying gear at 3am isnt allways fun. We play for itvs Heartbeat and have met all sorts of minor celebrities as well as all sorts of other gigs including weddings etc. Allthough hard work, i work with a great bunch of lads and have quite a lot of fun. Although it has its down side, its still not a bad way of earning extra money. {if you werent based in London, we would be poaching you haha}