Has anyone here taught or learnt an instrument in an upstairs room which would normally be used as a bedroom?

We're hoping to move house soon and it might be more convenient to use a bedroom for teaching. I feel really uncomfortable about it however! I've always taught downstairs and feel I'd probably insist on the parent staying in the room for the entire lesson if I were upstairs. Has anybody else had experience of this?

Is it actually used as a bedroom?
I have always taught in an upstairs room, in this house the smallest of the 3 bedrooms, which is only used as the musicroom, but in my last house the room had a sofabed in so it could also be used as a guestroom.
I've never had any problems with this, and preferred to keep my teaching out of the family's way.

I teach in my pupils' homes and teach in two upstairs rooms. One is used as a bedroom and one is not. I was initially not very comfortable in the bedroom with the girl I teach (she started when she was 8) but now I suppose we are both used to it so it's not an issue. I used to keep the door open during the lessons but tbh the house is so cold and we have a heater, I close the door to keep some heat in! I will be on maternity leave now until January and the chances are the deputy teacher will be male. I will tell them about the arrangement and also maybe mention it in passing to the mum...it could be that none of them are comfortable with it.

The other upstairs room doesn't have a bed in it. Again, I was initially a bit uncomfortable but I think it was because I was teaching a boy there. We have had this arrangement now for 5 years (he is now 16) and again we're used to it and it's fine.

From my point of view, if it doesn't look like a bedroom it's not really an issue. However I would be careful about protecting my own privacy and keeping bedroom doors shut. People are really nosy! Other posters seem to have stories about people wandering about their homes and opening drawers etc. If I had parents with other siblings in the house I wouldn't leave them unsupervised sitting in your landing, just in case.

DS has lessons in an upstairs room which is not a bedroom and that's fine...this is in his teacher's house. I'd feel a bit odd teaching a student in their bedroom though.

Yes, I really did at first but after a while I thought, if it's ok with the parents and they can hear what's going on (this particular mum would be the type at the bottom of the stairs with her ears pricked up ) it's fine with me. I don't expect my dep with feel the same. It's strange to me though, because they do seem to have a downstairs room where it could go! Each to their own I suppose.

My last piano teacher had her music room upstairs.
I wish I could have seem them getting the piano up stairs with a turn in them.

No - I should have said it would be fitted out as a teaching room/study. It's just the fact it's upstairs I'm a bit sensitive about. Thank for replies so far - it looks like perhaps I'm actually being over-sensitive!

My teacher used to have her teaching room upstairs. It was quite a big room with half of the room containing the piano and a small sofa, and other music paraphernalia. The other half of the room had the TV etc but it was perfectly fine and never occurred to me that it was odd going upstairs. I once had a male teacher who was having his flat decorated and one of the lessons was in his bedroom. That was kind of a bit funny but not uncomfortable and all right as a single occasion. I think the fact that you have a designated music room upstairs should not be a problem at all.

My teacher teaches me upstairs. It is the 'upstairs music room', the downstairs one being where his partner teaches piano/singing. The house appears to be quite large, as there is also both a downstairs and upstairs waiting room! (To be fair the upstairs one has a bookcase and a chair in it; you couldn't fit a bed in it if you tried, so I don't know what kind of use it is meant to have as a room!)

Not entirely sure why folk are uncomfortable - my piano lessons are in my dining room, and the teacher and I don't eat....

I would say it is to do with teaching children and the danger of accusations of bad behaviour on the part of the teacher. Unfortunately this is something that is on everyone's mind these days, especially when you're working with kids.

Yes, it's sad but true. When I first had violin lessons, aged 9, the (male) teacher came upstairs to my bedroom to teach me. It didn't occur to me to think it might be considered improper. For the first few lessons, my mother sat in, but then just left us to get on with it.

If the boot were on the other foot now, however, I would think twice about teaching a male - child or adult - in a bedroom that was used as such. But if it's treated as a music room, it shouldn't make any difference whether it's upstairs or down. If you're worried, just leave the door open for the first few lessons until a sense of trust is established, so that anyone else in the house can hear that all is well.

My piano teacher also taught in one of the upstairs (bed)rooms. It had two piano's and an organ, and an extra chair or two. When I came a bit early and the previous student was having their lesson, I was to wait in the lesson room. The other rooms' doors were closed. When I came in I just got to see the front door, corridor, stairs and the lesson room. I am female and my teacher is male but no one seemed to be uncomfortable about it, he was more concerned with the neighbours because of the sound.
They have moved to a bigger more suitable house, and now he teaches from the 'garage' which is attached to the house and has been rebuilt into a music area. (With suitable I mean the sound, disturbing the neighbours, not implying that an upstairs room is less suitable).

When I was a child, my recorder teacher also taught upstairs in a special lesson/music room, so her husband and children could live their lives downstairs.

If you make it into a professional looking music room, which is just for the purpose of lessons and students, and the other upstairs rooms doors are closed, it will not seem strange.

When we moved into current house, there was a small single bedroom upstairs that everyone wanted to use for various things. As we pondered what to do with this luxury of additional space (suggestions included study, another bathroom, a library, play room, a room for hubbies toys, lodger etc) it was used as a teaching space for my daughter's cello lesson. They used it for two years with minimum furniture, just two stools, a small rug (the cello spikes work better on bare wooden floors) a floor lamp and a small box of sheet music. I resisted moving the piano upstairs into the room, as I knew I would never get it out again. Her cello teacher really liked the space and asked me to rent it to her to teach other students but it wasnt feasible.

The room is now my study...I mean husband has really big big shed at bottom of garden!

I have my lessons in an attic room in my teacher's house - it is very much a music/ teaching room rather than a bedroom - and to be honest I've never thought anything of it. Would probably have thought it was odd if it was actually a bedroom though. I had a flute teaching friend who kitted out on of her upstairs "bedrooms" as a teaching room - which did work fine for her. If you furnish it appropriately then I can't see that it would be a problem.

With teaching in upstairs rooms, where do people stand on the notion of asking students to take their shoes off? I am soon to start teaching at home and a spare upstairs room is the best place for me to teach, as the dining room is attached to next door's house (ie not ideal for noise - we live in a semi) plus it would give my partner more peace and quiet! Trouble is, we are very house proud and don't have shoes worn upstairs! Hmmm....

Most of my pupils offer to remove their shoes anyway...

W

Sock-it to 'em!

I would be quite unsettled if someone asked me to take my shoes off! Unless they were wet or muddy of course. But then shoes are worn everywhere in our house. (Including on the sofa in the case of my toddlers but I'm not particularly keen on that!!!)

My son had to choose between no shoes,just socks or taking his slippers with him. Some days he took slippers, other days he didn't!

Big thanks to everybody who has replied. It looks as though this is already quite common and might make things a lot easier in my situation.

Re shoes, I'm very impressed how many of my students, particularly boys, automatically remove footwear on entering our house. I keep pointing it out to my OH who isn't so well trained but he hasn't taken the hint yet.

My teacher's room is downstairs, but I take my slippers to change into, when the weather is poor.

The room has a white carpet and the thought of leaving size 12 prints all over it , is not to be envisaged!

I find the thing about shoes quite unsettling. Some of my pupils take their shoes off at the door, but some don't (which I hate because I have a pale carpet and we never, ever, wear outdoor shoes inside). If a pupil asks if they should take their shoes off I say "yes please!" but the ones who leave their shoes on never ask.

I take my shoes off at the door of any house I go into, even when I'm going in to teach (unless the floor is obviously really dirty!! I've learnt to keep them on in one or two places). Strangely though - in hot weather, when I am wearing sandals I keep the sandals on, as I somehow think it would be worse to go through the house in bare feet. I sometimes wonder if people find it odd or unprofessional that I take my shoes off, and pad about in my socks. I have thought about keeping them on, but can't bring myself to do it.

I wish I had some do's and don'ts about this, 'cos it really bothers me not knowing what the correct procedure is!!

My teacher's waiting room has white carpet. One time when I was let in, his wife (the piano teacher, who is nearest the door so lets people in) asked me to wipe my feet because of the white carpet - it was a particularly wet day and it can be a bit muddy to get to their front door. That's when I realised what the pile of shoes by the door was...pupil's shoes!
The thing is, I am almost always in sandals (yes, even when it is wet and muddy) so I don't know that bare foot is better (it doesn't bother me, but I know it bothers some people). But then I noticed that other adult pupils keep their shoes on So now I just really make sure my shoes are clean if I have had to come through the mud before I go upstairs (teaching room has a wooden floor with rug, it's just the waiting room with white carpet)

A teacher with a White carpet..what was she thinking???

My kids hate wearing shoes which is a good thing. My husband however, puts his shoes on inside the house - I often ask him 'where are you going?' in all seriousness and he says 'nowhere, I just want to put my shoes on'. LOL I can't stand wearing shoes, I love being in bare feet and frequently play piano bare feet.

I notice though that children who don't offer to take their shoes off or even think about it are usually a little shy or simply find the shoe thing difficult. My 6 year old still doesn't undo his shoes to put them on or take them off, even when I show him.

We do have wooden floors however, it does make it easier to clean - but it does take more work since you are hoovering/sweeping, and mopping. And then also varnishing every few years.

I don't particularly like to wear socks either so, the first few times I went to my teacher I had to keep my shoes on because I was embarrassed by my bare toes lol! So I made sure I wore socks so I could take my shoes off. But I have noticed that most of my adult learners never take their shoes off!!

On the original subject of this thread: My father always taught clarinet & piano from an upstairs room. It wasn't used as a bedroom, and was clearly a music room, so I never thought anything of it, and as far as I know, neither did his pupils. When I was in the process of moving house, I briefly used that upstairs room in their house for my teaching, and again, nobody commented. Plenty of houses have living rooms upstairs after all.

On the subject of shoes - if you want your pupils to remove their shoes, you'll have to ask them to do it. Not all of us were brought up with this whole 'no shoes in the house' thing, and therefore it wouldn't occur to us. It's nothing to do with shyness or inability to deal with shoelaces.

I have to agree. While in my house we were always being told not to march around in our outside shoes on the carpets, we were never expected to remove our shoes when visiting other homes. I'm only 31, so I think it is a more recent development. I don't really like taking off my shoes in other people's houses, you feel a bit exposed or something!