I've moved to a new area since I last had music lessons and I don't really know "the scene" up here and how to look for a teacher. It's never really been an issue for me before because I learned at school, then via junior conservatoire, teachers came to watch our performances and gave us their cards, so I have no idea how to go out and get a teacher. Of course, I know where to find lists of teachers - the library, web searches, music shops and such, but how do you find a good teacher? I need to find one who is a good fit for me and my needs, but I'm aware there are some out there who should not be in practice. I took a recorder lesson recently and quickly discovered that my playing and musical experienced had the "teacher" way outclassed, and I found out she was teaching beginners' piano too, despite being around grade 3 herself!

Where do you look for a teacher, and what questions should I ask to make sure of who I am dealing with? What level of qualification would you look for to take lessons at diploma level? What questions would you ask at the initial enquiry stage? How many lessons do you normally take with someone new before you'd expect to be asked to take up a regular slot?

(Instrument is viola, btw!)

In answer to the last bit of your question, I offer new adult students up to three 'one-offs' with no commitment on either side, before we decide whether we want to book a bit further ahead, and have a definite time allocated.

I may not be typical - but anyway this is one teacher's way of doing it. Beyond the initial weeks it is usually 4-6 weeks in a block, although to some extent it depends on the student; what they are looking for and what they feel they can commit to.

Clearly the best way to find a good teacher is recommendation by word of mouth. The best way if you are new to the area, might be to give us forumites a bit more info where you live, you might then get a recommendation via a PM. Lists of teachers are on a number of internet sites , I'm not sure which is the most reliable though, maybe someone else can help.

You could try contacting the Musicians Union:

http://www.musiciansunion.org.uk

They keep a database of registered teachers together with their qualifications, etc. That's where most of my pupils come from.

This is a good idea

When I was looking for a cello teacher, I was basically looking for someone who could play the cello well, could teach well, and someone who I was likely to get on with. Didn't care one jot for qualifications, or lack of them. The result (from a shortlist of 16) was forumite iona. And she's fab

I've been pondering this one because I have a bit of a stalker problem. I have someone who stalks me on this username throughout the web, and it would bring him great joy not only to identify where I live but to go back to all my profiles on other boards and share that information with everyone he possibly can. Why, I have no idea. I don't really want to change my username at my inconvenience just because he is a but I couldn't work out what to do next. He already knows I live north of the border, so suggestions welcome in a Scotlandy kind of a direction, and I'm happy to PM with anyone who thinks they may know of someone, but don't wear yourselves out writing loads of information initially in case the area is miles out.

There is someone I've been trying to contact via one of those agency things where you have to pay a fee to get their details, but the fee is giant and I've been able to identify who the person is, but irritatingly her email address seems to be out of date on every other source. I'm wary of paying the fee to find out they have the same details! I think I'd be homicidal.

I would never pay an agency to get a name! I dobt very much a teacher would only be listed through one single agency and id they were, I would wonder why!

have you tried musicteachers.co.uk?

I did have a listing for a short while on a website where prospective pupils had to pay to get my details - I took it down after the first actual enquiry, because the parent in question felt a bit miffed by the process and so we didn't get started on the best of terms. (They could easily have worked out who I was by Googling the information they had, but unfortunately they didn't!)

Book a consultation and see how you get on