I was interested to read in another post about advertising on Gumtree. So I thought I'd take a look to see if there are many teachers in my area advertising.

I was rather taken aback to see someone advertising teaching via skype. I was pretty appalled actually! How on earth can you teach violin online, it is so hands-on!

I've had the odd skype lesson, and it's fine for interim sessions to keep things ticking over if the teacher or student is unavailable to travel for instance, but I agree that it would be pretty difficult to teach or learn properly without a live person in the room with you. Perhaps useful if you live somewhere really remote and there is no other possibility? The reliability of the connection is also a factor!

I don't use Skype because they are a bunch of con merchants and I have reported them to the Trading Standards Office. They advertise "free" phone calls to other Skype members, so I registered a few months ago, tried to call a friend of mine in China who also uses Skype (she loves it and has never had a problem!) and it told me that I have "insufficient credit". Why do I need credit if the calls are supposed to be free? I therefore put $20 into my account, tried again, and still it tells me there is "insufficient credit". So, my $20 is still there, I've not been able to use it, have asked for a refund and they have refused. I would tell anyone to avoid Skype at all costs. They are one of the most dishonest and unprofessional companies I have every come across.

I have a few piano pupils in China whom I teach via ICQ and a video link. All you need is the correct equipment. Modern technology is here to be used, we are not living in the dark ages any more, so let's use it!! It's far better than stupid Skype.

I teach online via Skype, it's singing however, and it is certainly not for everyone. It works well for more advanced students, it's (imho) not so great for complete beginners though, and I would advise them to rather find a teacher close-by. Having said that: Good Skype tuition is a million times better than bad face-to-face tuition.

It becomes more and more common in the singing world. I get my own supervision with a world class coach, and I certainly prefer that a few times a year to one of the local teachers (I know the results they produce, and thanks, but no thanks). I am obviously a professional singer though who just needs occasional check-ups and can work independently in-between.

I agree that it is probably more tricky on certain instruments/possibly wouldn't work for all. There are teachers around though who insist on a "no touch policy" (I am NOT one of them, just playing the devil's advocate). For them, the hands-on argument certainly cannot be brought up. Everything I see in a room, I see via Skype. The sound quality entirely depends on your connection and equipment - I hardly experience any problems.

As usual, the rule applies: Don't judge or dismiss something you haven't tried yourself.

Edit: I used Skype for years, even before I used it for teaching, and never had a problem once. Calls are free if both parties have Skype and contact each other via their Skype account, calls do cost if you phone a mobile or landline via Skype. That doesn't mean someone might not have made a bad experience of course, but one bad experience also doth not a con artist make - stupid first or second level support employees are far more likely

I teach quite a few people by Skype and, apart from occasional feedback/connection difficulties, have never had any problems (and I've never had to pay, either - I'm a little puzzled by porilo's problems).

I'm teaching musicianship, not an instrument, and although it's not ideal (we can't do any part-singing because of the time delay) it's a whole lot better than nothing!

Teaching for skype is not for me as the teacher. I can understand how Cyrilla uses it for musicianship, and the way Dugazon explains her use of it makes sense, and I'm glad it works for her.

I use Skype to keep in contact with some relatives who live overseas as it allows me to see them as well as speak to them.

Like both Dugazon and Cyrilla I have not have to pay either.

With the internet, there are all sorts of possibilities. I am certainly open to the idea of distance learning using the IT. I have not sorted it out yet, and would have to think of how I would arrange payment given how much I loathe paypal.

If you use Skype over the internet then it's free. Calls to landlines and mobiles are charged but they are cheaper than ordinary calls.

That's what they advertise, but in practice it doesn't work. I have tried enough times. I can even see my friend is online (the little icon next to her name is green) but whenever I click it to make a connection it says "insufficient credit" even though they have $20 of mine. They are just rogues.

Sorry it doesn't seem to be working for you porilo, but as you can see by other peoples' replies it does work. I don't use it to teach but I do use it to speak to (and see) my daughter who lives abroad.

Did you try to update, or uninstall and re-install the program? Maybe it's just a software problem...

Yes, I've done all that, several times. I've even tried it on several of my friends' computers. They use it all the time with no problem, but as soon as I log into my account I get the same message. Thankfully ICQ works fantastically so I use that for most of my international teaching. I'm still hoping to get my $20 back somehow from Skype but am not holding my breath.

I also have singing lessons via Skype as I've mentioned on here before as my teacher lives in France and it's a bit far to trek for regular lessons! It's worked really well for me and I've had various teachers before who are local who weren't really offering the sort of tuition I wanted. When I see my teacher face to face and have lessons it's great, but I'm more than happy to keep using Skype in the meantime, rather than seeing a different teacher locally who doesn't suit me.

I can't comment on teaching via Skype for other instruments as I don't play anything else (apart from a teeny weeny bit of piano!) I can imagine it's much harder for other instruments though. Guess it's just a case of whether you, as a teacher, like it or not. I can see why it's not for everyone.

My daughter's teacher does Skype lessons weekly with several over-seas students - as far afield as Hong Kong. He rarely has connection issues, and whilst he says that it takes a bit of getting used to, both teacher and pupil think it's fantastic (well it saves on the air fares!) We will be trying it ourselves at Easter, so I can let you know. I think it would be difficult to do if you hadn't met the student at least once - I think it would be hard to build a rapport with someone who only existed as a screen image, but for existing students, it certainly works in this instance. - should add it's the violin he teaches.

Hmmm, porilo, there's obviously some gremlin in there... .

I currently teach people via Skype in Rutland, Norfolk, the South Coast and France. As I said, it's not ideal but I can still do LOTS of good things teaching in this way. There are not that many Kodaly solfege teachers around and if it's the difference between not having any tuition, and having it via Skype, there's really no contest...