Author: Joe Ramirez
Date: 1999-09-02 16:56
Assuming this issue is still a live one, how about a parent's perspective? Hope this is helpful.
I live in the Pittsburgh area. My son, who has just started fourth grade, has been taking piano lessons for almost two years. His teacher, who has a master's in music and also teaches violin, charges $15 per half-hour. I think that is the going rate around here for "mainstream" music teachers, i.e., professionals with music degrees who are not well-known performers or faculty members at the university music schools (which feature musicians from the Pittsburgh Symphony and the like). Based on what other professionals charge for their services, I think $15 per 30 min. is rather low, but that's what the market has set. I suppose teachers have to be careful not to price out a large portion of potential students, and of course the arts are traditionally underfunded and underappreciated in our culture.
My son may or may not start on a band instrument this year. If he did, I'd expect to pay the standard rate for lessons. Personally, I would prefer not to hire a high school student because of uncertainty about the person's ability, experience, and maturity. I probably could give my son beginning clarinet or sax lessons as well as the typical high school student could. I'm sure there are some high school students of extraordinary ability and maturity who teach, but I'd have no idea how to identify them. If I didn't play clarinet myself and absolutely could not afford the going rate for a professional teacher, I suppose I might try to find a high school student, but I doubt that I'd pay more than $5 or $6 per half-hour.
College students are a different story. The typical college music major has passed a rigorous audition and has received, or is in the process of receiving, pro-caliber instruction on instrumental performance, music theory, and probably music education. I'd consider such a student a legitimate "apprentice" teacher and would pay one around $7.50 to $10.00 per half-hour, i.e., one-half to two-thirds the professional rate.
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The Clarinet BBoard
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