Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Soooo, you can't afford lessons....or maybe you can???

I speak in randomness...let me know if you have questions.

I see it every time on the forums: "Get a teacher!", "Take lessons!", "First and foremost, you need to see a professional instructor..."

But none of these posters are offering their own money, or even how someone can afford upwards of $350 a month for lessons. How rich is it to keep squawking, "take lessons, take lessons!"

My own story: I've always wanted to take music lessons, but my parents couldn't afford it. I honestly thought music lessons were along the lines of driving expensive cars, or shopping for name brand clothes--other things we couldn't afford. I let it go during childhood. Then, maybe 18 or 19 years ago, I thought again about piano lessons. I pulled up the yellow pages and called a piano instructor. I can't recall the entire conversation, but I do remember the amount was $140. Was that for a week or a month?? Either way it was way too much for me at that time.

So 15 years later (about 3 1/2 years ago), I no-kidding set up piano lessons, and invested in good keys to get me started.

What changed?

1. I had way more disposable income now versus back then.
2. I knew how to prioritize. The starting price for my lessons was $255 a month. That meant $50 less in one place, $25 less in another area, eating out two times less each week, and making deliberate decisions when I went out shopping.
3. Not saying others don't know how to prioritize--I just didn't realize years ago that I could get what I wanted, by giving up what I really didn't need.
4. "Psh, whatever JazzyMac...must be nice being you"
5. Yeah, it is. Cuz I'm awesome.
6. Seriously though, after working, paying, scrounging, scraping, you barely have enough to get by...much less lessons!
7. Besides, YouTube is free-99, right?
8. I got on the Starbucks train way later than most. Once I did, I did my best to make up for lost time. Coffee for breakfast, snacks in the afternoon, study food in the evening, etc. But eventually, I found my instant coffee fix where I could get six (6) cups of coffee for half the price of one Starbucks. SIX!
9. Six Starbucks, six mornings = $27
10. Two packages of instant coffee = 6-8 cups of coffee = $6.50
11. Hmmm, Saturday night...time for pizza! No wait...sigh. Guess I'll make a couple of sandwiches. $22
12. All of this is because I *can't* learn off of Youtube. I'm one of those who has to read theory for the "real truth". I can't watch videos.
13. Does anyone else have stories on how they started putting money together to afford piano lessons?

I also find prices asked for private pianolessons rather high. We pay 15€/half hour, and still I find this is a lot of money. If kids play tennis or footbal, it comes to 200-250€/year. Pianolessons is 3 or 4 times as expensive as other hobbies for kids. I didn't even took the piano purchase/tuning itself into account.

I do understand teacher have to live from it. From their point of view, it all will make sense, but 350$/month... no way I want to or even could pay that.

I'm at the stage in my career where I don't really have to penny-count any longer and really happy about it but I do concur with your ideas. You should re-examine your priorities and see what really matters. For example, I drive a used car because frankly spending tens of thousands on something that looses half of its value in 3 years is not my idea of a reasonable expense. I use my car as transportation not for show off.

You should also consider how much other hobbies cost. People do all sorts of things: skiing, sailing, tennis, karate... These activities also cost quite a bit and I don't think piano lessons are that expensive in comparison to your typical hobby.

I am extremely fortunate that when I finally decided to learn piano I have enough income to pay for lessons. But I had another passion when younger which was also quite a money eater. As a student with little income and later with not so well payed jobs I managed to spend a lot on that. Thinking back I have no idea how I managed. But I guess I just left out many things that other people find necessary: I buy little clothes, don't go to a hair dresser (my friend cuts my hair couple of times a year, keeping the hair long is cheap), don't need much cosmetics (I think I still look presentable), don't eat out much, don't own a car (works where I live), Rent instead of buying a flat...Even now that I earn more I like simple life and prefer to use my money for things I really care about.

Everyone's situation is different but it is true that even little things here and there can make it possible to pay for lessons if you just want it enough.

Both agreed, but I don't think you pay 350€ or $ a month for lessons, do you?

I'm in Poland where everything is cheaper so no, but I would gladly pay even that much.

BTW, your kids' activities do cost quite a bit more than what you say but are subsidized from your taxes.

And remember that all the time you spend practicing is time spent not spending money elsewhere!

I do not think it is appropriate to compare piano lesson prices across countries because of differences in the average salaries.

I pay 20€ for 45min lesson and it is not too expensive for me because I work in IT, but for the average person in my city it is not a small amount of money.
When I was little I went to a music school (played flute ) and it was really cheap (I think 15€ a month for 2 instrument and 2 solfeggio lessons a week!) but it is financed by state and accepts a small number of students.

My brother in the UK who is on a pension gets weekly one hour piano lessons, how does he do it? Partly it is competition in the area, and testament to some great bargains you can find in bigger cities. But it has as much to do with how ones attitude changes once you find a teacher you can work with, and how the lessons are shaping your playing. Then all of a sudden money is not the big issue.

I enjoyed this stuff greatly.
My parents were always living hand to mouth, there were 5 of us and Dad always insisted in getting the best house he could afford. You did that then, it was called "finacial planning for the future" and it worked.
But in the meantime, he bough a piano for us. I`m the only one who persisted with it (my elder sister was more advanced than me, I reckoned but she let it go) to the chagrin of my father, a Chopin lover. He didn`t envisage the piano as a rock and roll instrument, and, man, it was loud!

I learned more than the fundamentals before I too packed lessons in. They must have cost a bob or two, and I was completely unappreciative then.

I can`t see me going again. It would take the rest o` my life to sort out the bad habits I`ve got into. And I would rebel . . . . .

My wife gave lessons late 70`s early eighties at £10 an hour. A labourers wage was around £50 per week.

I loved your reasoning! Here`s some o` mine.

Starbucks sells the worst coffee apart from Costa which is truly disgusting. I save a packet not going there.

I never smoked. Tried ever so hard, but soon realised that I wasn`t gonna look cool no matter what I did, and fags didn`t do it for me. So I saved over £30 X 52 X 50 smackeroos which is nigh on £80k hahha . .

Where is it????

I think I pay about 200eur a month, depending on how many lessons, which is in the higher end around here. If the only good teacher charged twice that I think I would...At least for a while.

Money will never be an issue when there's enough... (i am not complaining though)

I feel very lucky to be able to afford piano lessons. My parents could only manage a year of lessons for me when I was a kid. I think of them as not pure luxury, but a combination of educational expense and therapy. This is physical as well as mental therapy--because correct piano technique keeps my hands healthy, and music is good for everything.

When I was growing up, money for lessons just wasn't there. Money for food on the table was iffy at times. My parents did value education, and I got a good one. Fast forward through a lifetime of LBYM (living below your means), and lessons and a nice piano are a joy to me.


The way I see it, there are two flavors of "I can't afford lessons."

1. The JazzyMac people (good post, Mac!). You spend all your money each week. Nothing left over for lessons. But if you look at what you spend your money on, you realize, well, yes, you could trade the luxury of the Starbucks or the tenth pair of shoes or the season tickets for the luxury of piano lessons. As JazzyMac says, it boils down to priorities.

2. Those who already have cut all the frills from their budgets and just get by. Piano lessons are, in the larger scheme of things, a luxury. Food on the table and transportation for work are more important.

Now that I think about it, there is a third category: People who are in families that belong in category 1 and who would need to have someone else change their spending patterns to come up with the cash for lessons. That can get really tricky.

It is definitely a matter of priorities and getting organised, not just for music lessons but for most things. Apart from those families that really need to spare every penny, I think many people could just move the money from one place to another, as you suggested. I have always been thrifty and a money saver, while my parents would immediately spend all the few money they had - mostly on me: riding lessons, even a horse at one point, a fancy guitar, study holidays, you name it. But I can spend a lot on the things I care for.

Personally, I don't take lessons because I would find it too stressful. I meet weekly with my duet partner and it's already demanding enough. Also, speaking of priorities, I already have too much to do with my freelance job, my country house, olive grove, garden and bees. To be honest, when I have some spare time I shouldn't even sit at the piano, I should get out, exercise, go to the gym, or just read a book, or better yet, do nothing for once!

I agree with your viewpoint, but I think the highlighted sentence is probably the reason people might get turned off because it sounds less practical and more judgmental. I concede that you may not have intended for it to come off. How do you know that people drive new cars to show off? Also, it can be argued that used cars (1-5 years old) are showoff cars as well. Showing off is an attitude that people portray.

Next post: Finding time!

Seriously, I understand where you are coming from. For a long while work was so hectic that I should have just stopped lessons altogether. Instead, I kept scheduling them even though I was so stressed. So money was no issue, but time...wow time. I think I spent two whole years in a state of stress from work and worrying about piano. You can guess how my skill improved--it didn't.

Like you said in the original post, it's all about priority.
For me, I cut out TV/Movie time for piano time. I get news update on radio while commuting. I am married, work full time, cook, clean and go to school earning my master degree also. And I manage to get 1hr per day for piano, 20 minutes for guitar (I just start learning it for a month or so).

Doesn't count if you have seven hands. Sorry.

To the OP: No stories, but honestly I feel kind of bad because one of my students is a teenager, and I think he is paying with his own money and I know how long it takes to learn piano. I grew up with piano lessons being paid by my parents year after year after year. My prices that I charge are already low for my area because I am starting out, and I don't want to lower them.. (for the sake of all the other piano teachers too and the market). But it does seem like piano, at least in its classical sort of manifestation, is limited to the folks who can afford such a thing. Kind of a bummer..

But while we're talking about expensive hobbies.. methinks it is cheaper at least than figure skating