Poll: How much do you spend on music per child per month?

[Sarah CB]

This is a spin-off from the sports thread. I know that for our family there are big differences in the sports and music budgets and I'm curious to see what other people spend.

[swellmomma]

I included music int eh sports thread because I am a ninny, and was thinking about extra currics in general. My kids take private music lessons for free. DS takes guitar and dd violin at a fine arts program for low income kids, my other son is going to begin drum lessons from my cousin who is a professional drummer until he is old enough to take lessons at the same program my kids take their lessons at.

 

Music is very important to my family, just as sports are so I am greatful to have found them for free.

[Sarah CB]

I feel really dumb. I set it to be a multiple choice poll and then I only voted once :glare:

 

So, I'll expand here. My older boys (6 and 8) play violin and I pay about $170 per month per child. They also attend a week long violin institute in the summer which costs $300 each plus the cost of getting there and staying there for the week but I didn't factor that in to my poll answer.

 

The little guy (3 in October) starts violin at the end of September and it will likely be about $100 per month for his group and private lessons. I figure that's about what people usually spend on preschool - he's not in any other activities.

 

Dd (12) takes piano lessons and they are $72 per month.

[Jami]

Well we do Suzuki violin with the oldest two, which you know is not cheap! And when we add in the third, it will go up. This year we're only paying for our private lessons (which aren't too bad for Suzuki), we're not participating in the homeschool group class our teacher has this year. But I assume our costs will get more scary as we need bigger and nicer violins and if we join a youth symphony at some point. I'd also like to eventually buy a piano and start piano lessons. I'm hoping by the time my oldest is 10. We haven't done any Suzuki institute camps yet, but I have hopes. :001_smile: We'll see how the budget goes in future years.

 

Jami

[Jennifer in MI]

Piano - $160/month per child. Ouch.

[Michelle in MO]

We pay $90.00 per month per child for a 30-min. piano lesson and 30-min. voice lesson each!

 

Our music teacher just raised her rates about a year ago. I wonder if I should tell her she's undercharging??? :)

[Laurie in CA]

We pay $35 per hour for violin lessons. This is our first year with a full hour lesson once a week so I guess that would be $140 a month. Sorry I don't know how to vote on the poll. Have any of you tried to audition for scholarships? I know in our area kids can do that and some music society pays for their lessons or a portion of them.

[JFSinIL]

We started at $16/30 minutes for piano or guitar lessons at the local music store (other places charged about the same). When it got up to $22/30 minutes we stopped.

 

Had any kid shown any talent that kid would have kept going.

[Laurie in CA]

Oh, and I figured how to vote on the poll, duh.

[Jenny in Florida]

I voted in the $151-200 category, but I may be counting some things that others wouldn't.

 

Here's what I included:

 

Annual choir tuition = $250

Piano lessons = $960

Choir summer camp = $200

Choir uniform = $100

Choir "tour" = $500

Total = $2,010

 

That works out to $167 per month.

 

The thing is that the choir tour is definitely optional, and the cost includes travel expenses, which aren't directly music related. On the other hand, it seems fair to count it if we're comparing to sports, since teams travel, too.

 

If we leave out the tour expenses, then we get down to about $125 per month.

[tinag]

Piano - $160/month per child. Ouch.

 

:eek: Ouch is right! I pay $144 a month for all 3 children to take piano. She is a wonderful teacher and has taught a lot of the kids in our church to play over the last 30 years.

[TravelingChris]

Our one daughter is learning to play the trumpet. The rental is about 24 a month. The lessons are 20 a week for hald an hour. The other one is in a church choir and the costs are minimal. Occasional special outfit like getting a Christmas-themed shirt (which she normally doesn't wear so I wouldn't normally get it). She wants to learn to play the violin so if we do that, I expect our costs to double.

[beansprouts]

So far I only have one taking music lessons. We spend $25 per week for dd's piano.

[Carrie12345]

Ds's piano lessons are $20/30 minutes, which is pretty good, I guess. We still have to invest in a piano though! He says he wants to get pretty serious about it. I'm not sure how that's going to translate in dollars.

 

Musical theater is another $55/mo, and I didn't include that in the poll.

[Academy of Jedi Arts]

Piano is $80 a month ($20 per hour), plus book costs which are very reasonable.

[Kathleen in VA]

Dd15 takes piano at $55/hour lesson. Depending on how many Wednesdays there are in any given month it varies but is usually $225. She is extremely accomplished, plays for our church (volunteer) and also teaches so she pays for part of it now.

 

The others are free because their older sister is their teacher.:)

[Jennifer in MI]

We pay $90.00 per month per child for a 30-min. piano lesson and 30-min. voice lesson each!

 

Our music teacher just raised her rates about a year ago. I wonder if I should tell her she's undercharging??? :)

 

LOL!!! NO! SHHHHHHHHHH!

[Just a Jen in Mississippi]

Two years ago, one of my daughter's took piano and it was around $72 a month. Now, two of my daughters take and we have a different teacher. She charges $105 a month for the two of them......a better bargain than the first teacher for sure and we have the added bonus of liking the new teacher much, much better!:)

 

Edited to say that they are 30 minute lessons. Also, the teacher is a homechooling mom and she also has two daughters. My girls have the best time going to piano.....it's the highlight of their week. When one is having her lesson, my other daughter gets play time with her daughters and vice versa. It's been a real blessing!

[Guest Katia]

This is what I included in my poll total:

 

piano lessons - 1 hr per week: $72-95

harp lessons - private 1 hr per week: $100

harp lessons - Suzuki - 1 hr private per week and 45 min group: $207

instrument payment - $430

voice lessons - 1 hr weekly: $100

recorder lessons - Suzuki- 1 hr private per week and 1 hr group: $120

 

This is split between two dds. Music is very important to our family and we DO NOT do sports at all. Dd#1 is planning to major in music performance.

 

Should I add gas to this list? The lessons are 100 miles round-trip each time. You can figure that one.

[Rhonda in TX]

It comes to about $125/month.

[Plucky]

I have 4 in piano at $65 each a month. Choir for 2 at $45 each. Then we do free group guitar and musicals and plays at church when we can.

[snickelfritz]

We bought a piano last year, but I did NOT include it.

 

We officially do homeschool choir, which is inexpensive. They also get rhythm practice through BSF and dance.

 

I taught piano in high school, so they get lessons (we don't do much yet, just play around) for free. For now. I'll put them with someone else when they are a bit older.

[Melanie]

We pay $50 per month per child for piano lessons and another $50 per month to rent a piano.

[Tess in the Burbs]

they will be sharing the piano books and I am teaching them.

 

in the future if they want an instrument then we will consider it....

[Allearia]

We live in the super expensive SF Bay Area, so we pay $48 a week for a 45 minute lesson. That is $192 per month, then we are renting a digital piano for $60/month so that is a grand total of $242 per month. That doesn't count occasional purchase of new books about every 6 months so far.

[Kimberleigh]

We're getting off cheap this year. My daughter plays violin, but she's decided not to do orchestra this year so she can concentrate on her last year of MathCounts competition. She'll continue to take lessons ($125/month plus music and so forth), but it'll be a "fun" year for her.

 

DS plays electric guitar. Lessons for him are about $100/month plus music and such. If he and his friends decide to form a group this year, I'll have to drive him to his friend's house to practice (almost an hour each way), so that'll add a good bit in gas.

[kristavws]

I feel really dumb. I set it to be a multiple choice poll and then I only voted once :glare:

 

So, I'll expand here. My older boys (6 and 8) play violin and I pay about $170 per month per child. They also attend a week long violin institute in the summer which costs $300 each plus the cost of getting there and staying there for the week but I didn't factor that in to my poll answer.

 

The little guy (3 in October) starts violin at the end of September and it will likely be about $100 per month for his group and private lessons. I figure that's about what people usually spend on preschool - he's not in any other activities.

 

Dd (12) takes piano lessons and they are $72 per month.

 

Both of my boys play violin as well, and I pay $120 per month, per child. We will also be attending a week long violin institute in the summer (this year it was held the same week we moved), but it is held near where we live, so we do not have to pay any travel related expenses.

 

Krista

[Matryoshka]

I voted $105-$150, but reading some of the other responses, I realize it might even be worse... I only counted private Suzuki lessons (45 min ea) and my one dd's group violin lessons.

 

But we also do a (fairly low-cost) homeschool chorus and this year we did both a Suzuki festival and a camp. The camp was worth it for everyone, but the festival, I think, is only worth it for violin - so with only one violinist (who is already costing me more than the other two), we'll skip it next year.

 

Aaah the fall semseter bill is due in a couple of days! :eek:

[*anj*]

Our children don't take any private music lessons, and I know that makes a huge difference. They all take part in a homeschool choir and we pay about $300/year/child. We pay the entire tuition over the summer, so it isn't broken down by month, but that would come out to about $30/mo. (school year only.) Oh wait, and I will be paying an additional $250 this year for private voice tutoring for one child. Oh well, I forgot about that when I voted in the poll.

[Tap]

50-60 permth per child for piano. We own the piano, so there isn't a rental fee.

 

It is with the pastor at church who does it as part of his ministry so he does't charge as much as he is worth.

[mktkcb]

My ds takes piano at $30 per half hr, and between the cost of lessons, music books/sheet music, and various fees for festivals, competitions etc., not to mention 5 week months, it probably averages 150 a month. My dd's lessons are about 125 per month. Just the way it is.