cost for private violin lessons

[athomeontheprairie]

Just curious, how much do you pay per lesson (And how long/often?)

Do you have instrument rental? Or something else?

Cost of music books?

Other costs I'm not thinking of?

[Arcadia]

At the music school my kids go to for their cello, the violin lessons rates are:

 

30 min    $38-$50 per lesson

45 min    $55-$70 per lesson

60 min    $75-$90 per lesson

 

They have an ensemble weekly during the school term which is free.

Rental is $30 per month

Cost of books is pay as needed and the school charge equal or lower than retail price or Amazon

 

ETA:

My kids cello teacher is also the owner of the music school and she often go into overtime for my kids at no extra cost. 

[flyingiguana]

22/half hour and that is CHEAP in this area.  I really expect to pay more like 30/half hour.  I think that's the going rate for most teachers.

 

It's supposed to be once a week but things come up.

 

We own the violins, but renting is certainly a fine idea.  Often, you can rent a better instrument than you would otherwise buy, particularly if you aren't starting on a full size and will need to move up a size in a year or two.

 

If you don't have good places to rent a violin in your area, places like Shar Music and Johnson String will mail out rentals.

[flyingiguana]

Music schools often cost more than private teachers, but group playing/lessons may be included.

 

Also, if you have a music school near you, there are often violins for sale as kids outgrow their smaller instruments.  You might be able to pick up a better deal that way, although the instrument may not be as well maintained as it would be if you got it directly from a shop.

 

Strings need to be changed about once a year.  They can be pricey.  The ones I'm currently using run about 65 dollars a set.  You can go much much higher.  You can go lower too, but I find anything cheaper to be a bit frustrating to play on.

 

Occasionally a bow will need rehairing.  I think we only  end up doing that every few years or so.  Last we did, it was something like 60-75 dollars.  If you end up with a cheap bow, it might be cheaper just to buy a new cheap one than to pay for rehairing, but if you are in it for that long, your student may have gotten good enough that they shouldn't be playing on a cheap bow anymore.

 

You can get el cheapo violins off ebay, but they sound like what you pay for.  They might be ok for the first few months, but then you'll really need something better.

 

There are some good violins made in China that are a lot cheaper than European/American made ones.  Scott Cao is one brand that is pretty good, but I think there are few others.  If you were to buy/rent a violin through a reputable shop or one of the more reputable online places, my guess is that they won't sell you junk.  (Least, I haven't seen Shar Music selling what I would consider junk.  So far.)  But price is often not the best determinant of sound quality/playability.

[Pegasus]

We pay $80 per month for weekly 1/2 hour lessons from a private instructor.  We rented the first couple of months and then the music store applied what we had paid in rental towards a new instrument. We had the instructor "ok" the instrument before we bought it to be sure we were getting high enough quality to meet DDs needs but not spend too much.  We had to take the new instrument back into the shop a couple times the first few weeks since we didn't know what we were doing (once for a broken string and once because the tuning pegs seemed loose). I'd worry about buying online and not having someone to take it to for maintenance/repairs.  Since then, it has been trouble free for the last 15 months.

 

We have bought a couple of books but they were inexpensive (less than $10 each) and the instructor usually just provides music that he has written out and copied.  We do provide DD with binders and page protectors for these sheets so that is a modest cost.

 

Oh, a music stand is extremely helpful.  We were lucky and got a very sturdy very old one from the in-law's shed.  They can be pricey and flimsy new (music stands, not in-laws).

[skimomma]

We live in an economically depressed and geographically isolated area. Lessons are $50/hour.  We have to rent from afar but our rent-to-own out of Chicago is $99/quarter.  Half is applied to a new violin when dd is ready for a full-sized violin.  Books probably run us about $40 a year.  Strings another $40 a year.  We have several stands.  One is a regular black metal music stand for at home.  That's about $75 and worth every penny.  Then a couple of foldable stands.  We need more than one because one seems to always get left somewhere and we have to go retrieve it at some point.  They are well-labeled and both used from who-knows-where.  We also pay for orchestra which is about $200/year plus the black pants and shoes required for performances.  

[catz]

Probably in this range and for string that would include group and orchestra during the school year.  We are in a large Suzuki program in an urban area.

 

At the music school my kids go to for their cello, the violin lessons rates are:

 

30 min    $38-$50 per lesson

45 min    $55-$70 per lesson

60 min    $75-$90 per lesson

 

They have an ensemble weekly during the school term which is free.

Rental is $30 per month

Cost of books is pay as needed and the school charge equal or lower than retail price or Amazon

 

ETA:

My kids cello teacher is also the owner of the music school and she often go into overtime for my kids at no extra cost. 

 

We buy our instruments and have nice local shop that allows a very trade in to size up program.  I know many people who rent though.  Some of our smaller instruments were Scott Cao's and those were nice.  My dd is about to size up from a 1/2 to a 3/4.  We don't spend a ton on music, but I do occasionally throw $10-$20 worth of music on an amazon order.  We do have several stands (I play violin too).  We have to buy black/white for orchestra, but I usually go really cheap or have her pick a nice dress that can be used for dress up all year.
 

[OneStepAtATime]

DD will be starting violin lessons next week.  She has been asking for a violin for a while and got one for her birthday.  The violin was on clearance at a music store in a city we were staying at over the summer.  If we had stayed there, she would have gotten 4 lessons for free with the purchase of the violin.  Actually, she can redeem those lessons any time so in the future, if we are back in that city, she might get those free lessons anyway.  Since she is going to take lessons here instead, I remembered a gentleman that came to the local homeschooling convention.  I called him.  We lucked out.  Retired music teacher.  He charged $15 for half an hour or $22 for 45 minutes.

[LMD]

Lessons are around $70 per hour. Books around $20 but not too regularly. Violin $500+, size needing to be upgraded as they grow. Strings $50ish a couple times a year. New bow/rehair $200 ish every year or so. My kid's studio has theory, orchestra and group classes fortnightly at $10 each and concert fees are around $20 a few times a year.

Suzuki here too, at an excellent studio with a renowned teacher.

 

I need to order strings soon...

[LMD]

Eta, we have almost 90 mins a week for my older 3's lessons. Theory, group & orchestra are an hour (or so) each a fortnight.

[Sarah CB]

Lessons are around $70 per hour. Books around $20 but not too regularly. Violin $500+, size needing to be upgraded as they grow. Strings $50ish a couple times a year. New bow/rehair $200 ish every year or so. My kid's studio has theory, orchestra and group classes fortnightly at $10 each and concert fees are around $20 a few times a year.

Suzuki here too, at an excellent studio with a renowned teacher.

 

I need to order strings soon...

 

You pay $200 for a rehair?  We've had three different luthiers do rehairs over the years and I don't think I've ever paid more than $60 for a violin bow rehair.  And that would be luthiers from three different provinces in Canada, so I'm guessing that's a pretty normal price for this country.

[SparklyUnicorn]

The range is pretty huge.  Anything from $30 an hour to around $75.  If you want to lower costs, go with a high school or college student. 

[Donna]

Dd is very serious about violin. We have paid as much as $110 for 90 min. lessons once a week and some years twice a week. This year will be a little less per lesson because she changed teachers.

 

Her first violin (a 1/32 size) was $100…as she grew, they went up significantly in price though the luthier we went to (until dd didn't find the full size fiddle she liked best there) had a trade up policy where the cost of the previous violin went toward the cost of the new one (minus strings and bow rehair) so we were able to upgrade gradually each time she went into a new size. We paid over $10K for her recent full size fiddle and bow. With violins, good sound quality is a must for serious students and even newer students will be happier playing a fiddle that sounds nice when they play it.

 

New strings cost $80 and she goes through strings about every 3 months. Bow rehair is $60 about once a year. We purchase music fairly regularly and the price varies depending on whether it is an etude book, collection of works, or sheet music for a piece. 

 

There are travel costs for lessons and we did have orchestra costs as well (not this year thank goodness).

 

 

[Closeacademy]

Violin was about $200

Lesson through homeschool group and they are group lessons with the woman who teaches in the public schools $85/semester (Aug-Dec & Jan-April)

Other costs like strings, shoulder rest, rosin, music stand, etc. are fairly inexpensive like $10-30 each.

We received 1 music book and she gives the kids copies of music that they learn to play.  It was all included in the price of classes.

[Orthodox6]

We pay $60 per one-hour private lesson from a professional violinist (soloist, chamber music performer, and orchestra member).

 

Margaret, I'm trying to recover from your post!

[Ms.Ivy]

Suzuki lessons: $60 per hr (plus $5 per group session, twice a month).  Violin rental (rent to own): $20 a month.  I think we paid $10 for a tuner and maybe $20 for a different chin rest thingy.  Works out to about $160 a month for violin right now, so it's not too bad.  There are much cheaper lessons available but my kid was interested in fiddling, and I was interested in Suzuki, and we found this teacher who does both.  

[momma2three]

Ugh, here it comes to about $80 an hour.

[rebcoola]

We really lucked out on violin rental our teacher does her own and its  $25 a semster. 

[zaichiki]

Our dd has been studying viola (basically a violin on steroids) for ten years.  When she started, the lessons were with a Suzuki music program and the tuition also included 1 hour weekly music theory and 1 hour weekly group class. The private lessons were 30 minutes a week (later that went up to an hour) for 32 weeks per year.  Most of the teachers were professional musicians from the top conservatories in the United States. The total was about $1200/year.

 

Dd’s first instrument was a rental.  $330/year. Rented for about 6 years.  It was fabulous because it included full insurance and a percentage of our rental fees went towards a future purchase.  We rented from Johnson Strings near Boston and they were awesome: customer service, quality of instruments, etc. They ship distances, too, and I would heartily recommend them.

 

Sheet music back then was a grand total of one or two Suzuki books per year.  The Suzuki books dd used back when she started are about $20 on Amazon (for book plus CD).

 

And things change… (the following is not common, but it’s an example of the other end of the pendulum)

 

Dd now attends a renowned pre-college conservatory program once a week (private lesson, studio class, music theory, ear training, chorus, two chamber groups, orchestra, and additional “optional†classes like improv, music history, and psychology of performance) and we won’t even mention its price. She is a scholarship student, so our out-of-pocket costs aren’t anything near what they could be.

 

Dd’s current instrument is on loan to her from her music school’s collection and, once again, we won’t talk about its price.  It’s very old and irreplaceable. She’s amazingly blessed to have the opportunity to play it and her teachers/school is stunningly generous to allow her to use it.

 

Strings and rehairs were included in the rental back when she started – wahoo!  Ten years later, for someone who burns through them (many more practice hours daily) and therefore needs more frequent replacements, the cost is an additional $500/year.

 

Sheet music/scores, now, are totally different.  More music.  Higher prices. Her orchestra and chamber music are given to her. No need to purchase.  Her music school has a library with a huge collection and we can copy anything, page by page, whatever we need for her own personal use. She often gets her full scores this way. If we choose to purchase, which we often do, it can be pricey. The priciest, so far, has been about $50 for a full concerto (her part plus piano accompaniment). More common is $15-20.

 

Like anything, there are many variations on the answer to the question and it can change over time. Find the option that best fits your family and your child’s needs.   Good luck!

[lewelma]

We pay $80/hour.  DS's full size violin was $1600, the smaller ones we bought for cheap ($400 and sold for half that).  Books cost us about $200 per year.  Rehair and strings cost about $300 per year.  Exams cost about $250 per year.  And accompaniment is $60/hour and we need about 10 hours per year for performances and practices.

 

So grand total per year for 1 child is (choke) close to $5000.  Second child is slightly cheaper with 45 minute lessons and cheaper books, exams, and fewer hours of accompaniment.

 

We also pay $600/yr each for string group/trio teachers. 

 

This is why I tutor math.  To pay for the violin tutors!

 

Ruth in NZ

[Sarah CB]

Just wait ladies--when you're in the "I need a new Baroque violin and it's in the range of $25,000"... I was relieved when dd found a steal on her latest 1703 German. And there's the Romanian Baroque and the fat French modern and the viola that was cost $1200 to repair and that was half price...

 

And then there was the time that dd was borrowing a $100,000 Baroque violin and the owner smashed it... 

 

Wow.  And I thought ds' $1600 bow was crazy.

 

Ds really loves Baroque music and is participating in an early music festival in the fall where he'll get to try out a Baroque violin and bow.  I hope he doesn't get any ideas.  Even modest ideas.  Or if he does get any ideas that he also comes up with ideas to make some money.  

[laundrycrisis]

Our teacher is $20 per half hour - we use three half hour blocks weekly for two kids.  She's fabulous and her price is very low.  The violin we rent is $30 per month.  The other we bought, and paid for half with shop rental credit.  We also pay for piano accompaniment for any performances.  

[athomeontheprairie]

Wow! I'm really surprised at the answers here. And so glad I asked.

 

Our teacher has mentioned that her goal is to bless kids with music. She is a retired professional from a major symphony, as is her husband.

I didn't realize how much she was blessing us until this thread.

Both daughters instruments are in the $500-600 range. We "rent" to own. The rental fee is included in the cost of lessons. Lessons are $10/hour. OR less if that's too much for a family to afford. There is one family I know who also takes lessons with her where she drives to their house for lessons, as mom can't make it the 20 minutes into town with 5 young kids.

When we were struggling to get to town, she offered to come to my place, which is even farther away on gravel roads.

 

Feeling truly blessed. She's an amazing teacher, btw.

[Caclcoca]

We pay $22.50 for a 45 minute lesson.  My son owns his current full sized violin.  We rented his 3/4 because his teacher told us boys don't usually stay in that size long enough to justify buying one.  In his case, she was right.  I think he lasted 6 months in the 3/4.  We also pay $380 a year for orchestra fees. This includes weekly rehearsals Sept-May and four concerts.  We probably only spend about $30 a year on music for his lessons.  

[Doodlebug]

Wow! I'm really surprised at the answers here. And so glad I asked.

 

Our teacher has mentioned that her goal is to bless kids with music. She is a retired professional from a major symphony, as is her husband.

I didn't realize how much she was blessing us until this thread.

Both daughters instruments are in the $500-600 range. We "rent" to own. The rental fee is included in the cost of lessons. Lessons are $10/hour. OR less if that's too much for a family to afford. There is one family I know who also takes lessons with her where she drives to their house for lessons, as mom can't make it the 20 minutes into town with 5 young kids.

When we were struggling to get to town, she offered to come to my place, which is even farther away on gravel roads.

 

Feeling truly blessed. She's an amazing teacher, btw.

 

You are so kind and thoughtful to recognize this.

 

I am a graduate degreed violin instructor.  I studied with wonderful Russians out of the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow.  I have concerto competitions under my belt, and orchestral experience that would be highly esteemed by anyone interested in my resume.  Not a single student I've had knows this and my rates certainly don't reflect it.  

 

I take very few students and interview carefully when an opening comes available.  I'm a good teacher, and that's why people find me.  I prefer to keep it that way.  Ask around... we do exist.

[bluemongoose]

We are lucky enough to have a String Project at a local university (and I live in the boony sticks not the city!). It costs $50-60 (depending on level of student) per SEMESTER! That equals 12 weeks of 2 one hour lessons per week. This is for a group lesson set up orchestra style (only string instruments though, not full orchestra). For an additional $50 we can opt in to private lessons. This gives us 10 half hour lessons. The reason this is so inexpensive (comparatively) is it is also a student teaching program. The university students are the private teachers and assistants to the professor in the group lesson. By their senior year they get to teach one level of the group lesson almost entirely on their own. We have experienced a few duds...but overall it has been fantastic.

 

For their instruments I went with a nearby (ok about an hour away in the city) string shop. I did this because they have a luthier (person who makes/repairs string instruments) on site and higher quality instruments for good prices. Also, they have an awesome rental program for fractional size instruments. If you rent through them, the first year rental fees are applied to the purchase of the instrument. If you buy the instrument and later need a different size, you can take it in and pay a fee for restringing/rehairing it for the next person and do an even swap to the next side. Or if you want to upgrade to an even higher quality, the original purchase price of the trade in is applied to the upgrade.  

 

Books are usually between $10-20 a piece. I can often get these easily on amazon.

 

Depending on the instrument...we play cello and violin here. For violin you need rosin, bow, instrument, a music stand, a cleaning cloth (just a soft scrap of fabric will work) and a shoulder rest of some sort. This depends on the teacher some. Ours insists on the foam sponge type or the small circle pad that looks like a face powder applicator. Others use the kind that clamp to the underside of the instrument.

 

 

[flyingiguana]

You pay $200 for a rehair?  We've had three different luthiers do rehairs over the years and I don't think I've ever paid more than $60 for a violin bow rehair.  And that would be luthiers from three different provinces in Canada, so I'm guessing that's a pretty normal price for this country.

 

A lot of the price may be the cost of the hair.  Some hair can get pretty expensive.

 

More than one may want to know on the topic: http://www.allthingsstrings.com/layout/set/print/Bows/CARE-MAINTENANCE/How-Different-Hair-Types-Influence-a-Bow-s-Sound-and-Feel

[flyingiguana]

You are so kind and thoughtful to recognize this.

 

I am a graduate degreed violin instructor.  I studied with wonderful Russians out of the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow.  I have concerto competitions under my belt, and orchestral experience that would be highly esteemed by anyone interested in my resume.  Not a single student I've had knows this and my rates certainly don't reflect it.  

 

I take very few students and interview carefully when an opening comes available.  I'm a good teacher, and that's why people find me.  I prefer to keep it that way.  Ask around... we do exist.

 

I have not found a really high correlation between the cost of lessons and the quality of teaching.  I've had really excellent teachers who didn't charge much and fairly useless teachers who charged a lot, including some at some high quality "conservatory" type places. 

 

I suspect my current violin teacher -- who doesn't charge much -- may be about as qualified as you describe yourself.  But... she doesn't talk about that.

[athomeontheprairie]

I have not found a really high correlation between the cost of lessons and the quality of teaching. I've had really excellent teachers who didn't charge much and fairly useless teachers who charged a lot, including some at some high quality "conservatory" type places.

 

I suspect my current violin teacher -- who doesn't charge much -- may be about as qualified as you describe yourself. But... she doesn't talk about that.

you aren't quoting me but I'll respond anyway.

I don't necessarily mean to imply there is a correlation between cost and quality of teacher.

but when a teacher could very easily charge much much more, they should be recognized as giving an amazing gift to the youth of our community. Even when they aren't bragging about it, it is still nice to be recognized. I didn't realize what other teachers charge, and without knowing that, I didn't how how much this teacher *could* charge.

 

 

And I'm in awe of some of the costs involved here...wow! You guys are amazing!

[Sarah CB]

$1600 bows are only crazy when they own them in multiples...  :lol:   I was chuckling one day, looking at the floor next to the piano: 7 violins, cello, viola, harp, guitar...

 

 

If he ever gets the chance, here's the place to go: http://www.amherstearlymusic.org/about_us

 

Has he seen this?  

 

He hadn't seen that video - thanks for sharing!  

 

The music festival looks amazing!  There's so much going on.  Ds loves the harpsichord as well, not to play himself, but he'd love to be in a chamber group with one.