At the moment the only slots available for this coming week are on Saturday (27th July) – there’s time that day in the late morning and the mid-afternoon. But, if any other slots free up over the coming few days then, as usual, I will post them to my Facebook page.
Lesson Duration
One of the most common questions I’m asked by new students is how long lessons are / should be. The answer is similar to the one about how long a piece of string is: it depends. I tend to teach in 30 minute blocks, and most students take single or double block lessons, with a few having sessions of an hour and a half at a time. But, how long YOUR sessions should be is determined by what you want to get out of them.
I see my role in music lessons as essentially a supportive one: students come to me asking for guidance and I point them in the right direction, agreeing to meet them further down the road in our next session. At that point we review how the journey so far has gone, and then I recommend the next route to take. To take this analogy further, some students want to travel as far and as fast as they can. These students needs lots of time in lessons to prepare for their week’s / fortnight’s journey, and then must dedicate lots of time in between lessons to their playing / singing. Others are happier with a much more leisurely pace, and so might decide to have less frequent lessons and work on their music here and there, when they can fit it in. I’m happy either way: I’m only here to support your personal style of learning.
There are some students who don’t really want to ‘work’ on their journey at all, but would prefer to come along to sessions with me, learn something and play it there and then, and move right on. Some guitarists, for example, come for lessons simply wanting to spend each lesson learning a particular song. Depending on the ability level, this can often be achievable – it can take as little as 20 – 30 minutes to pick up the rudiments of a pop / rock song – enough to be enjoyable without having to drill scales, chord sequences and other passages for hours on end.
So, when you’re thinking about your music lessons, first think about the type of experience you are wanting, what you would realistically like to achieve and how much time you are able to dedicate to it. Some students will want to prepare for an epic and arduous journey (and enjoy every minute of it), while others would really prefer a stroll in a garden. I’ll give you the right level of support in either case.
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