Ukulele Lessons

philpot

philpot

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For those of you who teach ukulele/take ukulele lessons/have taken lessons/know of someone who does, what do you think is a reasonable rate? I'm considering trying to start teaching beginning lessons, so I figure I'll take what's considered average and lower that by a quite a bit and I'd charge that, considering I'm just starting :p thanks!


-Phil
 
Hi Phil - my instructors charge around $30 per half-hour for individual instruction. One also does group classes for $25 per person, per 2-hour class.

Keep us posted on how the teaching goes!
 
I charge $20/hour. From what I've heard, that's low. But in my town, most people are broke and I like to stay safely on the low end of what's reasonable.

Start really low and as you learn how to teach (yes, you have to learn how to teach) slowly inch up your prices.
 
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Yeah, I was planning on it. I got a couple responses early on, but nothing solid yet. My art teacher is considering letting me trade ukulele lessons with her granddaughter for art lessons. Not bad, half hour lesson for a 2hr art class :p so I'm just going to try to get started if anyone will take from me!

Thanks for the responses guys :D


-Phil
 
Hi Brad... Really enjoy your site. Good stuff there. Just for the record... You can thank Monsanto and their chemical technologies for a lot of the nice things you enjoy... including ukulele glossy finishes, your ukulele case, your uke electronics, your toothbrush etc etc. Monsanto has, indeed, been involved in some bad stuff along the way but it's also involved in a big way in improving the quality of life for all of us. PEACE!
 
My son takes a group lesson with one of his friends. The fee is $20 for 1/2 hr.
 
Just wanted to wish you luck in starting out! Let us all know how it goes, maybe at a later stage consider going lessons over Skype? I know of some instructors who do that and it means they can open up their knowledge to a wider range of people!
 
musiccityuker said:
Hi Brad... Really enjoy your site. Good stuff there. Just for the record... You can thank Monsanto and their chemical technologies for a lot of the nice things you enjoy... including ukulele glossy finishes, your ukulele case, your uke electronics, your toothbrush etc etc. Monsanto has, indeed, been involved in some bad stuff along the way but it's also involved in a big way in improving the quality of life for all of us. PEACE!
Click to expand...

Thanks.

Indeed. But they've sold their soul and I'm holding them to it! I think for the most part, "quality of life" things have been more often discovered by accident than not. "Hey, we have a by-product of this... Lets make it into something else we can sell!" Thanks for the opinion! Maybe we should start a Monsanto thread in general discussion! I'm totally there.

And now back to your regular programming....
 
I teach ukulele through the Community College, Community Services.
Classes have run between 8 and 20 students. I make $30 and hour, plus my material fee ($10-$15)
While the pay is not the greatest (I do have a good day job) it has given me some great experience.
I also have a student base for workshops where I will get 10 to 15 attendees at $15 each for a 90 minute workshop.
I don't teach private lessons, but $20 for a 30 min. lesson is pretty standard. My personal opinion is lessons should not be longer than 45 min.
Good Luck and keep spreadin' the fun
 
Well, that time has arrived. I have my first student that isn't being forced to take :p I'm currently trading ukulele lessons for art lessons, teaching my art teacher's granddaughter. That's not a bad deal honestly. One half hour lesson of ukulele traded for a two hour art lesson. It's great.

But I decided to advertise local ukulele lessons on Craigslist. I'm charging REALLY cheap compared to most teachers because I'm young, I'm new at this, and I just want to see how good I can do. I'm charging $8 a lesson for now. Hopefully I can start building up some reputation and confidence and I'll start charging a little bit more. I'm SUPER excited about this honestly. Should be fun :D
 
Man I wish I lived where you guys lived. Here in New York City private lessons are 60-75 dollars for 45 minutes, but I guess everything is more expensive in the city.
 
philpot congratulations on your student! I find teaching really rewarding and a great way to learn also, preparing lessons gets you thinking differently about your own playing. Don't knock the barter arrangement you have - you don't have to pay taxes on the art lesson! (and it would probably cost you more than 8 bucks)
 
I had a few students, nothing serious though. I charged $20 for 30 minutes, which I think is a pretty fair deal. I'm thinking about getting more serious about the uke teaching though. I'm seriously considering trying to take on some online students, and I'd probably follow your route and advertise on craigslist also. I really wanna quit making sushi and make money doing what I love! :)
 
As a long-time teacher and advanced beginning uke player I'd like to give you a bit of teaching advice. Start your lessons by asking your students where they want to be in 1 month, 3 months, 6 months and 1 year and tailor your lessons accordingly. I play with some very advanced players who don't give lessons and they're always confusing me by assuming that I know as much about music as they do, and secondly, by assuming that I want to play and know exactly what they know. Students are like stones in a creek they all seem similar but at close inspection they're all quite different.
 
I just signed up to take some lessons from Matt Dahlberg online. Anyone have experience taking lessons from him?
 
garyg said:
As a long-time teacher and advanced beginning uke player I'd like to give you a bit of teaching advice. Start your lessons by asking your students where they want to be in 1 month, 3 months, 6 months and 1 year and tailor your lessons accordingly. I play with some very advanced players who don't give lessons and they're always confusing me by assuming that I know as much about music as they do, and secondly, by assuming that I want to play and know exactly what they know. Students are like stones in a creek they all seem similar but at close inspection they're all quite different.
Click to expand...

I was asking someone for some advice about getting better on the ukulele from a jazz guitar player (not the practice, practice, practice kind of getting better but advice on what I need to know). And every once in a while he asked where do you want to go with this instrument. Ultimately I said I want to take out the Real Book (Jazz) and play chord/melody arrangements in the keys listed without referring to a chord chart but on the fly with the 9ths, 11ths, 13ths, flat 5ths, etc. That, apparently is a tall order, but it is the journey I would like to explore. I'm not sure where I'll be in the 1 month, 3 months, 6 months or 1 year time frame. He said that in the next year I should know every note on the entire fretboard, the circle of 4ths, all 15 keys by memory, have someone point to a spot on the fretboard and name a key and then pick up the scale from there (or the next nearest note in that key), and the major chord forms up the fret board. Then he said get back to me in a year and he would give me more stuff. But, apparently I have a lot of memorizing to do...
 
philpot said:
I'm charging $8 a lesson for now. Hopefully I can start building up some reputation and confidence and I'll start charging a little bit more. I'm SUPER excited about this honestly. Should be fun :D
Click to expand...

You should make it $10, if only so that you don't have to have $1 bills around for change. Good luck!
 
philpot said:
Well, that time has arrived. I have my first student that isn't being forced to take :p I'm currently trading ukulele lessons for art lessons, teaching my art teacher's granddaughter. That's not a bad deal honestly. One half hour lesson of ukulele traded for a two hour art lesson. It's great.

But I decided to advertise local ukulele lessons on Craigslist. I'm charging REALLY cheap compared to most teachers because I'm young, I'm new at this, and I just want to see how good I can do. I'm charging $8 a lesson for now. Hopefully I can start building up some reputation and confidence and I'll start charging a little bit more. I'm SUPER excited about this honestly. Should be fun :D
Click to expand...

Best of luck to you and congrats!!
 
SailingUke said:
... My personal opinion is lessons should not be longer than 45 min.
Click to expand...

Why are a lot of uke lessons 1/2 an hour or, as SailingUke suggested, no longer than 45 minutes?

As a point of reference, I have been taking shakuhachi lessons for over three years now and no lesson has been less than an hour, most are 1 1/2 hours.
 
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