I had piano lessons when I was younger but didn’t take it seriously until I started lessons again just a few months ago. I’ve developed a strong fondness for it that I want to continue taking lessons for a long time. The problem is my college is a one hour flight I can’t commute to, which means I can’t continue lessons at my music school and practice for a lot of time every day. How can I continue learning this instrument in an environment where I won’t have access to my own piano in my house every day? (I do not intend to audition for a music program right now) Would I be disadvantaged compared to somebody in this situation who does not have to commute?
Does your college offer music lessons to non-majors? It may be offered as a 1 credit “class” or it may be an extra activity (possibly with grad students as teachers).
IMHO there are at least three issues:
- Finding time to take lessons and to practice
- Having access to a piano or a good quality keyboard to practice
- Finding a teacher
I think that finding a teacher is likely to be the easy part.
University will in general be significantly more demanding academically than high school, and can require a lot of effort and a lot of studying. It is not unheard of for students who were strong musicians in high school to find that they need to neglect music a bit to focus on academics.
Contact the music department at your college. Many colleges offer private music lessons – but typically they are an additional cost. Will you have funds to spare? And the grade will go on your transcript so you would have to practice in a dedicated manner. I guess the alternative is to find a teacher outside of the college but then finding a piano to practice on could be a problem.
Are you living in a dorm or apartment? Pianos aren’t easy to take to college but electronic keyboards are pretty affordable, especially on Craigslist or garage sales, and you can practice with headphones on so as not to annoy your roommates or neighbors.
I have been taking private piano lessons at my college. As others have mentioned most colleges/universities do offer private piano lessons. I know at my school private music lessons are an additional fee. However, they do have music scholarships that can cover that fee, but usually top priority is given to music majors/minors. Even though I live on campus/ do not have access to my instrument at home I am able to practice in the music building where they have practice rooms. Also, I think the grading system is a pass or fail. Usually, at the end of the semester you have to do a piano jury and this jury counts as your final. However, I don’t know if all this stuff I just mentioned is the same at your college so I think it’s a good idea to look at your school’s music department page. However, I do think that if you end up taking lessons at your school you’d probably be able to practice piano in a practice room. So you wouldn’t have to worry about not having a piano available to practice on. I don’t think there would be a big disadvantage for you compared to a student that doesn’t have to commute.
I’m a music minor, but piano (jazz) is a secondary instrument for me. I take both my primary (oboe) and piano lessons for credit, and get a letter grade at the end of the semester. At my college, taking lessons for credit does not have a fee. I also take organ and voice lessons, but I don’t register for credit (you can’t take more than two lessons for credit at my university), and I pay the professors directly for those. They’re still professors from the department, but I arranged my lessons with them by myself, and I still can use university spaces to practice (practice rooms, organ in the chapel, etc).
Most colleges allow non-majors to take private lessons. You may have to do a studio placement audition (I did), but that is to figure out which teacher would be the best fit for you. Most colleges do have teachers that take beginners/beginning intermediate musicians in voice, guitar, and piano. You’ll need to look at the department website to find out the details. If you’re taking lessons at the college, you’ll be able to use the practice rooms in the music building.
There are usually pianos around campus…sometimes in dorms or other places.
You can either take a private lesson with a professor for credit, or your school of music may offer community lessons. My university has a community lesson program where a graduate student instructs you, there’s no audition required and it’s far more flexible with schedule changes/busy weeks. You have to pay, but on the upside you don’t need to worry about grades or passing the class since it’s not for credit. Try to see if your university has something similar.
Your university should have rehearsal rooms that you can purchase a pass to for the semester. It’s probable that music majors will be given priority for rehearsal space and time, but it should work out. Otherwise, dorms often have a piano/music room that can be checked out for a few hours.
Honestly, it will be tough. I’ve played piano seriously and competitively for all my life and if I could I would have absolutely auditioned to study with a professor, but my academic and extracurricular life is so busy that I really don’t think I could handle the stress and time suck of practicing in the dedicated way I used to before college. This is something that you will have to decide for yourself whether you can handle it or not.
2 Ds. Have done both ways others have mentioned. Youngest at big university. She did community program where paid by semester which used grad students. Since it was not necessarily designed for students, she didn’t ahve access to college practice rooms so was only possible because she had room in on-campus apartment for our full size, weighted keys keyboard that she took. She enjoyed it and and mentioned above - no grade. And grad student was really flexible the few times she needed to change schedule sure to class work.
Older D is more serious music student. She was at small LAC and loved playing for fun/stress relief in the practice rooms. Never a problem getting one, great pianos (she loved practicing on Steinway) and within 5 min walking distance even when moved off campus. She contacted piano professor and he took her as student. There were two teachers and she was placed based on what she had played in the past - didn’t actually have to audition. She took it as a one credit class. I guess she could have done pass/fail, but wasn’t a hard grade. Best teacher she’s ever had and practice more for him than she did growing up. There was an additional studio fee but we were happy to pay it since it was so good for her mental health and music is a priority in our household. She considered a minor, but the requirements for ensemble/accompanying work would have been too much.
So I think it depends on college and availability of practice rooms/pianos first and foremost. Suggest walking over to music department and talking to someone in person.
Wow, thanks for all the replies everyone.
What I’m getting from everyone is a few things: will I have time to practice, given the difficulty of college, a space to practice in, and a professor willing to take me as a student. I contacted the music department about these questions, and they said that they do have private lessons as well as has places to practice. However, there is an audition required (presumably they have preconditions relating to ability that I need to meet before they take me in). I looked at some of the pieces they want students to perform for the audition, and I cannot play those. Even so, they told me to give the music department a visit when I arrive on campus. That aside though, I think I can make time for that because it will be a part of my program anyway. So I’m kind of in a limbo right now about what I should do next.
By the way, they do have learning sessions for beginners offered by a club, but I am afraid that will not be as structured as actually meeting with a professor. Maybe there are other opportunities like getting hooked up with a grad student or something?
@Tookme10mins Thank you for replying. Could you tell me more about your major/what your programming is like and if you auditioned for those lessons? Maybe your college has different rules about music lessons.
@GMKoon Well I’m a rising sophomore. At the moment I am undecided, but I’m leaning towards either Environmental Science or Biology. I did audition for the piano lessons, but I feel like the purpose of the audition was to give the professor an idea of my skill level. It wasn’t super formal or anything like that. I played a portion of a piece that I had worked on with my previous piano teacher and then they asked me to play a few scales.
@Tookme10mins Would you say there were a set of skills they expected you to have before auditioning?
I guess. However, I do recall talking to a student during auditions and he said he had little knowledge of piano/scales and he was still allowed to audition. I think instead of him playing he just talked with the instructor. I’m not sure if he ended up taking lessons though.Also, once a week the instructor had all of us( all of the students she was teaching, which was about 10 or 12 people) perform pieces ,that we’re ready to be performed, in front of the class. And afterwards she would have us give comments/suggestions to the student performing, in addition to her own comments. During one of these meetings, I do recall there being a student who was a year above me and apparently she had just started playing the year before. So I guess my answer is yes I do think there were a set of skills they expected us to have before auditioning, however even if you didn’t have these skills it was fine. I think your plan of going to visit the music department is a great idea though.
You would be surprised how many colleges have a piano in each dorm somewhere (usually in a rec room - my D’s is in the complex’s gym!). So, access to a piano for practice may not be so difficult to get.
Talk to the music department at your college. There are probably piano majors who would be thrilled to give private lessons. In terms of practice…ask around where there are pianos you can use.
At DDs school, there were pianos in almost all of the Practice rooms in the music building…and these were available to non-majors as well. That isn’t true everywhere. So you need to ask.
My daughter got a small music scholarship for non-music majors that includes a small amount of money each year and free piano lessons (1 credit per semester). Kind of cool! It has really helped her cope with stress and she likes her teacher a lot.
There are quite a few LACS that we looked at that offer lessons at any level (without an audition. ) Some of the schools that “gate” lessons with auditions do so because of limited practice rooms. (The college I attended - ages ago - was like this.)
Thanks for the replies. I will definitely talk to faculty at the music department the coming days about next steps.
@gardenstategal Wow that is really interesting to know. I do know of one specific LAC that even allows students to major in music without any prerequisite. It’s apparently in tune with the “liberal arts philosophy” that the school abides by. Also, I also know of a large private school that offers private lessons without prerequisites too. (No idea about how many practice rooms either of them has though) Anyway, apparently, the music department website at my school states that they have like 45 rooms, and it’s a rather large school (30k student body).
@MaineLonghorn That’s so frigging cool. Meanwhile, some of us are charged a lab fee 