Now that college decisions are out, I was considering reaching out to a private music instructor at a university I was accepted to and requesting a sample private lesson on one of the days that I am up visiting. Right now I’m looking at doubling a music major with something else (applied as undeclared). My question is pretty much whether this is a thing that people do. Thanks.
Yes, although you may need to pay the teacher for the lesson.
^Thank you. Also if it matters it’s at a school not particularly known for its music program.
I don’t think it matters how well known the program is-- it makes sense to visit the teacher and either play for him or her (sort of a euphemism for them making a little time to hear you and meet you–or take a lesson. If anything, it will give you an idea if you can work with this person and it will also establish you as a serious musician.
Agreed. My son always offered to pay. It’s polite. If it’s too expensive you could always ask for a shorter lesson but I have found the paid lessons to be very productive .
Thanks @glassharmonica and @cellomom6, your advice has been very helpful. Would $25-$35 be appropriate to offer?
You don’t offer anything; you should ask what the teacher’s rate is. I don’t know the particulars of the region where you are taking this lesson, but my daughter paid everything from nothing to $45 to $250 for sample lessons for undergrad a few years ago. Many teachers will waive their fee but others will expect to be paid like any private lesson.
Simple–“I am interested in having a private lesson with you when I come to the school to visit on such and such dates. Would that be a possibility? What is your fee for a sample private lesson? Thank you for your consideration.”
Just offer to pay on the email when you ask. Many will not take anything/state on the email back that they don’t. I’ve had 7 sample lessons and only had to pay for 2 of them, but when they were paid for it was $150-160, and one required that it was all in cash.
Just go ahead and ask the teacher in an email before the lesson. Don’t worry about offending anyone by being direct. CASH for sure. Paying in cash is a nice, no- nonsense way to go and allows some flexibility- sometimes the teacher will ask for less than the agreed amount and an already made out check is going to prevent that.
We had a variety of experiences which ranged from a teacher that wouldn’t take money as long as we had actually applied to the school to a teacher that offered the option of either taking a full paid lesson ( 150 ) or just discussing things with her ( free ) . Like after the effort and expense of traveling 950 miles we were going to just sit and talk? I thought that was funny. In the end, only one teacher charged and that was for lessons after the audition lesson. We just liked the teacher so much that every time he came back to teach at a certain university, we went down and took a lesson and of course, paid cash.