Top of the page
Q. What is recommended age for private lessons?
A. It is never to late to start learning music. Our oldest student just turned 68. Depending upon an instrument we recommend the following starting age for private lessons:
- Piano/keyboards – 5 years
- Violin/viola - 5 years
- Guitar - 7 years
- Voice - 10 years
- Woodwind - 8 years
- Trumpet - 10 years
- Drums - 7 years
Top of the page
Q. What if my child starts out in the lessons and genuinely hates the instrument?
A. First of all, you need to remember
why you have started music
lessons in the first place - to enrich your child's life and to develop child's
brain, memory and coordination.
There could be many reasons why a child may experience
problems: lack of a good rapport with an instructor, problem with an instrument,
or just natural difficulties of learning a new stuff. Every child and every
case is different and requires a different approach. Believe it or not, many kids
experience a lot of frustration in the beginning, but most of them overcome it and
enjoy music their whole life. Reward is worth an effort. Talk to us about
your child. In 30 years of teaching we have seen it all!
Top of the page
Q. What is admission process?
A. Download and fill out an application and contact us to schedule an evaluation appointment. In your application you let us know days and times that are convenient for you and we’ll schedule your lessons accordingly.
Top of the page
Q. What other activities, besides lessons, are available to students?
A. We offer many different activities to our students to experience music in many different ways - from educational trips to museums and concerts to participation in Halloween and Christmas musical parties; Families Ensembles recitals; competing in local, national and international competitions; performing with a professional orchestra; local and international summer programs and much more.
Top of the page
Q. We want to try piano lessons. Do we need to by an instrument right away?
A. No. At the beginning you can rent a keyboard. The most important thing to know when renting or purchasing a keyboard, it that it must have full sized keys (each individual key should be the same size as an individual piano key) and it must be touch sensitive (if you hit the key hard it makes a loud sound, if you hit it softly, it makes a soft sound). It is best to get a keyboard with at least 60+ keys so that you don't outgrow it too quickly (a regular piano has 88 keys). Please read our "Guide to buying a piano for a beginner" .
Top of the page
Q. Can you help us to choose an instrument?
A. Yes, we can
help you to choose an appropriate instrument and will recommend several
reputable music stores in Boston where Students of Sharon Music Academy have a
discount.
Top of the page
Q. Can my two children have a music lesson together, or both myself and my child?
A. We only do private instruction. Even people from the same family may learn at a different pace. People must master skills at their individual pace . If you are looking for convenience, we suggest that you try to take both lessons at the same time or book them back to back.
Top of the page
Q. Do you offer discounts on private music lessons if I enroll more than one child in?
A. Because all our lessons are private one-on-one instruction we can't do that.
Top of the page
Q. Can I sit in on my child's private music lesson?
A. Yes – we encourage parents to actively participate in child’s music education.
Top of the page
Q. We don’t know if our child would like music lessons. Can we take just one
lesson?
A. Our experience shows that only two months of lessons can really show if a child wants to study music and enjoys it. We have one month minimum requirement of trial lessons for all private lessons.
Top of the page
Q. How long and how frequent are the lessons?
A.
Beginning children (4 to 5 years of age) should start with 30 minute lessons
once a week.
Beginning children (6 to 8 years of age) can start with either 30 or 45 minute lessons depending on experience and developmental readiness. All other beginning students including adults should start with 45 minutes.
Because teaching process is tailored to each student, your teacher may recommend a longer lesson as the student improves or multiple lessons within the same week.
It is also recommended that students practice the same amount of time daily as the length of their lesson.
Top of the page
|
