30 Jul Customizing Private Music Lessons: What Session Length is Right for Your Child?

At Rochester Conservatory of Music, we have been educating students in the musical arts for a long time. We’ve seen so many children uplifted and given new skills and confidence in order to celebrate their love of music! We know the value of effective and high-quality musical instruction.

So let’s talk about how we approach your student’s needs on a customized basis.

One of the biggest questions is what length of time is appropriate for a music lesson. Parents will often just guess at this by bringing their kid in and looking at scheduling and pricing options. We like to go further and get to know our students, to see what time frame works best for them.

We offer 30 minute, 45 minute and 60 minute lessons. However, the key idea here is that the effectiveness of these time frames is totally based on a student’s attention span.

You can sort of judging attention span by age – but in a time when digital screens are taking up so much of our children’s attention, and changing the ways that their brain pathways function, attention span differs a good deal based on environment. If a child is used to the high-speed flashing of a screen, they may not be a good candidate for lengthy 60 minute lessons. On the other hand, if a child is the type who is strongly driven to excel, who focuses in on music as a pursuit, a 60 minute lesson can be ideal. There’s a lot more that can be delivered and transferred in a 60 minute lesson.

The bottom line is that we will go through these issues with parents and students and figure out what works. Not all music schools do this – they will select what’s best for their scheduling and their instructors. Here at Rochester Conservatory, we feel we have a higher calling to actually bring value to students and families. Why? One reason is that customizing lessons can make the difference between a short-term ‘fad’ and a lifelong dedication to practicing music. When it’s not the right fit, your child can sense this, and they often drop out of the program, sometimes never to come back. When they are accommodated even in little ways, they’re more likely to latch on, and after that you see their musical skill bloom and grow quickly and in impressive amazing ways.

Talk to us about individual and group music classes, and how we approach getting your child acquainted with the instruments of his or her preference. We love to see children catching the music bug and developing their skills for the future!