What is the -right- lesson length for you or your child?

One challenge starting lessons for yourself or your child is choosing the optimal lesson length. How can lesson length influence the overall trajectory of lessons?

Making music is fun, but first starting music lessons can be uniquely challenging; students can often find themselves suddenly overwhelmed by new, unanticipated challenges. The right lesson length is fun, engaging, and challenging in ways that motivate students to use and hone the skills they’ve been developing through lessons and practice!

This ideal length for lessons is best identified through a short introductory lesson, about 20-30 minutes. It has been my experience that this time allotment allows for the ideal lesson length to reveal itself; for some very young students (and even some adults!), 20-30 minutes may be the maximum, while for others, a longer lesson time will allow them to get more from the lesson time without feeling overwhelmed!

While we can draw some generalizations about age groups in terms of learning abilities and attentional capacity, students are not a monolith! One lesson duration may be appropriate for one student and even detrimental to another!

This is why I recommend to each student or parent of a student that we begin with a very short introductory lesson to gauge experience, goals, and present capacity for new, often challenging, concepts.

Over time, it is possible that students of any age may wish to increase the lesson time, allowing more time for technics, music theory, reading, etc.

Choosing the right length of lesson is important to make sure you or your child are getting the most out of lessons without reaching saturation or burnout.