Benefits of Private Music Lessons

Private music lessons offer a variety of benefits for everyone! Students of all backgrounds, experience levels, and ages, from young beginners up to even a professional level, benefit from the care and dedication of one-on-one education. If you're unsure whether group lessons or private might be better, here are some of the benefits of individualized instruction:

  • Take the Time You Need

    • Every person learns at their own pace. Lessons aren't just about gaining information but about retaining it and putting it into practice. With private lessons, you can spend as much time as you need on a specific concept to make sure that you are making sustainable growth as a musician! If you need to revisit a skill, you can revisit it! If you need a little extra time for a particularly challenging idea, you can have as much time as you need. Our aim is to teach lessons that will stick with you and help you, not to push you through a curriculum faster than you're capable of.

  • Learn to Play Your Instrument

    • Learning an instrument is not just about listening but about doing! The physical skills necessary for making music can be tricky and, like most physical skills, require repetitive practice to master. The process of learning any instrument, including the voice, is a physical experience unique to each body, maturity, physiological makeup, and more. Private lessons allow a student to focus on mastering the technical aspects of an instrument in a way that is authentic and tailored to their individual physiological needs, strengths, and challenges, allowing for faster, more natural, and often more enjoyable growth and learning! In group lessons, these helpful and sometimes necessary individual adjustments are more difficult to identify and it can be difficult to find the time to develop them in each student.

  • Focus on What You Want

    • Whether you're in lessons for your own self-improvement, are working towards a performance, have an upcoming audition, or any other reason, private lessons offer the opportunity to focus intently on what you want so that you reach -- And exceed! -- all your ambitions. A private teacher can serve not only as an instructor but as a mentor, and their expertise as musicians, performers, and professionals is invaluable for helping support and achieve your goals.

  • Keep Your Motivation at Maximum

    • Private lessons offer you the opportunity to pick what you want to play! Learning is not a linear process. Sometimes, it can feel hard and frustrating. One of the best ways to reinspire motivation is to choose a new song that you're really excited about or to dip into a genre that you're interested in. Teachers want to help students work on songs they're interested in and many fundamental theories and concepts are able to be carried through even if you switch songs. Private lessons are uniquely flexible and can be adjusted to help keep students inspired and engaged.

  • Increased Accountability and Feedback

    • In group lessons, it's sometimes easy to get lost in the crowd. Although they can offer a huge benefit in providing community, learning from your peers, and practicing [group-based music-making], private lessons offer more focused attention and accountability. Your lesson time is devoted solely to you, and your private teacher is invested in catering to your specific goals, abilities, and motivations. The teacher-student relationship also inspires students to stay accountable to practicing and working on their skills, while private lesson time provides ample opportunity for customized, individual feedback on a student's progress.


If you decide that private lessons are right for you, here are some important tips and tricks to get the most out of your lessons!

  • Communicate with Your Teacher

    • There is no one more knowledgeable and in tune with what's going on in lessons than the teacher. Talking to your teacher and making sure that your expectations for lessons and your goals are clear is the number one way to make sure that your lessons are best serving you. If you're not feeling good about your progress or feel lost or confused about what you're learning, your teacher wants to know so that they can help you and adjust lessons as necessary! There is no judgement, so don't be afraid to communicate with your teacher and make sure that you both are on the same page.

  • Practice, Practice, Practice

    • The time spent outside of lessons is almost as important (if not more so) than the time you spend in lessons. Acquiring any skill is a matter of practice, practice, practice. The more time you spend outside of lessons playing your instrument, the more valuable your in-lesson time will be. Take the time to learn in class and then use your time between lessons to master those fundamentals and skills so at your next lesson, your teacher will be able to provide specific, directed advice on the things that you can't figure out yourself and spend less time guiding you through the same basics.

  • Keep Track of Your Practice and Progress

    • Tracking your progress is not only a good reminder of what you've worked on but it provides a HUGE confidence boost to see how far you've progressed! Learning is not a linear process and it's natural for students of all ages and experience levels to experience dips or plateaus. Sometimes being able to look back at just how far you come is an important reminder that even when things feel tough, you're always moving forwards! Tracking yourself will help you stay accountable as well as being a record and reminder of just how hard you've worked. At Expressions, we use our in-house motivational and progress tracking program called Level Up. It provides structured challenges, which can be customized to fit each student, as well as fun practice tracking with sticker puzzles! Read more about our Level Up program here.

  • Find Performance Opportunities

    • One of the most exciting parts of learning music is the ability to share it with other people! Although practicing and playing for yourself can be very fulfilling, finding performance opportunities outside of lessons and practice is an excellent way to acquire new experience as a musician and demonstrate the skills you've worked hard to attain. This can be anything from performing for friends and family, to playing on stage at your school's talent show, to auditioning for a local ensemble, finally being able to step up to the mic at your local open mic night, and beyond! Whether your goal is big, looking for opportunities to demonstrate your skills is not only valuable experience but can be a huge confidence boost and a reminder of just how much you've accomplished. Don't forget that one of the benefits of lessons at Expression is twice-yearly recital opportunities totally FREE for all enrolled students!