Find a Music Teacher By Seeking Satisified Students

To find a good music teacher, talk to students first and teachers second. Painting: "Music Lesson" by Emil Rau.

People sometimes ask me how to locate a good music teacher. Word of mouth about a particular teacher is by far the best method. But everyone isn’t hooked into a network of people who know teachers that teach what they want to learn.

Music schools are, of course, good places to start, but many schools have a focus on teaching children. If you live near a school that promotes programs and teachers specifically for adults, I would look at those before looking into a music school that teaches mostly children.

The best way to find a teacher is to network with the goal of finding satisfied students, not the teachers themselves. If you’ve ever gone to a doctor recommended by another doctor and were unhappy with the result, you may know what I mean.

A happy patient of a doctor is a better reference than a colleague of a doctor, who may not know the doctor’s personality. If you need a very specific surgical procedure, the doctor’s personality isn’t a huge factor. But if you’re going to have an ongoing relationship with an internist, you want someone that you like, and with whom you’re comfortable talking.

One way to find a teacher’s satisfied students is to put a posting on the “musicians” section of your city’s Craigslist (www.craigslist.org) or our own Music After 50 forum! (Use the “Find Fellow Players” by region section.)

Instead ofcreating a posting that targets the teachers themselves, ie, “Seeking vocal teacher…”
Say something like: “Do you study voice with a teacher you like?”

Ideally, you want someone who is a good and experienced teacher and a good player (or singer). There are plenty of teachers who fit that description.  Don’t automatically sign up for lessons with the great player or singer without finding out what their students think of them. A bad fit will likely mean that you’ll quit the lessons and have to start the process of looking all over again.