Choose a music teacher or coach who understands what you’re trying to achieve, has relevant experience helping musicians with similar goals, and uses an approach that suits the way you want to learn.
Qualifications and musical accomplishments can matter, but they don’t automatically make someone the right educator for you. How well they understand your goals, communicate with you and help people like you is often more important.
There is no single formula for choosing the right person, but there are some useful things to consider before committing your time and money.
Start with what you’re looking for
Before comparing teachers or coaches, ask yourself:
What am I hoping to achieve?
If your goal is to prepare for graded examinations, develop your technique on an instrument or work through particular repertoire, an instrumental teacher may be the most appropriate choice.
If your goals are broader, perhaps becoming a more confident musician, developing your musicality, playing by ear, improvising, performing more comfortably or becoming more independent, a music coach may be better suited to your needs.
You may even benefit from both.
Being clear about what you actually want makes every other decision easier.
Have they helped people with goals like yours?
This is one of the most useful questions you can ask.
A brilliant classical pianist may not be the best person to help a singer-songwriter accompany themselves by ear.
An excellent guitar teacher who specialises in graded examinations may not be the obvious choice for someone wanting to improvise at a blues jam.
Likewise, a music coach may have a philosophy you love but little experience helping people with the particular problem you’re trying to solve.
Look beyond the general claim that somebody teaches or coaches music.
Who do they normally work with?
What do they actually help those people do?
Do those goals resemble yours?
Nobody needs to have worked with someone exactly like you, but there should be a reasonable connection between their experience and what you’re hoping to achieve.
How important are qualifications?
Qualifications can certainly matter.
In some areas of music education, particularly classical instrumental teaching, formal qualifications are common. A teacher may have studied at a conservatoire or university and may hold recognised teaching qualifications or specialist certifications.
In other areas, such as popular music, qualifications are often less common and aren’t necessarily a reliable indicator of teaching ability. Many excellent teachers have developed their expertise through years of performing, teaching and practical experience.
The same applies to coaching.
Qualifications can demonstrate that somebody has studied a subject and reached a particular standard.
They don’t necessarily demonstrate that they can help you learn effectively.
So consider qualifications as one part of the picture rather than the whole picture.
What experience do they have?
Experience can be equally important.
Has the teacher or coach worked successfully with people at your level?
Have they helped musicians achieve goals similar to yours?
Do they have relevant experience performing, rehearsing, recording or working with other musicians?
Practical experience can give an educator insights that are difficult to acquire from study alone.
But an impressive performing career isn’t enough either.
Excellent musicians don’t automatically become excellent educators.
Being able to do something and being able to help another person learn to do it are different skills.
Does their approach match the musician you want to become?
Every educator has an approach, whether they describe it as a philosophy or not.
Some follow a carefully structured curriculum.
Others build learning around the individual’s interests.
Some focus heavily on technique and repertoire.
Others place greater emphasis on creativity, listening, improvisation or musical understanding.
None of these is automatically right or wrong.
The question is whether the approach is likely to take you where you want to go.
If you want to become less dependent on written music, for example, it makes sense to ask how much listening and playing by ear forms part of their approach.
If you want to take graded examinations, you’ll probably want someone who understands the examination system and can prepare you properly.
If you want to improvise, ask how improvisation is actually developed.
Don’t be afraid to ask:
- How do you normally structure sessions?
- Do you follow a syllabus or adapt the learning to the individual?
- How do you decide what we’ll work on?
- How do you measure progress?
- What do you expect me to do between sessions?
A good educator should be able to explain why they work the way they do.
Can they communicate with you?
This matters enormously.
Do they explain ideas in ways that make sense to you?
Do they listen?
Do they encourage questions?
Do you leave conversations feeling clearer than when you arrived?
Also consider how you respond to their manner.
Some musicians enjoy being challenged very directly. Others learn better in a calmer, more encouraging environment.
Neither is inherently better.
But if you’re going to spend months working with someone, particularly in a coaching relationship, you need to be able to communicate honestly with them.
You’ll have successes, frustrations, questions and probably the occasional week when very little goes according to plan.
Trust matters.
Meet them before making a substantial commitment
Whenever possible, have some direct contact before committing to a longer programme.
An instrumental teacher may offer an introductory or trial lesson. A coach may offer an initial conversation or consultation.
Use it to assess more than their musical knowledge.
Ask yourself:
- Did they listen carefully?
- Did they seem to understand what I want?
- Did they explain things clearly?
- Did I feel comfortable asking questions?
- Did their approach make sense to me?
- Could I imagine working with this person for several months?
A conversation can sometimes tell you more than a long list of qualifications or an impressive website.
Look for evidence, but read it carefully
Reviews and testimonials can be useful, particularly when they describe the problem someone had and what changed as a result of working with the teacher or coach.
A collection of five-star ratings may be reassuring, but detailed comments are often more informative.
Look for evidence connected to your goals.
If you want to develop confidence playing by ear, a testimonial from somebody describing how their sight-reading improved tells you relatively little.
Similarly, social-media followers, impressive performance videos or a prestigious biography can demonstrate expertise or popularity, but they don’t automatically demonstrate an ability to help you learn.
What are the warning signs?
Everyone will have different priorities, but some things are worth paying attention to:
- unrealistic promises or guaranteed musical results
- reluctance to answer reasonable questions
- unclear communication about what you’re actually buying
- pressure to commit before you’re ready
- an approach that seems centred entirely on the educator rather than your goals
- an inability to explain how their approach relates to what you want to achieve
Another warning sign can be feeling that you’re being made increasingly dependent on the person helping you.
Good education should gradually increase what you’re capable of doing for yourself.
Understand what you’re committing to
Before paying, make sure the practical arrangements are clear.
Find out:
- how often you’ll meet
- whether sessions are bought individually, in blocks or as part of a longer programme
- what support, if any, is available between sessions
- what happens if you need to cancel or rearrange
- how holidays and missed sessions are handled
- the total cost and payment schedule
- whether there are any additional costs
- what refund or guarantee arrangements apply, if any
These details may not be particularly exciting, but knowing them beforehand can prevent misunderstandings later.
What if you’ve chosen the wrong person?
Even after careful research, not every educational relationship works.
That doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve made a terrible mistake or that the teacher or coach is poor.
Sometimes the fit simply isn’t right.
If something isn’t working, talk about it.
Perhaps your goals have changed. Perhaps the pace feels too fast or too slow. Perhaps you’d like a different balance between technical work, repertoire and creativity.
A good teacher or coach should be willing to discuss what’s happening and adapt where appropriate.
And if, after an honest conversation, the relationship still isn’t helping you, it’s reasonable to look elsewhere.
You aren’t choosing a music teacher or coach for life.
You’re choosing somebody to help with the next part of your musical development.
A simple checklist
Before making your decision, ask yourself:
- Do they understand the kind of musician I want to become?
- Have they got relevant experience for what I’m trying to achieve?
- Does their approach make sense to me?
- Can they explain clearly how they work?
- Do I feel comfortable asking questions?
- Do I trust their knowledge and experience?
- Is the practical and financial commitment clear?
- Can I imagine working well with this person?
If the answer to most of those questions is yes, you’ve probably found someone worth considering.
Ultimately, the right teacher or coach isn’t necessarily the one with the most impressive qualifications, the longest biography or the biggest online following.
It’s the person whose knowledge, experience, communication and approach give you the best opportunity to become the musician you want to become.