The main advantages of music coaching are personalisation, flexibility, accountability and the opportunity to develop as a whole musician rather than concentrating only on instrumental technique or repertoire. The potential drawbacks are that coaching requires active participation, may not provide the fixed structure some musicians prefer, depends heavily on finding the right coach and can be considerably more expensive than instrumental lessons.
Those aren’t necessarily arguments for or against coaching.
In fact, some of its greatest strengths can also be weaknesses depending on the musician.
Someone who enjoys experimentation, discussion and taking responsibility for their development may find coaching enormously rewarding.
Someone who wants a clearly prescribed syllabus and step-by-step instruction may prefer instrumental lessons or another form of music education.
Here’s what to consider.
Advantage: coaching can be highly personalised
Perhaps the clearest advantage of coaching is the extent to which it can be designed around an individual.
Two people could work with the same coach and have completely different experiences.
One might want to become confident performing in public. Another might want to improvise. Someone else might want to develop their ear, accompany their own singing or become less dependent on written music.
The starting point is usually:
Where are you now, and where would you like to go?
Coach and client then work together to establish a route between the two.
There may still be structure, exercises and milestones, but they serve the individual’s goals rather than determining them.
Advantage: coaching can develop the whole musician
Music coaching can take a broader view than simply developing one particular instrumental skill.
This is sometimes described as holistic musicality.
Technique and repertoire may form part of that development, but so can listening, musical understanding, memory, creativity, expression, improvisation, confidence, performance, communication and independence.
Importantly, these things don’t exist separately.
Better listening can improve understanding.
Greater understanding can make music easier to remember.
Experimentation can develop creativity.
Confidence can make a musician more willing to perform, improvise or play with other people.
This broader approach can be particularly useful for musicians who have accumulated plenty of knowledge and instrumental experience but don’t yet feel that everything has joined together into a coherent understanding of music.
Advantage: coaching aims to develop independence
Good coaching doesn’t simply provide answers.
It asks questions too.
Rather than immediately telling a musician how to solve every problem, a coach might ask what they’ve noticed, what they’ve already tried and what else they could experiment with.
This can initially feel slower than simply being given the answer.
But the longer-term aim is different.
Ideally, the musician gradually becomes capable of asking themselves the questions that the coach once asked them.
They become better at listening, experimenting, diagnosing problems and making their own musical decisions.
One measure of successful coaching may eventually be needing less of it.
Advantage: accountability and support can help maintain momentum
Knowing what to do and actually doing it aren’t always the same thing.
Coaching can provide accountability.
Instead of leaving a session with a vague intention such as:
“I’ll work on that song.”
you might establish something more concrete:
“By next Friday, I want to be able to play the complete song from memory.”
Coach and client can then work out what needs to happen to make that achievable.
At the next meeting, progress can be reviewed without turning the process into a judgement about whether someone has practised enough.
What worked?
What got in the way?
Does the approach need changing?
Some coaching also includes contact between meetings, allowing questions or difficulties to be addressed while the work is actually happening.
Advantage: coaching can help you focus
Modern musicians rarely suffer from a shortage of information.
YouTube, courses, books, apps and social media can provide more musical material than anyone could use in a lifetime.
The harder question is:
What actually matters to me now?
A coach can help narrow the field.
Once you’ve established a meaningful goal, new exercises, courses and interesting musical diversions can be judged against it.
Will this help?
Is it important now?
Or is it simply another interesting thing competing for attention?
Sometimes knowing what not to work on is as useful as knowing what to practise.
Potential drawback: coaching requires active participation
Many of coaching’s advantages depend upon the musician being willing to participate.
That also creates one of its biggest potential drawbacks.
Coaching isn’t usually a passive educational experience.
You may be expected to make decisions, reflect on your learning, experiment, report honestly on what has and hasn’t worked and undertake agreed actions between sessions.
Someone who primarily wants an expert to say:
“Do this, then this, then this.”
may find coaching frustrating.
A structured course or regular instrumental lessons may suit them better.
Potential drawback: flexibility doesn’t suit everybody
The absence of a fixed curriculum can be liberating.
It can also feel uncertain.
Some musicians enjoy knowing they’re in Grade 3, Unit 4 or Week 7 and that completing a predetermined sequence takes them to the next stage.
That structure can provide reassurance and motivation.
Coaching can still have goals, plans and milestones, but the route may change according to the musician’s progress and interests.
If you strongly prefer externally defined progression, that flexibility may be a disadvantage rather than a benefit.
Potential drawback: coaching can challenge you
Good coaching should be supportive, but that doesn’t mean it will always be comfortable.
A coach may question assumptions or encourage you to attempt things you’ve previously avoided.
That might mean improvising when improvisation feels frightening, singing when you feel self-conscious or trying something before you feel completely ready.
Some challenge can be useful.
But there is a balance.
You should be able to communicate honestly when something feels too much, too little or simply wrong for you.
That makes trust between coach and musician particularly important.
Potential drawback: finding the right coach matters
Because coaching is personal, compatibility matters.
Communication styles can clash.
One coach may push harder than you want. Another may not provide enough challenge.
One person may appreciate informality and humour; another may prefer a more structured relationship.
None of these necessarily indicates a bad coach or a difficult client.
Sometimes two people simply aren’t a good fit.
That’s why it’s worth speaking to a prospective coach before making a substantial commitment.
Potential drawback: coaching doesn’t replace every kind of specialist teaching
A music coach doesn’t automatically replace a specialist instrumental teacher.
If you want advanced classical violin technique, specialist vocal work or preparation for a particular instrumental examination, you may need somebody with expertise in that area.
Coaching may complement specialist instrumental teaching, but it shouldn’t pretend to replace expertise the coach doesn’t possess.
Sometimes the right answer is coaching.
Sometimes it’s instrumental lessons.
Sometimes it’s both.
Potential drawback: music coaching can be expensive
Highly personalised coaching can cost considerably more than an individual instrumental lesson.
The price may reflect the length of the programme, individual planning, regular progress reviews, contact between sessions and the amount of personal access to the coach.
But none of those things represents good value if you don’t actually need them.
If you want occasional help with instrumental technique, paying for intensive long-term coaching may make little sense.
And paying for coaching doesn’t buy musical progress.
It buys access to expertise, guidance, accountability and support.
You still have to participate and make music.
So, who is music coaching best suited to?
Music coaching may be particularly useful if you:
- have musical goals that don’t fit neatly into a standard curriculum
- want to develop broader musicality as well as instrumental ability
- value individual feedback, accountability and support
- enjoy exploring possibilities rather than always being given the answer
- want to become increasingly independent
- are willing to experiment and reflect on your learning
- are prepared to communicate honestly when something isn’t working
It may be less appropriate if you primarily want specialist instrumental instruction, examination preparation, a prescribed curriculum or straightforward step-by-step direction.
Neither preference says anything about how serious or capable you are as a musician.
They’re simply different ways of learning.
The great strength of music coaching is that it can be personal, flexible and holistic. Those same characteristics are also why it won’t suit everyone.
So rather than asking:
“Is music coaching good?”
ask:
“Is this way of learning a good fit for me?”