How to choose a music teacher: the questions to ask

Most advice on this question is a list of questions to ask, and most of those questions are ones a teacher can answer well without being right for your child. What method books do you use. What is your teaching philosophy. Do you hold recitals. They sound like due diligence, and they mostly measure how practised the teacher is at being interviewed.

The question underneath is simpler and harder to say out loud: is this stranger safe, and will my child still want to do this in a year. Everything below is organised around those two.

Start with the one thing that is not negotiable

Before teaching style, before price, before anything: does this person hold the child safety clearance their state requires.

Australia runs eight separate schemes and they are not interchangeable. The names differ, and in Victoria and Queensland a registered teacher may hold something different instead of the standard check. A National Police Check is not a child safety clearance anywhere in the country, which matters because offering one is a common and confident sounding answer. Our state by state guide sets out which credential applies where, and how to verify it yourself on the public register, free, in about two minutes, without needing the teacher's permission.

Two things to actually look at when you check, because both get skipped: the status, since a card can exist and be suspended, and the type, since a volunteer card does not cover paid teaching.

A good teacher will not be offended by the question. Most will offer the number before you ask, and a flicker of irritation at being asked is itself information.

Questions that reveal something

The useful questions are the ones where the answer cannot be prepared, because they are about your specific child rather than about teaching in general.

"Have you taught a lot of six year olds?" Substitute your child's age. Teaching a six year old and teaching a sixteen year old are close to different jobs, and a teacher who mostly does one will tell you so if asked directly. This single question sorts more candidates than the rest combined.

"What does a lesson actually look like, minute to minute?" You are listening for whether a young child spends the whole time seated at the instrument, which is a warning sign at that age, and for whether there is any structure at all for an older one.

"What happens when a student stops practising?" Every student does. The answer tells you whether this teacher treats it as the child's failing, or as a normal part of the work with a plan attached.

"What do you do when a student wants to play something you would not have chosen?" This separates teachers who have a repertoire from teachers who have a syllabus. Neither is wrong, but a teenager who never plays anything they picked will quit, and a beginner with no structure will drift.

"Do you enter students for AMEB exams, and is that expected?" Exams suit some children and actively harm others. What you want is a teacher whose answer is a preference rather than a policy.

What matters less than you think

Qualifications. They are the first thing every list tells you to check, and they are a weak predictor of whether a child will thrive. A conservatorium degree says someone plays well. It says little about whether they can hold the attention of a seven year old on a Thursday afternoon. Experience with your child's age, and evidence they enjoy it, beats the degree almost every time. Qualifications do matter more as a student advances, which is a good reason to revisit the choice later rather than to over-weight it now.

Method books. A perfectly reasonable question that tells you almost nothing, because the good teachers adapt whatever they use and the weak ones follow the book page by page regardless of which book it is.

The recital. Performance opportunities are genuinely valuable for some children and a source of dread for others. Ask whether performing is optional, not whether it happens.

The money questions, before you enrol

Australian studios run on school terms, and the billing follows. Ask these before you commit, because they are the source of nearly every dispute that ends an enrolment.

"How do you bill?" Most teachers invoice a full term upfront. That is normal here and not a warning sign. It is how a teacher holds your slot.

"What happens if we cancel a lesson?" You want a clear answer with a number in it. A make up credit with an expiry is the fair and common structure, and our guide to cancellation policies shows what a well built one looks like from the teacher's side, which is useful for judging the one you are handed.

"What happens if you cancel?" A policy that only binds the family is a policy worth asking about twice.

"What is the rate, and what is not included?" Exam fees, books and accompanist costs are the usual extras. If you want to know whether a quote is normal, our rates data covers what Australian teachers actually advertise.

The trial lesson is the real interview

Everything above narrows a list. The trial lesson decides it, and the thing to watch is not the teacher.

Watch your child on the way home. Are they talking about it. Did they show you something. A child who goes quiet after a first lesson with a technically excellent teacher is telling you something no reference check will.

Watch how the teacher handled the moment your child got something wrong, because that moment is the whole job. And notice whether they talked to your child, or about your child while your child sat there.

One trial is enough to rule a teacher out. It is rarely enough to be certain, and a good teacher will say so themselves.

When to walk away

Some of these are judgement calls. The first is not.

• No clearance, or reluctance to give the number. This is the only item on this page with no nuance attached.
• They will not let you observe a first lesson. A reasonable teacher may prefer you not sit in every week, for good reasons about a child's independence. Refusing the first one is different.
• Everything is the student's fault. Ask the practice question above and listen for whether a plan exists.
• The policy has no reciprocity. Covered above, and it predicts how things go when something inevitably goes wrong.
• They are vague about money. Not expensive. Vague.

Matching the teacher to the child

The best teacher in your suburb is not the best teacher for your child, and the mismatch is usually temperament rather than skill.

A child who is easily discouraged needs someone who notices small wins out loud. A child who races ahead needs someone who will let them, then quietly fill the gaps. A very young beginner needs someone who plays games and does not apologise for it, which is worth knowing before you judge a first lesson that looked like not much learning. If you are not yet sure your child is ready at all, that is a different question with a different answer.

It is also allowed to change teachers. Parents treat it as a failure and teachers generally do not. A teacher who is wrong for your child usually knows before you do.

What this guide will not tell you

It will not tell you that a more expensive teacher is better, because our own rates data does not support it. It will not give you a scoring rubric, because the trial lesson is not a test you can mark. And it will not pretend that a verified clearance makes someone a good person. It is a floor, and a floor is not a recommendation.

What we do

Every teacher on TeachMusic who works with under 18s has their child safety credential checked by a person, against the issuing authority's own register, before the badge appears. That removes the most awkward question on this page from your list. Profiles carry the rate, the ages each teacher takes, and their own words about how they teach, so you can do most of the narrowing before you contact anyone, and enquiries go straight to the teacher with no commission in between.