Online violin lessons are the best thing that could happen to the violin community, at least as far as the student is concerned. If you haven’t yet heard of them, it’s not surprising. Generally people go about learning an instrument by calling up a local music school and asking if they offer private lessons for your instrument. When you go to meet your teacher, I very seriously doubt they will say, "I charge thirty dollars per half hour lesson, but at the same price you could master your instrument using online violin lessons and never have to pay me again." If they did, they would ALL be out of a job! Unless you live next door to your violin teacher, you’ll pay several times more than that price just for the gas to get you to your lessons during the course of your music education. In this situation, ten times out of ten the opportunity for the student will be swept under the rug.

No violin teacher could make a living trying to keep up with such rates, but suppose they tried. Most aren’t of the teaching caliber you’ll find online. As a fair representation, let’s say traditional violin lessons run from about 20 to 100 dollars per half hour (sometimes slightly less from someone who teaches as a hobby or significantly more if you’re learning from someone who carries a lot of clout in the field); that would mean the average teacher charges 20% of what the master does. Applying this rate to online violin lessons would mean the average teacher would charge $6 to teach a student how to master the violin. Even if taking twenty at a time that’s not enough to pay the rent for one month, and he or she would be tied up for possibly years.

Why would I so fervently shout about the opportunity of online violin lessons if it’s going to be so harsh on violin teachers? The bottom line is I love music, so I choose the student’s side over the teacher’s. I’m sure there are many who would love to learn how to play violin, but can’t afford to get quality lessons, so they never learn. Other would-be violin players lack the time to learn how to play. Learning from home will free up some time for the student to play by eliminating the commute. I want to see more violinists, and there’s no longer a question of where to find the best lesson quality or if it fits your budget.