Do Online Music Lessons with Lessonface Save You Money?

The short answer is yes, and they definitely save you some aggravation.

A music instructor should not be chosen simply based on price - let’s get that out of the way. That’s not the real question here though. What we want to look at is the cost of commuting vs. taking classes online with Lessonface.com.

It’s pretty difficult (read: impossible) to come up with national or international averages for the math we’re about to do, so you’ll have to input your own numbers, but we’ll take a stab at coming up with the right formula for a cost comparison. Here goes:

Transportation

Here in Brooklyn, the cost of transportation and parking is high. Public transportation is a pretty good value, as it can take you just about anywhere in the NYC area, and costs $2.25 per ride or $104 per month. It’s not cheap, but it’s worth it. But if you don’t have a monthly pass, for any given lesson you’re out at least $4.50, and that’s if you take the least expensive option. Taking a cab depends on the distance, but it usually costs $2.50 or more plus whatever fees are incurred for baggage or time and then 50 cents for every fifth of a mile or other “unit,” as they call it. Anyway, let’s just say it’s a three-mile trek, for good measure. That would mean the ride, factoring in a tip, would cost around $12 or so. Double it and expect a little traffic and it’s easily $25 per lesson. Ouch.

If you drive a car, the costs may be in the middle because gas isn’t cheap and you’ll have to find temporary parking, but that’s only because you already have to pay for insurance and parking on a monthly basis. Owning a car just for fun simply isn’t doable for a lot of people, but when it comes to transporting an instrument, it’s almost a must.

Time

If you’re taking someone else to a lesson, every minute from door to door is, in essence, “lost.” It’s not really - you’re doing something helpful and valuable, but it’s still time you don’t have for other things you need to get done. Once again, in Brooklyn you’ll have to spend at least a good 15 minutes to a half hour on each leg of the trip, meaning a half hour to an hour (!) in total commuting, and then you’ll have to wait for the class to end, and anyone who’s ever taken a lesson knows they often go over time allotments. Tally it up and that’s between an hour to two hours of time that could be better spent otherwise. If you’re commuting solo, you can cut that down to “just” a half hour to an hour for each lesson mostly wasted waiting to arrive somewhere. In a world that seems to speed up exponentially, free time proves increasingly limited, and just not sleeping is a poor answer to this conundrum (see: deterioration, health).

The Final Cost

OK, so to add that all up, we’re looking at anywhere from $4.50 to $25 and a half hour to two hours per lesson, depending on the variables above. On the other hand, Lessonface requires you have access to an instrument and an internet/video-enabled device. These aren’t free, but like the car and monthly subway pass propositions mentioned above, those are costs you have to take into account from the beginning, and almost everyone wants a tablet or laptop with an internet connection, so it’s a bit unfair to include it in this category entirely. Add in a dollar or two per lesson and that seems about fair. Oh, and your commute with Lessonface takes ZERO minutes.

So, there you have it. You’ll save energy by not having to transport yourself, your kids, or your instrument, you save possibly over $20 in transportation costs, and you save 30 minutes to an hour commuting if you’re the one taking the lesson and maybe as much as two hours if your kid is the student. Not too shabby. Extrapolate that over the course or a year and maybe as many as 50 to 100 lessons and we’re talking about a serious change in quality of life. Choose wisely.

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Click here to book a lesson or here to learn more about how Lessonface works. You can also check out our blog here to read more about Lessonface and our teachers.