Individual lessons
Age 6 and up, any level
$48from, per lesson
- Junior · 30 minages 6–10$48
- Standard · 50 minmost students$72
- Advanced · 80 minexam & audition prep$104
- Trial lesson · 40 minone per student$25
Programs & fees
Four ways to study here
Everything below is a published price, per person, with no registration fee. A term is 12 weeks; passes are transferable inside a family and roll over once.
Group classes
Four to six students per room
$34per student, per class
- Junior ensemble · 60 minages 7–12$34
- Adult beginners · 75 minTue & Thu evenings$39
- Chamber group · 90 minby audition$44
- Choir · 60 minSaturday mornings$26
Term passes
Paid once, used across a term
$470from, per term
- 12 individual · 50 minsaves $84$780
- 16 group classessaves $74$470
- Family pass · 2 studentsany mix, 20 lessons$1,190
- Summer intensive · 5 daysJuly, 10:00–15:00$540
Room rental
For students and outside musicians
$12per hour
- Upright roomrooms 1, 2, 4$12/h
- Grand piano roomroom 3, tuned monthly$18/h
- Ensemble roomseats 8, music stands$26/h
- Recital hall90 seats, evenings$85/h
Instrument hire from $16 a month — violin, viola, cello, flute.
Sibling discount 15% on the second student.
Exam entry handled by the office, board fees at cost.
Strings department
Learn what a string actually does
Every first lesson in the strings department starts here: a plucked string is a standing wave, fixed at both ends, dying away. Drag across the strings — each one sounds its own note and shakes in the shape it really takes.
- 1Violin, viola, cello, double bassOne teacher per student from the first week, group ensemble from term two.
- 2Instruments on loanQuarter, half and full sizes in stock; hire runs from $16 a month.
- 3Workshop on siteBow rehair and setup done in the building, usually inside three days.
Last note—
drag across the strings to play · sound starts on your first pluck
Season 2026–27
The term, read as one long phrase
Students play in public four times a year, and the hall is open to the neighbourhood in between. Below, every concert of the season sits on one moving ribbon — each note lights as it reaches the line.
Season ribbon
one note = one concert
Oct 18Saturday 18:00
Junior Recital — First Term
Forty students, two minutes each, no programme notes.
Recital Hall90 seats
Free entry
Dec 06Saturday 19:00
Winter Strings Evening
Chamber groups and the senior quartet; cello ensemble opens.
Recital Hall90 seats
$14
Feb 21Saturday 18:30
Piano Marathon
Four hours, doors open throughout, coffee in the foyer.
Main Hall140 seats
$18
Apr 11Saturday 19:00
Faculty Concert
Teachers play for their students, once a year, at cost.
Main Hall140 seats
$22
Jun 13Saturday 17:00
End of Year — Everyone Plays
Choir, ensembles and every soloist who wants the stage.
Main Hall140 seats
Free entry
Faculty
Eleven teachers, four of them here
Every teacher holds a performing diploma and keeps playing in public. Trial lessons are taught by the person who would go on teaching you — never by an assistant.
M
Miriam Vance
Head of piano
Trained in Vienna, twenty-two years of teaching; takes beginners and exam candidates alike.
A
Anselm Roste
Violin & viola
Leads the senior quartet and the Saturday ensemble; rehairs bows in the workshop himself.
D
Delia Ferrand
Voice & choir
Choral conductor; runs the Saturday choir and prepares singers for auditions.
T
Teo Marchetti
Cello & double bass
Orchestral player; teaches the low strings and the chamber group on Thursday evenings.
48 yrsteaching in the same building on Lanternhouse Row
310students enrolled this term, from age six to seventy-one
4×public concerts a year — every student who wants a slot gets one
96%of exam candidates passed with merit or above last year
What families say
Twelve years of Saturday mornings
“
My daughter had quit two schools before this one. Here she was given a real piano in a real room and told to make a sound. She has not missed a lesson since October.
“
I started at fifty-four, which felt ridiculous. Nobody here treated it as unusual. Eighteen months on I played in the end-of-year concert and my hands only shook for the first line.
“
The cello came on loan, the bow was rehaired downstairs in two days, and the term pass meant we never argued about money mid-term. That is the whole review.
Visit
Come and hear the rooms
The office is on the ground floor, to the left of the entrance. Walk in during opening hours — no appointment needed to look around.
Opening hours
| Monday – Friday | 09:00 – 21:00 |
| Saturday | 10:00 – 18:00 |
| Sunday | 11:00 – 16:00 |
- A46 Lanternhouse Row, Ashgrove QuarterGround floor, entrance under the arch
- T+1 555 0142 880Office, during opening hours
- Eoffice@clefhouse.exampleReplies within one working day
- PTram 4 and 11 to LanternhouseStreet parking free after 18:00
Ashgrove Quarter, under the brick archTwo minutes from Lanternhouse tram stop
Book a visit
Booking
Book a trial lesson
Forty minutes with the teacher who would take you on, on the instrument you would actually use. $25, paid at the office, deducted from your first term if you stay.
- 1Tell us the instrument and roughly when you are free.
- 2We answer within one working day with two or three real slots.
- 3You come in, play, and decide afterwards — nothing is signed on the day.
This is a demonstration site. The form validates and shows a confirmation, but sends nothing and stores nothing.
Questions
Before you walk in
If the answer you need is not here, call the office — someone picks up during opening hours.
The office
+1 555 0142 880
Mon–Fri 09:00–21:00 · Sat 10:00–18:00 · Sun 11:00–16:00
Book a trial lessonDo we need an instrument at home to start?
No. Start with the trial lesson and the practice rooms, which are $12 an hour for students. If you decide to continue, we hire out violins, violas, cellos and flutes from $16 a month, in quarter, half and full sizes. Most piano families buy a digital instrument in the first two months; we will tell you what to look for and take nothing from the shop.
How old is too old, or too young?
We take students from six, because that is the age at which the thirty-minute junior lesson works. There is no upper limit — the adult beginners group meets Tuesday and Thursday evenings and the oldest student enrolled this term is seventy-one.
What happens if a lesson is missed?
Tell the office more than twenty-four hours ahead and the lesson moves inside the same term at no cost. Less than that, and it counts as taken — the teacher has held the room. Illness with a note is always moved. Term passes roll over once, so nothing is lost at the end of a term.
Do you prepare students for exams and auditions?
Yes, for graded exams and for conservatoire auditions. Exam entries go through the office and board fees are passed on at cost with nothing added. Audition preparation is usually the eighty-minute lesson, and we will say plainly if we think a candidate needs another year.