6 Steps To Find The Right Music Teacher (Written By a Teacher)

February 23, 2026

by Serg EF

Hi my name is Serg EF, and I have been mentoring touring artists and training musicians of all levels for over a decade. My background includes working for several private music schools, serving as an artist development consultant to top-charting singers, and running my own teaching business for years. I’ve performed and written music for most of my life, and have dedicated my career to helping musicians elevate their craft. If you have ever asked yourself the question - “How do I find the right private teacher for myself or my child?”, this article is for you.

I have great news! There are NO secrets to getting better. The equation for music mastery is exhilaratingly simple: Time Put In = What You Get Out of It. As a high school student, I had a bad voice. I loved music, and tortured my entire family (especially my twin brother) with late night “singing” sessions. The greatest gift my family gave me was supporting me when I was terrible. Incredible vocal coaches - Tamara Beatty, Joanna Pascal, and Elvira Green - put me through rigorous vocal training in my early 20s. I will never forget when, years later, a woman walked up to me after a performance and exclaimed “You are SO talented!”. I could not help but chuckle, as by this point I had learned how little talent had to do with it. 

A good music coach will not do the work for you, only YOU can do that. The right coach will point your work ethic in the right direction. You know you have found your training guru, when you are excited to show them how far you’ve come each week. It is the job of the teacher to inspire the student - sometimes this means listening to music in the lesson, or going to see a show together, and sometimes it is just a plain ole’ teaching the major scale. No matter the methodology, trust is the number one ingredient in a successful teacher/student partnership. 

A good music coach WILL HAVE the following traits:

1. Positive and nurturing attitude. You should feel comfortable in the room with the teacher in the first 5 minutes of your introductory lesson. Trust your instincts. 

2. Invites curiosity. You must feel safe to ask any question at any time about any music topic. If the teacher’s vibe makes you hesitant about asking ‘stupid’ questions, the teacher is not the right fit. 

3. Gives clear assignments and teaches you how to practice on your own. You will make most of your progress outside of the lessons. Your teacher should ask you a lot of questions about your practice routine, and give you advice on how to maximize your personal time. 

4. Constantly adjusts to your needs and interests. Learning is NOT a standardized process. The right music coach will not force you into a curriculum just because it is “the way it’s done”. Instead a good instructor will adjust every lesson to meet you exactly where you are that week. 

5. A talented musician does NOT automatically translate to a talented teacher. Would it not be great to learn cello from Yo-Yo Ma? Or learn guitar from Slash? Actually, NO! As someone who has worked, represented, and studied with virtuoso musicians who have toured all over the world and have millions of streams, I can personally tell you that great performers often do not make good teachers. Teaching is a completely separate skill that must be honed the same way Andrea Bocelli honed his vocal ability. In fact, the best vocal coach I’ve mentored under, had almost no personal performance experience. However, she coached singers for 15+ years on TV shows like The Voice, American Idol and The Masked Singer. She had teaching talent... whether she had performance talent was irrelevant. On the other hand, I once paid for a few (very expensive) lessons with a famous singer, who has one of the most beautiful voices in the industry, has appeared on national TV and toured the globe. Yet when it was time to actually teach HOW she did it, the best she was able to muster was “just do it like this!”..*followed by the most mind-blowing vocal run I’ve ever heard. Fun experience, but not exactly helpful.

6. Don’t look for a ‘tough’ teacher like JK Simmons from Whiplash. There are incredible teachers who are tough as nails, and there are incredible teachers with sunshine coming out of their ears. The common thing they share is the word ‘incredible’. Some students do better with strict discipline, some with positive reinforcement, but in both cases the teacher has to earn their student’s trust. The difference maker is how skilled of an educator and intuitive of human that teacher is, not how scary their scowl looks. Do not romanticize meanness or confuse it with quality. I am a Russian teacher named Sergey. Every once in a while a parent will come to our first meeting with a reverent story about a no-nonsense Russian dance or gymnastics coach who set their kid straight. Almost every time I ask if their child is still participating in that activity, their response is “oh no my kid hated it and quit”.