How Long Should Piano LessonS Be?

How Long Should A Piano Lesson Be?
Lesson Length: AT LEAST 45 minutes but ideally longer!
I love when I see that a teacher promotes long lessons. Teachers who promote longer lessons have great insight and a high level of experience, they have a lot to offer and can teach a wide variety of skills in a way that holds students interest and attention for the full length of the lesson. These teachers are experts at keeping students engaged whether they are aged 5 or 45. I thank my own piano teacher growing up who took me from 1 hour lessons weekly to 2hour lessons when she realized how quickly I was progressing.  

By nature of time, teachers who teach longer lessons will have less spots to offer. This may mean a possible audition process in order to carefully select good student/family/teacher matches. These teachers take great pride in their work and prioritize quality over quantity. They are invested in expertly developing the select students in the studio. The students of these teachers develop very great skills at the piano much much sooner and they learn on a deeper level. Also what they learn sticks much longer and creates a greater foundation for their future lessons and musical experiences.

For teachers, longer lessons means less students can enroll so they may offer an audition or selection process but they take great care to make sure the students excel quickly and can play phenomenally.

Why are 30 Minute Lessons Such A Standard Still For Beginners?
Many music establishments put a great emphasis on having a large enrollment. The larger the enrollment, the shorter the lessons may have to be. This is by no means beneficial to the student's depth or speed of learning. One can only learn so much technical skill in a short lesson. Longer lessons make greater pieces, more technical and supplement skills, and faster progress when taught by a great instructor. 

Many teachers are taught to fit into a 30-minute lesson system. The average teacher in this system would run out of things to offer beyond 30 minutes and may not know how or what to do to hold the student's interest beyond that time. They are often doing the best they can in teaching what they know how to teach and the length of time that is comfortable for them to teach.

If the teacher is not an advocate for longer lessons, there may be a reason why. In this case, a longer lesson with such a teacher may be very discouraging to the student. Teachers will teach what they can, how they can. Forcing a teacher to change their approach may not work. You just have to find a good fit and a teacher who is great at that approach already.  It should be noted that master teachers are able to optimize a 30-minute lesson but they also know that the greatest value for time and growth would be lessons that are longer.

What to Do
Focus on going for someone or someplace that is well versed in various approaches and is passionate about developing talent with more time in the lesson. These teachers value and utilize every minute of the lesson and makes sure you are getting full value of your time. Make sure the teacher prioritizes on developing the quality of the students rather than the quantity (how many students).  Longer lessons means less students for the teacher but that's ok when you are developing high quality musicians.