Music Lessons In Your Home or Online

Piano
Keyboard

Guitar
Bass
Ukulele

Singing

Drums

Music Production

Song-
writing

Clarinet
Saxophone
Flute

Violin
Cello

Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in schoolAlbert Einstein

We deliver the best private music lessons to your home in Surrey and the surrounding areas. Guildford Music School was founded by Dennis Ng, who has been a piano teacher to all ages in the area for nearly 20 years. With a proven track record of delivering tuition to all age groups, the school was set up in order to create a wider sense of community amongst students and the teaching philosophy he developed over the years.

We act as an agent with nearly 40 teachers representing us across the county and beyond. We aim to cater for all students needs and any specific requirements - please do get in touch, we'd love to hear from you and help you however we can.

Areas Covered Include:

(but aren't limited to)

We operate a waiting list where we currently don't have availability for lessons to start immediately

Recent Exam Succeses

Congratulations to the following students who have recently passed exams! (First two letters of first name only included for privacy)

Ca - ABRSM Piano Grade 5 - Distinction
Ch - ABRSM Piano Grade 2 (Performance) - Merit
Fe - ABRSM Singing Grade 3 (Performance) - Pass
Ma - ABRSM Singing Grade 2 (Performance) - Pass
Da - Rockschool Singing Grade 2 - Merit
An - Trinity Singing Grade 7 - Pass
Tr - Rockschool Grade 2 - Merit
To - ABRSM Piano Grade 1 - Distinction
An - ABRSM Piano Grade 4 (Performance) - Distinction
Al - ABRSM Piano Grade 2 - Pass
Je - Rockschool Ukulele Grade 4 - Distinction
Be - ABRSM Theory Grade 3 - Distinction
Ch - ABRSM Piano Grade 5 - Merit
Jo - ABRSM Piano Grade 2 - Pass
Lu - ABRSM Piano Grade 6 - Distinction
Ja - ABRSM Piano Grade 3 - Merit
Fi - ABRSM Piano Grade 3 - Distinction
Ro - ABRSM Piano Grade 3 - Merit
Ja - ABRSM Theory Grade 5 - Pass

First Half

Dh - Rockschool Electric Guitar Grade 1 - Merit
Th - Rockschool Electric Guitar Grade 2 - Merit
Ni - ABRSM Piano Grade 3 - Merit
Er - ABRSM Classical Guitar Grade 2 - Pass
Ja - Rockschool Piano Grade 2 - Merit
Ha - ABRSM Piano Grade 3- Merit
Jo - ABRSM Piano Initial Grade - Merit
Ja - ABRSM Piano Initial Grade - Distinction
Ra - ABRSM Piano Grade 1 - Distinction
La - ABRSM Piano Grade 1 - Distinction
El - ABRSM Piano Initial Grade - Distinction
Na - ABRSM Piano Grade 5 - Distinction
Ha - ABRSM Piano Grade 3 - Merit
Pe - ABRSM Piano Initial Grade - Merit
Da - ABRSM Piano Grade 6 - Merit

Second Half

Le - ABRSM Grade 3 Violin - Merit
D - ABRSM Grade 5 Theory - Distinction
Le - ABRSM Grade 3 Violin - Merit
Ky - ABRSM Jazz Piano Grade 5 - pass
Di - ABRSM Piano Grade 1 - Distinction
Mi - Rockschool Drums Grade 2 - Merit
An - Rockschool Drums Grade 2 - Merit
Er - ABRSM Guitar Grade 3 - Merit
Ch - ABRSM Piano Grade 2 - Distinction
Ja - ABRSM Grade 1 - Distinction
Ke - ABRSM Guitar Grade 5 - Pass
El - ABRSM Piano Grade 1 - Merit
Ed - ABRSM Piano Grade 7 - Pass
Jo - ABRSM Piano Grade 2 - Merit
La - ABRSM Piano Grade 2 - Merit
Be - ABRSM Piano Grade 8 - Merit
Be - ABRSM Theory Grade 5 - Pass
Sh - ABRSM Piano Grade 3 - Pass

Be - MTB Performance Piano Grade 6 - Pass
Me - ABRSM Piano Grade 4 - Merit
Ni - Trinity Piano Grade 5 - Distinction
Em - ABRSM Grade 1 Piano - Pass
Lu - ABRSM Piano Grade 8 - Merit
Fe - ABRSM Piano Initial - Distinction
Ra - ABRSM Piano Grade 2 - Merit
Ja - ABRSM Piano Grade 1 - Distinction
Em - ABRSM Grade 1 Piano - Pass
To - ABRSM Piano Initial - Distinction
Da - ABRSM Piano Grade 6 - Merit
Sa - ABRSM Piano Grade 1 - Pass
Av - ABRSM Piano Grade 1 - Pass
Er - ABRSM Piano Grade 1 - Pass
My - Rockschool Drums Grade 3 - Distinction
Et - Rockschool Drums Grade 3 - Merit
Ol - ABRSM Grade 1 Piano - Pass
Eu - ABRSM Grade 2 Piano - Pass
No - ABRSM Grade 1 Violin - Merit
My - ABRSM Grade 1 Piano - Distinction
Tr - ABRSM Grade 1 Piano - Distinction
Ow - ABRSM Grade 3 Piano - Pass
Al - ABRSM Grade 1 Piano - Merit
Si - ABRSM Grade 2 Piano - Pass
Mi - ABRSM Grade 5 Piano - Distinction
El - ABRSM Grade 1 Saxophone - Distinction
Ad - ABRSM Grade 3 Piano - Merit
Mi - ABRSM Grade 5 Piano - Distinction
Ed - Rockschool Grade 2 Bass - Merit
Ja - Rockschool Grade 3 Guitar - Merit
Me - ABRSM Grade 5 Piano - Merit
Aa - LCM Music Theatre Grade 2 - Merit
Ne - ABRSM Grade 7 Piano - Distinction
Ca - ABRSM Grade 5 Theory - Distinction
Hu - ABRSM Grade 8 Piano - Distinction
Sh - ABRSM Grade 4 Piano - Distinction
Ca - ABRSM Grade 1 Piano - Merit
Ma - ABRSM Grade 1 Piano - Distinction
Be - Rockschool Grade 4 Guitar - Merit
An - ABRSM Grade 5 Piano - Distinction
An - ABRSM Grade 5 Theory - Distinction
Flo - Trinity Grade 5 Piano - Distinction
Pi - ABRSM Initial Grade Piano - Distinction
Co - ABRSM Grade 2 Piano - Merit
An - ABRSM Grade 8 Piano - Pass
Jo - ABRSM Grade 3 Piano - Merit
Em - ABRSM Grade 2 Piano - Merit
Tr - ABRSM Grade 2 Piano - Merit
Ma - LCM Music Theatre Grade 1 - Distinction
Ne - LCM Music Theatre Grade 1 - Distinction
Zu - ABRSM Initial Grade Violin - Merit
Ol - ABRSM Grade 2 Singing - Merit
Ja - ABRSM Grade 2 Singing - Merit
El - ABRSM Initial Grade - Pass
Co - ABRSM Grade 3 Piano - Pass
Em - ABRSM Grade 2 Piano - Merit
Re - ABRSM Grade 5 Piano - Pass
Ri - ABRSM Grade 5 Piano - Pass

Er - Rockschool Debut Bass - Merit
Ly - ABRSM Piano Grade 1 - Pass
Za - ABRSM Piano Grade 1 - Merit
Bh - Rockschool Drums Grade 1 - Distinction
Ja - ABRSM Piano Grade 2 Performance - Merit
To - ABRSM Piano Grade 2 - Merit
El - ABRSM Piano Grade 2 - Distinction
Ha - ABRSM Piano Grade 3 - Merit
Lu - ABRSM Piano Grade 3 - Merit
La - ABRSM Piano Grade 3 - Distinction
Da - ABRSM Piano Grade 7 - Distinction
Li - LCME Music Theatre Grade 7 - Merit
Ed - ABRSM Piano Grade 8 - Merit
Ge - Gained entry to the Brit School
Mo - ABRSM Piano Grade 6 - Pass
So - Rockschool Guitar Grade 1 - Distinction
Gr - Rockschool Guitar Grade 4 - Merit
Ja - Rockschool Guitar Grade 4 - Pass
Jo - ABRSM Piano Initial - Pass
Yu - ABRSM Piano Initial - Pass
Ru - ABRSM Piano Grade 1 - Pass
Le - ABRSM Piano Initial - Pass
Et - Rockschool Drums Grade 4 - Distinction
My - Rockschool Drums Grade 4 - Distinction
My - ABRSM Piano Grade 2 - Distinction

Virtual Concert: Easter 2024

See our fantastic students in action!

Click here to view the full performance

Featured Student: Taylor Raine

Our core philosophy is to set students up to enjoy playing piano for life, whether it is classical or contemporary music they enjoy. Every student learns differently and as such requires a different approach to learning and we take a modern, forward-thinking approach where open communication between the teacher and the student is of the greatest importance.

In addition to standard term-time lessons, the majority of our teachers offer tuition during the holidays. Our aim is to push standards of achievement as high as possible and we think that the school holidays provide valuable extra time to progress. (This is especially important across the long summer holiday!)

We run three concerts each year to offer students
exciting performance opportunities. These have been a combination of live and virtual concerts as we negotiate these post-lockdown times

The beautiful thing about learning is that nothing can take it from youB.B. King

Although we aim to deliver the best learning experience, we keep our prices competitive. The prices include the cost of the tutor visiting you. For school students, this can be invaluable in terms of students not taking time out of school lessons and falling behind in curricular lessons.

For more information about the many advantages of learning to play with the Guildford Piano School, please see the section below, 'Why Learn With GPS?'

children who learn an instrument

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adults who wished they learned an instrument

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Adult learners are very welcome at GMS and we have a significant number of students who have either begun to learn with us or who have returned to us having had lessons when younger. Many people have a fear that they will 'not be good enough' at music but we have specialist teachers with an excellent record for success with adult learners. Playing piano is a perfect retirement activity!

Even today, I dare not say that I have reached a state of achievement. I'm still learning, for learning is boundless.Bruce Lee

Our strength lies in our tutors, who are passionate about teaching - and in order to help us cater for all student types, our types of teachers is accordingly diverse. We actively support our staff to undergo continued professional development where required. All of our tutors are DBS checked.

Why Learn With GMS?

We are not a traditional brick-and-mortar school but aim to foster a sense of community through our website

Why are we unique?

Picking the right music teacher can be a difficult process and forming a successful teacher/student pair can be very dependent and even down to things like personality and interests. We take the headache out of this process by regular assessing the efficiency of our teachers after a student has begun to learn and can switch tutors for you if things aren't quite working right. In other words - let us go through the hassle of making sure you have the right teacher.

As a school, we can offer more than a private teacher individually is able to. In addition to your regular tutor, the student will also have the experienced school director monitoring their progress to offer further assistance in their progress. We organize live/recorded concerts in order to showcase our students and get them actively involved with the most fun aspect of learning an instrument: performing!

Why learn an instrument?

Advantages of learning with GMS versus learning at school

Guildford Piano School tuition takes after school or at weekends so your child doesn't get behind on curricular subjects like maths or English. A small amount of regular contact between the parent and the teacher has been shown to improve students' attitude.

We can also be more flexible than a school in the length of lesson we can offer. Suitable students that show excellent potential are recommended to have longer lessons in order to fast-track their progress. Longer lessons can significantly improve the pace of learning but this is not advised for students with short concentration times.

Advantages of learning at home

Having tuition in your own not only provides the most convenience but also improves the efficiency of the lesson since it avoids learning using an unfamiliar instrument and avoiding setup time. Students are advised to do a warm-up practice prior to the tutor arriving so that they are ready to start playing straight away. Additionally, our tutors can point out any problems in the student's rehearsal space.

Advantages of one-to-one tuition

Having group lessons is a cost-effective way to keep a child entertained for a while but is often a false economy in terms of music education. The rate at which someone learns can vary hugely depending on how much practice a student does in addition to their natural aptitude. Very able students are held back by the rest of the group and at worst, weaker students can fall behind so as to render the lessons entirely useless for them.

Group lessons may allow bad habits to go unobserved that could have been easily and corrected with individual lessons. Group lessons can be useful for the first couple of hours of instrumental tuition, for training aural skills and for advanced lecture-style seminars but yield diminishing returns in the long-term for standard instrumental tuition. One-to-one lessons allow students to have a say in the direction the lessons take. At GPS, it is one of our founding principles to empower the student in this way.

What do we teach? (Piano Lessons)

For piano, most students follow the ABRSM grade syllabus as an excellent method of developing their repertoire and technical abilities. In addition, students will also learn pieces that lean towards their own musical preferences in between grades, whether that is something a bit jazzier or a cover of an Ed Sheeran song.

Students can also learn about improvisation, songwriting or how to play in a band. Grades are not compulsory provided progress can clearly be observed. In these cases, other achievement goals can be set to provide alternative motivation, such as a recorded video performance.

We also teach theory (grade 5 theory is a requirement to take the grade 6 practical exam) and can support GCSE and A-level students with the relevant part of the music syllabuses.

We have had students who wanted to by pass exams and play for fun - and in some cases, without reading music at all. We aim to cater for all student types as one learning method does not suit all

What do we teach? (Guitar Lessons))

The majority of students that take up guitar tend to have a clear direction that they want to pursue already, in which case the teacher can help the student work towards this.

For beginners or those wanting a general grounding in playing, we would generally recommend a mixture of reading formal notation and chord playing before heading towards a grade exam of some sort.

There are multiple exam boards depending on the style of music and type of guitar (classical, acoustic or electric) and the best one would be highly dependent on the student - but all exams provide clear goals for achievement and progression.

Some younger beginners may be able to start on a ukulele first as the frets are smaller and easier to press before switching over to guitar as they get older.

What do we teach? (Vocal Lessons))

What do we teach? (Drum Lessons)

Students can work towards taking grades - with the most popular syllabuses to work from being Rockschool and Trinity Rock and Pop. These exams focus on playing pop and rock songs, with jazz being incorporated more at higher levels. Some students prefer to just play for fun rather than take exams.

As you might expect, drum lessons are focused on time-keeping above all else, but also co-ordination with multiple limbs, reading and how to play well within a band too.

Prices (2024-2025 rate)

30-minute Lesson

£26.75

Per Lesson£160.50 per average 6-week half term
Suitable for younger students and those testing the waters!

45-minute Lesson

£37.18

Per Lesson£223.08 per average 6-week half term
Suitable for younger students wanting to accelerate their progress - or this is our recommended length for adult beginners

60-minute Lesson

£47.60

Per Lesson£285.60 per average 6-week half term
Suitable for students wanting to maximise their progress or include improvisation or theory into their lessons

We keep our prices competitive

Fees above are for lessons in your home

Online lessons receive a £5.90 discount per lesson

Pricing Guide

Lesson cost includes cost of tutor visiting your home
We calculate total lesson cost as £19.00 per 30 minutes plus £5.45 travel fee. We reserve the right to increase the travel fee if the distance to your residence is farther than expected
Lessons take place weekly and are to be paid in advance for each half-term (usually 6 weeks)
24-hour notice is required to cancel a lesson. If the lesson cannot be rescheduled, you will be charged
6 weeks are required for notice of discontinuation of lessons
Exam costs, books and other required materials are not included in the lesson cost
We will be able to advise on the recommended lesson duration - all students are different!
Discounts available for multiple lessons at the same household in the same session, please enquire!
The next fee review will take place in September 2024

More about the founder: Dennis Ng studied Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge before embarking on a musical career which has seen him perform on stages from Glastonbury to Beijing. He has a love of maths and possesses actuarial qualifications.

He currently teaches at Heathside School (Weybridge) and RGS Senior/Prep Schools (Guildford). He is a cat person but now owns a dog