What to do after grade 8

You can go into teaching without it (as my mum did - she didn't used to have any piano qualifications and still taught in schools!) but I think they are more likely to see you as a valuable asset with the diploma.

My friend (17) also teaches guitar in our primary school without any guitar qualifications, so I think it would be fine to do this.

As far as I'm aware, lesson rates vary from £5-10 every half hour.

Good luck!

Ive just passed my grade 8 abrsm flute exam and am now considering my options. I would like to start teaching and wondered whether I should do the diploma for teaching, or is this unnecessary. This is not something that I want to do as a full time career, but I would deffinately like to do it part time to earn some extra money.

I am also unsure of what to charge if I go straight into teaching without doing the diploma. I have obviously achieved grade 8 flute, but also grade 5 theory and grade 4 piano, if this helps.

I teach brass instruments and all I have is my grade 8 with zero piano skills. I have a friend who has awesome piano skills though and I send my kids to him for exams and things so he enjoys the extra work. Don't have many students, and I charge £12 per hour. My teacher when I was younger charged almost double that, but she had higher qualifications and piano skills. I wouldn't dream of keeping kids on my books past about grade 4 because they need the experience of a piano literate teacher.. but I'm good with beginners, so I'm good for primary schools then they can use whichever teacher their secondary school provides for them.

Don't do it as a proper job, just for a little bit of extra spending money, but I do enjoy seeing the looks on their faces when they pass an exam, or master a new piece that they were struggling with.