Terms/FAQ
1. Why are you called an institute when it is in fact a music school?
We are an award winning music institute (Prestige Awards 2020 winner) but also a bit more. First of all, we welcome students from age 6 to 99.
Furthermore, we offer services no other music school does presently, such as the possibility of mentoring and preparing students for a study abroad in higher education.
We also offer online lessons on Skype, and tuition is possible in other languages as well.
What we are not: we are not a private teacher service, our lessons are held exclusively at the Institute or online with regular sessions weekly.
2. Who apply to the Premier Music Institute?
Currently, about half of our students come from abroad and the other half are of Hungarian nationality.
There are some who are playing music as a hobby, and those who would like to become professional musicians.
Every age and level can apply to PMI.
3. What are the requirements for studying at the Premier Music Institute?
We expect the students to be able to listen and concentrate for at least 25 minutes and be able to make music physically (e.g. in case of learning guitar holding the guitar properly on the lap etc). We are extremely proud to have a pool of diverse students: from 6 year olds to middle-aged students many nations represent themselves.
Our teachers are empathic, attentive, reliable professionals who are devoted to giving their best at all times.
4. How long is a lesson at PMI?
A half hour lesson is 25 minutes long, a one hour lesson is 50 minutes.
5. When is the Institute open, when can we come for lessons?
We are open from Monday to Friday. We usually start teaching from the early afternoon onwards but if the student would like to have lessons earlier in the day then we would be happy to arrange that as well subject to our availability. We have regular lessons each week at a set time agreed upon in advance.
After registration we agree upon a time in the timetable which is valid for the study duration.
6. Do I need to buy an instrument in order to apply to your institute?
No, this is not a requirement for beginning your lessons with us! We have the necessary instruments at our disposal at the institute which you can try and play on during your lessons. After a few months, however, if the student finds that he/she is motivated enough and wishes to continue, then it is wise to purchase an own instrument for practicing at home.
7. Where is it possible to purchase an instrument?
We are well connected with music shops and we also sell a few instruments and music books ourselves.
Our teachers will gladly help you concerning this matter as well. We strive to help all our students in finding the optimal solution.
8. Are there any surcharges besides the study year/semester/half semester tuition fee?
We don’t have any hidden fees. We only charge the study fee for the study year/semester/half semester which should be paid in one sum in advance.
The price of the consultation and taster lesson is only 4000HUF with no strings attached.
9. What happens in case of sickness, or if something unexpected happens? How can lessons be made up?
The solution is simple: make up lessons can be incorporated into the lesson time. For more information please see the details in the Learning Agreement when applying for a consultation/taster lesson.
10. What concert or examination opportunities are there? What are the exams good for?
PMI holds two concerts during the study year where our students can perform in front of an audience. We organise the British RSL Rockschool exams currently online.
The exams have plenty of benefits: the student can practice and learn a good amount of important material which he/she has to perform to a high standard thereby improving his/her knowledge, character, and hopefully self-confidence. The other benefit is the possibility of receiving a substantial amount of UCAS points for entry to all universities in Great Britain. About a third of our students apply for exams in general. The student has to indicate interest to participate in the exams by 30th November each year, otherwise our teachers will not be responsible for the exam preparations.
11. Are there holidays, events when the school is closed?
Yes, all our holidays, national holidays are up on the Calendar. We never charge you for when PMI is closed!
12. Can the dates and times of the music lessons be changed during the course of the study year/trimester?
Only in the most crucial circumstances if the teacher agrees and has time in his/her schedule. It is important for both student and teacher to have predictability and regularity.
13. How long do I have to take lessons at the institute, how fast could I develop and achieve results?
We developed a semester approach on purpose. In our opinion, 4-5 months playing music is just about enough time for the student to experience and decide whether this is something they feel they benefit from. Our students generally spend years learning their instruments with us; we have had a drum/percussion student who had been studying with his teacher (Dániel Bolgár) for 8 years. It is quite difficult to say how long one should be learning music with a teacher, but experts say that about 10.000 hours, or in other words 10 years of music making leads to becoming a professional musician. The student needs about a year to get to know his/her instrument to be comfortable, and a further 3-4 years to reach an intermediate level. But as everyone is learning at their own pace this could be a bit less or a bit more. Playing music is quite similar to sports or learning a language – you always have to stay in shape and practice/train regularly to improve. We usually achieve results from lesson to lesson. Regarding exams, our teachers can generally prepare their students in one study year (depending on the level of the exam). This also requires that the student be motivated, hard-working and diligent.
14. Are you able to give lessons at my home?
No and we will not implement this in the future either. All music lessons must take place at PMI or online!
15. How do the online lessons work?
If you have the circumstances for music making at home then we would be happy to teach you via i.e. Skype just as we would in person (at a set time each week).
16. What is the mentoring programme, how does it work?
As most of our teachers have considerable international experience we realised that we could help those who would like to continue their studies abroad. Many students would like to go and study in a different country (Milestone and Engame institute provide such services already in Budapest). These institutes do a good job, but they do not really deal with the arts (film or music). This is where we come in - Premier Music Institute prepars students for entry to higher education artistic academies. After many years of mentoring experience , PMI founder and director, Dániel Bolgár has developed a method with which we are able to prepare our students for a successful time abroad – we mostly deal with what to watch out for in an entrance examination situation, we can give advise for the non-native English speakers, and improve their English in the process.
We can also help with integration into the new cultural milieu.
17. What happens in case an unexpected event, i.e. a pandemic situation?
During the pandemic, our music lessons continued uninterruptedly online.
As this is a force majeure situation, meaning that none of us are of fault, there is no make up as a result, but we continue to teach our students online at their usual times, which is reassuring for everyone.
18. You state that one can apply at anytime during the year, how does this work in practice?
Yes, you may begin your studies with us at anytime during the study year. If, for example, a student applies 3 weeks after the term begins then they can choose the half semester option until the next semester begins.
The same goes for starting your education with us say in February, no problem.
If you have any more questions, please feel free to contact us via email or call us on 06303629741 phone number.