Self-Taught beginner looking for teacher - but there's one problem...

[ca1ibanxj]

I'm dead broke... All my money is going to paying for my college tuition, and there is no way I can afford to spend $500 for 15 30-minute sessions, etc.  I have been self-taught for about a year now - I can play the "cliche" pieces - fur elise, moonlight sonata mvmt 1, ronda alla turca, and so forth, but as everyone constantly says - if you're self taught, you generally pick up bad habits, limit your potential, etc.

So, I come to you asking for help - where to look?  Where can I find someone to correct my posture, critique my playing, teach me new techniques and whatnot while on a severe budget?

[sarahlein]

I'm dead broke... .

I'm sorry

All my money is going to paying for my college tuition, and there is no way I can afford to spend $500 for 15 30-minute sessions, etc

Forgive my ignorance but why only 15 sessions?

So, I come to you asking for help - where to look? Where can I find someone to correct my posture, critique my playing, teach me new techniques and whatnot while on a severe budget?

Have you thought about trying to work out a trade for services arrangement with the teacher in which you do home maintenance or some other service in return for lessons?

[kit_moc]

I agree....... Self taught is not good! I taught myself to play the guitar and have been playing for about 8 years. Over the years I received no guidance and picked up many bad habits and only learned the things I wanted to learn or thing I thought was cool or fun to play. This really limited my potential! I'm now learning the piano and have learnt from my mistakes. I will be taking piano lessons!

[instromp]

I had the same problem as you do.

I couldnt take any lessons because my parents couldnt afford any and so i decided to teach myself  for the first year, and i also learned the "cliche" peices as you said like fur elise and a simplified version of the entertainer. Self taught is oh so not good since you dont know what to do to get over obstacles in pieces and you simply play it thinking it is right . When i finally got lessons when i was in 8th grade, the teacher i had sucked and since my mom already paid for three months of lessons i had to do it, and so after that i stopped playing. But now im in 10th grade and my school has a piano elective and so i decided to take it and now i've picked piano back up and my teacher is simply great and he is "free" since he works at a public school .

The best i could say do as someone said earlier is to do the trade thing. I dont know if any teacher would do that, but considering your circumstances I believe it would work.Best Wishes

Instromp

[turner]

Explore colleges and univeresities around where you live.  Find out if the Department of Music there has a sub-program on piano pedagogy.  Sometimes these programs would recruit volunteer pupils to be taught by pedagogy majors for a reduced fee.