Each year, students enrolled in our studio will receive 45 private lessons. To make budgeting and payments easy for the student and the teacher, the price of lessons is divided into twelve equal payments. In special circumstances, different payment arrangements may be considered. These payments are due on the first day of each month. A $12.50 late fee will be assessed for tuition payments made after the first of each month.
By enrolling in lessons, you agree to pay the instructor for forty-five (45) lessons in 12 equal payments during the course of the year. If you choose to discontinue lessons before you have made all 12 payments for the year, you are still responsible to pay the monthly tuition until another student with the same lesson length is found to replace you. You may provide a replacement student if you wish to discontinue lessons before the end of the year to avoid being charged for any more months. By enrolling in lessons, you are agreeing to pay the instructor in the amounts indicated on the registrations form, regardless of your attendance. Tuition is non-refundable.
This fee is assessed in addition to the tuition. This money is used to cover the cost of books and other learning aids, equipment maintenance, registration in festivals, and activities outside the studio. It also entitles you to access to a lending library with music that can be used for sight reading and short-study. If the funds are expended prior to the completion of a year, the balance due will be added to the next bill. If there is a balance remaining at the end of the year, it will be applied to the next year's study. If lessons are discontinued, the remaining balance will be refunded.
Lessons will be scheduled to meet the availability of the student and their family. Scheduling will apply for a duration corresponding to the local public school term. At the last lesson of every term, the student will be sent home with a new scheduling form to fill out, on which you may request the lesson time to remain the same. Every effort will be made to accommodate scheduling preferences, but some lessons may need to be moved to different times in order to ensure all enrolled students can receive a lesson.
Students are expected to attend lessons year round, including during the summer, but there will be a number of breaks lasting a week or more. During the Summer Term, you may schedule your lesson for a regular time each week, or schedule each lesson individually to accommodate travel or other family functions which might otherwise interfere with a regular lesson time. The date ranges for lessons and breaks will be available on the calendar included with registration documents.
If the student or someone the student has been in close contact with is ill, including another family member in the same household, friends, and other students at school, the student must stay home. Lessons missed due to illness will be made up.
Lessons missed or cancelled with little or no advanced notice cannot be rescheduled. However, if a planned event (family vacation, school music concert, SAT, college campus tour, etc.) conflicts with the lesson time and you notify the instructor by the first lesson of each term, the conflicting lessons may be rescheduled at the instructor's discretion. Tuition is not refunded for missed or cancelled lessons. Frequent absences may result in termination of lessons.
The teacher may need to be absent occasionally for performances, conferences, and events related to continued professional development. If your teacher must be absent your lesson will be made up. This may mean rescheduling for a different day and/or time the week of the absence, or scheduling an additional lesson in a future week.
Studio recitals will occur on designated dates throughout the year. Attendance at recitals is expected. Students must play on at least one recital each year. A public performance in a competition or festival, or at school for a talent show or with a solo during an ensemble concert may be substituted if the students goals and progress necessitates.
Students will be given opportunities to play in adjudicated events including local festivals and the National Piano Guild auditions. Dates and times for these will be communicated as soon as they are available.
Because different students have different goals and expect different outcomes from their lessons, the baseline practice requirement is 30 minutes a day of musical enrichment activity. This includes practicing, composing, improvising, completing theory assignments, critically listening to recordings, and attending musical performances. Each student will be assigned a more specific practice regiment through the course of lessons.
Parental support is an imperative element in a child's growth and development. But supporting your child in piano lessons may mean something different than is intuitive. Here are some thing you should do and things to avoid to support your child's study of music: