PIANO LESSON POLICIES
I hope your experience is enjoyable and that you will have many years of piano-playing ahead of you.
Attendance and payment policies are decribed below. But first, a comment about the role of the piano teacher:
It's my job to show you how to read notes and count the rhythm. But I also need to teach you how to practice at home. Most of the piano activity takes place when the teacher is not present, during home practice, so the home habits are of great importance. Practice time can be productive or not, depending on the approach. I give the students a fair amount of leeway in deciding which songs we learn. Then it's up to the student to follow the teacher's advise on how to practice those songs at home.
The student is expected to display focus and courtesy during the lesson, and also to interact with the teacher as part of the lesson.
Practice, scheduling and payment policies are as follows:
Practice:
To become a musician, regular practice is essential. Repetition leads to mastery.
I recommend to make a practice schedule of [age x 2], up to a 30 minutes or more, 4-7 times per week. In other words, a 6-year-old student may practice for 12 minutes. An older experienced student should practice for 30 minutes or more. Younger students benefit from having a regularly scheduled practice time, and having their parents remind them of the practice time.
Scheduling and missed lessons:
Please be on time for your scheduled lesson, as extra minutes cannot be granted for a lesson that starts late due to student tardiness.
If a lesson must be missed, please inform the teacher at least by the night before the scheduled lesson. With proper notice, a makeup lesson may be arranged outside of the normal lesson time, when schedule permits. There is no time limit for makeup lessons.
If a lesson is missed without the proper advance notice, or if the student simply does not show up for the lesson, then the student forfeits the lesson and no makeup lesson or refund will be given. Unfortunately, there are no exceptions to this policy. The only basis for granting makeup lessons is the amount of notice given. Even last minute emergencies do not cause exceptions. If you are feeling sick the night before the lesson, let me know and that will be counted as adequate notice. This policy is necessary for the functional stability of the studio.
Payment:
Payment is made in advance, at the beginning of each month. Payment for the coming month is due on the first lesson of the month. If payment is not received by the second lesson of the month, then the lesson time may be given to another student.
The monthly payment will vary based on the number of lessons in the coming month. Usually there are 4 lessons per month, occasionally there are 5, and in traditional holiday months there will usually be less than 4 lessons. Please check with me if you are unsure how many lessons there will be in the upcoming month.
Music books provided by me may be paid for right away or with the next month’s tuition.
During the school season (Sept –May), the student must purchase the entire month to hold the spot. The exception is in December and March, when the schools are closed for Christmas and Spring Break. I take my vacations at those times, and there is no charge for those weeks. Summer is a different policy. In the summer, if vacations are planned, just let me know in advance and we can skip those lessons, with tuition being reduced accordingly.
Please let me know if you have any questions about the above policies. All policies are designed to make the studio function smoothly for all, so that we can focus our energies on making music.
Thank you.