Studio Policies

I am super excited to work with you and your child over the coming months and years. There are many advantages to studying music, and even more advantages to studying the piano. Music encourages your child to be detail oriented, analytical, and creative. The piano offers a wealth of unique challenges and repertoire that assist with this.

This policy is intended to outline all of the expectations that I have for you and your child. Signing this document represents that you as a parent recognize your contractual agreement to abide by the rules listed and encourage your child to do the same.

Payment

Payment is done on a semester basis. Your child will receive a certain amount of lessons, recitals, and group classes per semester. At the beginning of each semester you will receive a newsletter that lets you know the cost for lessons for that semester. You have the option of paying per semester or dividing the payment up and paying an equal amount each month. I charge $42 per hour for private lessons. This means that you will typically pay $84 per month for a half hour lesson each week. The cost may vary a bit semester to semester depending on how many lessons are offered in each semester.

Tuition is due the first week of each semester or the first week of each month. If you pay per semester, I will not refund tuition if your child decides to stop taking lessons mid-semester. I also will not refund tuition if you pay per month and your child quits part way through the month.

Tuition includes

• One half hour lesson per week
• Annual and semi-annual recitals
• Occasional Group Classes/AIM prep classes

Makeup Lessons

Makeup lessons are slowly becoming a thing of the past. Most teachers, myself included, teach a full schedule of students and we have a hard time fitting make-up lessons into our days. Makeup lessons may be offered in rare cases of family emergency or illness, but these cases will be left to my discretion. An option for parents is to call another student and trade lesson times if something comes up on your lesson day. Please call and let me know if you trade times with another student so I can prepare accordingly. Another option in cases of mild illness is doing a virtual lesson instead of an in person lesson.

Latecomers

Please arrive 5 minutes early for your lessons. I cannot extend your lesson time if you are late because it will cut into another student’s time. Likewise, please go over any questions or concerns at the beginning of your child’s lesson so we don’t cut into the next student’s time.

Required Supplies

Students are required to purchase their own books, a metronome, and a notebook where we can keep notes on their lessons.

Practice Requirements

Learning to play the piano takes work. I have found over the years that the parents and students who understand this are the ones who succeed. I will always assign your children pieces that are completely within their abilities if they put in the required amount of work. I will assign students practice times based on the pieces they are working on and their ages and ability levels. However, as a general rule, these are the practice requirements I expect for each age level.

• 5-6 year olds: 20-30 minutes each day
• 7-9 year olds: 30-40 minutes each day
• 10-12 year olds: 45 minutes each day
• 13 and older: 60 + minutes each day

AIM

Many students in my studio participate in Achievement in Music (AIM) through the Music Teachers Association. There is a $20-30 fee each year for AIM testing. AIM is a leveled music evaluation that focuses on creating a well-rounded musician through five testing categories: Technique, Sight Reading, Theory, Performance, and Ear Training. A pianist who completes all 10 levels of AIM should be able to enter any college music program with the necessary skills to excel. Typically students can begin AIM testing after their first year of lessons. So far our studio has a 100% AIM pass rate.

Parent Involvement

Parent attendance at lessons is highly encouraged for the first year of lessons or until the child is 12 years old. Additionally, parents should be actively involved in their child’s practice sessions. Parent involvement in practice is directly related to the progress of the student. Despite the age of the student parents should assist their child by:

• Giving encouraging words
• Making available practice times and not allowing disturbances from friends and other family members during these times
• Seeing that all practicing is done
• Working out a reward system for tasks accomplished
• Sitting in on the practice sessions for short periods each day
• Getting the child to and from lessons on time

Probation

As unfortunate as it is, there are rare cases where I simply feel that a student is not holding their own in the studio. These are students who lack commitment, repeatedly refuse to practice, have consistent bad attitudes, or rarely come to lessons. In the rare case that this happens I will have discussions with you and your child. If no improvement is noted over a period of four weeks, the student will be placed on probation for four weeks. If there is still no improvement then I will be happy to discuss finding an alternate teacher for your child.

I have read and I agree to the terms and conditions of this policy statement.

__________________________ (Print Name)

_________________________ (Signature)

__________________________ (Date)

Contact Information

Name____________________________________

Student Name _____________________________

Phone Number ____________________________

Cell Phone ________________________________

Email ____________________________________

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