Disclaimer
Lesson Policy
Design Credit
Make-Up Lessons
To be eligible for a make-up you must give a reasonable notice of cancellation. 24-hour notice is required, but in the case of sickness, I will accept phone calls up to noon the day of. I can be contacted by either email (preferred) or phone in the event that you need to place a cancellation.
Only 1 make up will be allowed per month (every 2 months for online students) with the lesson being made up within one month of the missed lesson. If you miss more than once, the second lesson is forfeit. In addition to this, if a make-up lesson is cancelled or missed, they become forfeit as well. No shows are considered forfeit and cannot be made up which includes lessons that go past 15 minutes of the scheduled time. Please bear in mind that make up lessons are not guaranteed and are only as scheduling may permit.
All make lessons can be scheduled using the online Make-Up Lesson Calendar which can be found via our private Discord server. Simply select a date to see what times are currently available, select a time and then fill out the appropriate information before submitting. Once the make-up lesson is confirmed you will receive a message or email to confirm at the address that you provide. It is up to you to decide whether or not you would like to have a make-up lesson or forfeit the missed lesson all together.
Holidays
Here are the following Holidays that I do not teach: New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Weekend (Thursday-Sunday), Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day. As I am not affiliated with any school district, keep in mind that a school holiday other than those listed above is not a holiday for my teaching schedule. Please keep in mind that these are to the actual calendar day and do not adhere to any particular vacation schedule set by your local school district(s).
Online Students
Online students will be expected to have the following to participate: a properly functioning instrument, a metronome, a strong internet signal (Wifi Preferred), and the proper technology for video conferencing. This would include some combination of the following: smartphone, tablet/iPad, computer, webcam, and printer (recommended). For all electronic instruments, there will also need to be some form of amplification so that I can hear them through the webcam.
All online lessons are held using the Zoom Video Conferencing app/program which is available for most platforms (Mac, PC, iOS, Android, etc.) and can be downloaded and installed through either their website (zoom.us,) or through an app store. Please be sure to install this software before our first agreed lesson time so you have an ample amount of time to troubleshoot any issues prior to the lesson starting.
Dear Students and Parents,
This is an official notice stating my policies and requirements for music lessons. By agreeing to the following terms it will help to reduce or eliminate any confusion or miscommunication later. Please take the time to read each item thoroughly.
Rates and Payment | Make-Up Lessons | Holidays Online Students | Extended Leave | Multiple Instruments
Stopping Lessons | Other Policies | Online Lesson Guidelines
Rates and Payment
Fees for music lessons range from $35 per half hour lesson (online) to $45 per half hour lesson (in-person) with 1 regular lesson scheduled per week. Payments are tuition based with the full amount for each month being due at the first lesson of each month, excluding holidays. Electronic invoices are sent via email on the 1st of each month through “Freshbooks” and payment can be made via cash, check or electronically using either Zelle (preferred) or Venmo. Seeing as how each month varies in weeks, I use the following format for payments:
(Online lesson example)
4 week month= $140 for 4 half hour lessons
5 week month= $175 for 5 half hour lessons
By paying for the month, this reserves your time slot and lesson for every week of the month. If for any reason you are unable to attend the scheduled lesson time, you will need to schedule a make-up lesson (see next section).
I will not accept prorated payments due to cancellation as make up lessons are the method used to supplement the missed lesson (see section below). If for any reason I cannot attend a scheduled lesson time, you then have the following options of either (1) forgoing payment for that lesson, or (2) you may schedule an additional make-up lesson. In addition to this, late payments of more than 4 weeks will be subject to a $25 late fee.
Stopping Lessons
In the event that you decide to stop taking lessons, I require a minimum 2 week notice. This will be based on the first notice that I receive of a student deciding to vacate their lesson slot. If a student decides to stop sooner, they will be required to pay for the 2 weeks missed, following the first notice to vacate.
Extended Leave
For Students who require an extended leave of absence there are 2 options available. The first being that in order to hold a particular time slot, it must be paid in full for the particular length of time desired regardless if the student attends or not. The benefit here is that upon your return we can simply resume our lessons as regularly scheduled. The second option, is that you simply leave without payment with the hope that your slot will be available upon return. Please keep in mind that unless a time slot is paid for in full, I am obligated to make it available to others who wish to meet at that time.
Multiple Instruments
For students wishing to study multiple instruments, there needs to be a minimum 1 month commitment to any particular instrument before switching back. In the case of when the student concert arrives, there needs to be a clear decision made in writing from the parent/student as to what instrument they would like to perform on. 6 weeks must be given in order to be ready for the performance and no instrument switching will be allowed once we begin preparing for the Concert.
Other Policies
If for any reason I am not available for a scheduled lesson time, you will receive a notice either by email, phone call or both. As listed in the Rates and Payment section above, you will not be charged for the lesson times that I am not available for unless you choose to schedule a make-up at a later date. Also, I reserve the right to drop students from my active roster if they no-show or no-call on a regular basis.
I hope that this statement of policy helps to clarify my position on these issues. If for any reason you have questions or comments about the things listed above please feel free to contact me. I look forward to helping my students meet and exceed their musical goals- and have fun while doing it!
Online Lesson Guidelines
Online lessons are taught using the Zoom video conferencing software which is available to all devices including iOS, Android, Mac and PC. Meeting information and Zoom links will be emailed directly to each student individually. If you do not have this app/software please use the following link to download it:
It is highly recommended that you consider doing the following while partaking in online lessons:
-
Find a quiet place in your home to conference from to avoid interruptions.
-
Be sure to have a pencil and paper handy to take notes with.
-
Position yourself close to your router so that you can have the best signal possible to avoid drop outs and glitching. For a more solid connection consider hardwiring into your router via ethernet cable.
-
If possible, it is preferred to conference from a device with a large screen(computer preferred) as it makes it easier to share images across the screen.
-
For wind instruments it's highly recommended to have a music stand to place your music on as it can be difficult to read the music if not at the proper angle.
-
Have a metronome available on a separate device than the one you are streaming with so that we can maintain rhythmic consistency.
Additional Settings
After using the Zoom software for a little while I have found a couple of settings that can be adjusted to optimize the software for playing instruments. The system automatically defaults to "suppressing audio" keep background noise to a minimum but this tends to suppress or mute the audio when students are playing. (Please keep in mind that these settings can only be adjusted on a computer and not on a tablet or phone). To adjust this please follow these instructions:
-
Find "Mute" button in lower left hand corner and click the arrow next to it.
-
Once the menu opens select "Audio Settings"
-
From here the Settings window will open onto the Audio Tab.
-
Navigate to the heading titled "Music and Professional Audio"
-
Check the box that says "Show in-meeting option to enable "Original Sound"
-
Now close the setting window and return to the main video window
-
In the upper left hand corner of the video window will be a selection that says "Original Sound: Off"
-
Click on this to change it to "Original Sound: On"
And that's it! Now we are optimized to play some music online!
Join the Community
You'll get info on classes, promos and more!