Studio Guidelines

Studio Guidelines: Updated – 2018

Parents are welcome any time to be in the studio area during your child lesson. Parents, be sure your presence is only as an observer. It can be distracting to your child if you offer comments during the lesson. If you prefer to wait in my living room, watch TV, etc. that is fine, too.

Early arrivals: No problem, but in this case, please enter quietly, quickly, and take a seat until your lesson time begins.

Studio entrance is located at the back of my home. Students will be expected, so there is no need to knock, I might have stepped out and not hear you. Please come in promptly at your lesson time.

PAYMENT POLICY:

The current monthly fee for piano lessons at the studio is, $100. This payment is per month and is not dependent upon the number of lessons per month. I do not charge per lesson because sometimes we have months of 5 lessons and sometimes there are 4. Around the Thanksgiving and Christmas Holidays we may have two weeks off.

Also, over time there are often special events and studio teaching tools purchased, which are provided at no extra cost.

Any student requesting to be absent from their lessons for a month or more, will be required to continue monthly payments if their time slot is to be held. We can work around absences with rescheduling.

Students need to let me know well in advance if they are going to be on vacation causing them to miss any lessons. Your monthly fee guarantees your place on the schedule. It is your time that I have committed to so payments are expected monthly and if you have unavoidable missed lessons, we will work around them by rescheduling.

Missed lessons for non- emergency reasons can also be made up as long as this is not abused. It’s never best for the student to be away from piano lessons for extended time periods. Depending on the student and if I am notified well in advance, I may consider time off for special circumstances on an as needed basis, but if the student plans to continue in their current time slot at the studio, monthly payments are required. Again, I have always worked very hard to reschedule lessons for those missed as long as it’s not habitual.

The monthly payment is due at the first lesson or by the 7th of each month. I enjoy teaching and do not want to be distracted from this by ever having to deal with payment issues. Please be responsible and pay your fees on time each month.

MISSED LESSONS:

If a student needs to miss a lesson, please notify the studio as soon as possible. Any missed lessons can be made up within the week or following week of the missed lesson. *BE CONSIDERATE AND DO NOT ABUSE THIS POLICY BY TAKING ADVANTAGE OF MAKE UPS. PERSISTENT ABSENCES WILL BECOME AN ISSUE.

PRACTICE:

Home practicing is very important, especially the 3-4 days following your lesson. This is the time that new information will be easiest to remember. Don’t make practice a battle, keep it fun. Ask your child to play for you and teach you what they have learned, this will not seem like practice to them.

Make sure the home environment has an area conducive for practicing, away from other noises and activities. Also be sure the instrument you have at home is not junk. Piano needs to have a good sound; digital pianos are very affordable and can work just as well.

Note: Students beginning piano lessons must have one of the following before starting at the studio:

A piano that is in good condition – tuned by a professional and placed in an area of the home that would be a comfortable location for the student to practice, ie warm in the winter and/or cool in the summer and away from obvious distractions.
A keyboard with the following specifications – standard sized keys and a sustain pedal or damper pedal ( used to allow notes played to continue sounding, even after the student removes their hands from the keys).

Provide a bench so the student is not sitting to high or too low to the keyboard (very important).

* Any student that is unable to comply with the above requirements, will not be added to the studio roster. This expectation is very basic and no student could ever succeed without sufficient equipment and the importance of this cannot be overstated.

NEWSLETTERS:

Each quarter, I will send out a newsletter. These will include any upcoming dates of interest and studio news items to keep parents and students informed.

Parents:

I have taught piano for 38+ years and thoroughly enjoy doing so. My goal is two part: To provide for students the very best piano instruction they could ever have and to provide a learning environment that will be fun and motivational for them.

Students/Parents:

I hope you understand just how much I enjoy teaching piano. Guidelines, unfortunately, are a must in order to keep everything running smoothly. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Cindy Kinnard