Lesson Policies
While I would prefer not to have to post these policies, my teaching business has come to the point where they are necessary. The success of my students is very important to me, and I have learned from my experience as a teacher that consistency and punctuality are important ingredients to that success. Consistency and punctuality are also important ingredients to my success as a teacher, because I depend on the income from my teaching business.
Scheduling & Attendance
Once scheduled for the month, you are financially obligated for those lessons.
Being on time is expected. Please arrive approximately 5 minutes early so that you can be better prepared to get the most out of the lesson. If you arrive late, you will only receive the remainder of the lesson time that day. There are, of course, exceptions, such as sickness or accident. In case of illness or accident, please contact me as soon as possible (please note that I don’t answer the phone while I am in a lesson, so leave a message or email me). In such cases, I will apply your missed lesson fee to the next month.
As mentioned above, consistency is one of the important ingredients of my students success. Therefore, students should make plans around attending lessons every week. If a student has many absences, I will request that the student drop lessons with me.
If I become ill, or encounter an emergency that forces me to cancel lessons, I will refund the price of the lesson, or apply it to the next month, whichever you prefer. I will always provide as much notice in such cases as I can. So far, I have always been able to give at least 2 or 3 days notice of lesson cancellation.
If you need to change a scheduled lesson for any reason, you will be allowed to reschedule for a time within one week following the scheduled lesson as long as you give the teacher a 24-hour notice. Rescheduling however cannot be guaranteed and will vary on availability. I attempt to keep my schedule on this site up to date so that you may see when makeup times are available. When rescheduling is not possible, it will be treated as a cancellation.
As a general rule, I will usually not have lessons on major holidays, although if I am not traveling, I may offer lessons even on holidays. If I am available for lessons on a holiday, attendance is optional as long as I have been notified that you wish to skip that lesson.
Minimum Age of Student
The minimum age that I accept is 6 years of age. This is not because I don’t believe that younger children should not take lessons, but because teaching younger children has difficulties that I don’t feel qualified to effectively handle. I can refer younger students to other teachers who have the needed skill set. Parents of children under the age of 12 should remain at the lesson (and take notes, and if possible, learn to adjust and tune the instrument), and not just drop off their child for lessons. At that age, parental involvement is extremely important, and if the parents of a younger child do not want to be involved, I recommend waiting until the student is at least 12-13 years old.
Payments
My current lesson charge is $20 per 30-minute lesson. For two or more students from the same family, there is a 20% discount. Also, one-hour lessons are $35, if they are available. One-hour lessons are only recommended for advanced students.
Payment for the month is due at the first lesson of the month, for the number of lessons you are available that month. A late penalty of $5 will be added to the monthly lesson fee if the payment is made after the 1st lesson of the month. The reason for such a low penalty is that I wish for this to be a reminder, and not a punishment.
For adult students whose schedules do not permit regular attendance and wish to have lessons on a pay-as-you-go plan, I will make arrangements to accommodate that if possible, but the lesson charge for pay-as-you-go irregular attendance is $25 per lesson.
Recitals are a very important part of the learning process. I have avoided charging recital fees in the past, but it is no longer practical to bear the expenses of putting on a recital by myself. Recitals will be treated as a regular lesson, and will incur the same fee.
Contract Length
I do not require any contracts other than prepayment for the number of lessons requested for the month. If a student drops out before the end of the month, the payment will not be refunded. I do make exceptions to this in cases of injury or severe illness.
Other
In the case that I detect that a student is not putting in the effort needed for good progress, I will first consult with the parents about possible corrective action. If the situation continues for a 2nd month, I will require the student to drop lessons. I firmly believe that if the student does not want to put in the required effort, he or she should be pursuing other interests instead.
For beginning students, I recommend a minimum of 15 minutes a day, 7 days per week. This is primarily to build endurance. After the first month, I will add 5 minutes/day each week to this recommendation until the student reaches 30 minutes per day, 6 days per week minimum. Advanced students should practice a minimum of 45 minutes per day, 6 days a week, but if a student really wants to maximize his or her progress, I recommend a minimum of 90 minutes per day, 6 days per week, and a maximum of 3 hours per day, 6 days per week.
Please bear in mind that the violin is a difficult instrument to master, and progress is rarely linear.