Private Lesson Studio Guidelines
Research has indicated repeatedly that the study and daily practice of music has a dramatic impact on
many areas of learning and growth, not to mention the intrinsic joy that it brings to one’s life. The
Music 4 Living Studio will accept students who are committed, who come prepared to lessons, and
who are cooperative about scheduling.
Private Lessons
30-minute, 45-minute or 1 hour piano and/or voice lessons are scheduled generally once a week, either on Mondays, Tuesdays or Thursdays. Guitar lessons are taught on Wednesday evenings. Additional lessons can be scheduled (as time is available) to help prepare for an important audition or show. Piano and voice lessons are taught during the school year and during the summer. Guitar lessons are taught year-round.
For piano and voice students, there is a break at the beginning of the summer, following Memorial Day until mid-June (week after Father’s Day) and then the summer session officially starts. There is another short break at the end of summer (last lesson on Thursday in mid-August) through the Labor Day holiday. After Labor Day, lessons will resume for the school year and lesson times will be adjusted to fit school schedules. There is a short 2-3 week break during the holidays around Christmas & New Year’s.
Preparedness
Students are expected to prepare their lesson material to the best of their ability. This is your
homework!
Practice Time
Expect to practice a minimum of 20 minutes each day; at least 5 days a week for 30-minute
lesson students. Expect to practice a minimum of 30 minutes each day; at least 5 days a week
for 45 + 60 minute lesson students. Make sure you include warm-ups at the beginning of your
practice time. Don’t dive right into the material first. Make sure your voice or fingers are
warmed up & ready to go. Remember, daily practice will yield the best results. This is the only
way you will improve!
Quality Practice
Sometimes students should be playing through a piece from beginning to end, but more often
students need to isolate problem spots within a piece and work on those, always remembering to
"put the music back together" in the end.
Practice time should take place in a quiet, well-lit, and comfortable area. Practice time should
be interruption-free (i.e.: no phone calls, no TV, no computer, etc). Ideally, practice time
should be at a consistent time each day.
"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit". Aristotle
Attendance
Expected! Students are also expected to arrive at their lesson on time and warmed-up.
Your lesson time will not be extended because you are late.
If you know you have a conflict with a specific lesson date coming up, let your teacher know as
soon as possible. The amount of notice given and the reason for missing the lesson will play a
role in whether you are charged or not for that lesson. If your lesson starts late due to the
teacher running behind with students, your full lesson time will be given to you either that week
or the next.
Make-up Lessons
A teacher is not obligated to make-up an unexcused lesson you missed. If the teacher must miss
a lesson, a make-up lesson will be given.
If the teacher is not notified in advance about a lesson to be missed, the student WILL BE
CHARGED for the lesson and the teacher is not obligated to make up the lesson. There is a limit
of 2 make-up lessons per semester.
Payment
Payment is expected at the first lesson of the month for that entire month.
Lessons must be paid for in a timely manner. If the balance is not paid by the time
agreed upon, lessons will stop.
If you know you have a conflict with a lesson within the month you are paying for,
please discuss it with your teacher at the time of payment & accommodations may be
made.
It is not usually acceptable to cancel lessons because of a birthday party, sporting event or other
social activity. Hiring a private music teacher means devoting time to that weekly lesson and keeping
absenteeism to a bare minimum.
Student's Responsibility to the Teacher:
· Be fully prepared for each lesson. Practice the material you have been assigned to work on.
· Follow guidelines pertaining to absenteeism. (Give appropriate notice.)
· Provide documentation (calendar) of practice time each week (initialed by parent if under 16)
· Provide and bring a spiral notebook and your music with you to each lesson.
· Provide and bring a 3-ring binder with you to each lesson for handouts and sheet music. (Note: You can decorate your binder however you want.)
· Check yourself in (at the beginning of your lesson) in the student folder.
· Voice students must bring a thumb drive/USB drive/flash drive to record each lesson. The recordings are to be reviewed during the week to assist with learning new music, warm-ups and techniques.
· Take notes in your notebook or on the music about new ideas, songs, and assignments.
Music
The teacher will provide most vocal music. Specific songs that the teacher does not have in her
inventory can usually be purchased online and downloaded for immediate use at sites like www.MusicNotes.com and these online sheet music songs typically are $5.25 each. The cost of
the songs is the responsibility of the student or parent. Parents & students are responsible for
providing recommended piano books.
Instrument Care
For piano students: Pianos and keyboards must be kept in good working order, including a working sustain pedal. Acoustic pianos need to be tuned to ensure optimal progress. Pianos should be placed in a dry place where humidity and temperatures are consistent. Avoid placing an acoustic piano on an outside wall, if at all possible, to help keep the conditions surrounding that wood instrument as consistent as possible. Remember the training of a student’s "ear" is as important as the training of the fingers!
For voice students: Your voice is your instrument. Do your best to take good care of it, which
means taking good care of yourself. Get plenty of rest. Avoid smoke. Do not strain your voice. Don't yell or push on your voice. You can support your voice with proper diaphragm support, but if you have to push to be heard, then something is wrong. Don't sacrifice your voice to make up for insufficient microphone techniques or amplification issues. Avoid heavy coffee consumption. The acid in the coffee can be problematic for your voice and throat.
For guitar students: Guitars should be kept in a dry place where the humidity and temperatures are consistent. Guitars should be tuned regularly and new strings put on when wear is starting to show on the current strings. Because most guitars are wood instruments, they can be susceptible to problems (like acoustic pianos) and that's why they need a constant temperature and humidity. Guitars can have neck or bridge problems so it's good to keep on top of anything that doesn't seem right with your guitar. Talk to George about the proper way to change your guitar strings and any problems you may be having with your guitar.
Parent Responsibility
All children/students need help with discipline. Expect to have to remind, encourage, even badger
your children to practice from time to time. Students and parents both need to be accountable
for consistent, quality practice. After good practice habits are established, if your student
consistently doesn’t want to practice, then call your teacher to talk about it. And don’t forget
to call the teacher if there is something that your child does not understand.
Revised 2/2/2012
many areas of learning and growth, not to mention the intrinsic joy that it brings to one’s life. The
Music 4 Living Studio will accept students who are committed, who come prepared to lessons, and
who are cooperative about scheduling.
Private Lessons
30-minute, 45-minute or 1 hour piano and/or voice lessons are scheduled generally once a week, either on Mondays, Tuesdays or Thursdays. Guitar lessons are taught on Wednesday evenings. Additional lessons can be scheduled (as time is available) to help prepare for an important audition or show. Piano and voice lessons are taught during the school year and during the summer. Guitar lessons are taught year-round.
For piano and voice students, there is a break at the beginning of the summer, following Memorial Day until mid-June (week after Father’s Day) and then the summer session officially starts. There is another short break at the end of summer (last lesson on Thursday in mid-August) through the Labor Day holiday. After Labor Day, lessons will resume for the school year and lesson times will be adjusted to fit school schedules. There is a short 2-3 week break during the holidays around Christmas & New Year’s.
Preparedness
Students are expected to prepare their lesson material to the best of their ability. This is your
homework!
Practice Time
Expect to practice a minimum of 20 minutes each day; at least 5 days a week for 30-minute
lesson students. Expect to practice a minimum of 30 minutes each day; at least 5 days a week
for 45 + 60 minute lesson students. Make sure you include warm-ups at the beginning of your
practice time. Don’t dive right into the material first. Make sure your voice or fingers are
warmed up & ready to go. Remember, daily practice will yield the best results. This is the only
way you will improve!
Quality Practice
Sometimes students should be playing through a piece from beginning to end, but more often
students need to isolate problem spots within a piece and work on those, always remembering to
"put the music back together" in the end.
Practice time should take place in a quiet, well-lit, and comfortable area. Practice time should
be interruption-free (i.e.: no phone calls, no TV, no computer, etc). Ideally, practice time
should be at a consistent time each day.
"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit". Aristotle
Attendance
Expected! Students are also expected to arrive at their lesson on time and warmed-up.
Your lesson time will not be extended because you are late.
If you know you have a conflict with a specific lesson date coming up, let your teacher know as
soon as possible. The amount of notice given and the reason for missing the lesson will play a
role in whether you are charged or not for that lesson. If your lesson starts late due to the
teacher running behind with students, your full lesson time will be given to you either that week
or the next.
Make-up Lessons
A teacher is not obligated to make-up an unexcused lesson you missed. If the teacher must miss
a lesson, a make-up lesson will be given.
If the teacher is not notified in advance about a lesson to be missed, the student WILL BE
CHARGED for the lesson and the teacher is not obligated to make up the lesson. There is a limit
of 2 make-up lessons per semester.
Payment
Payment is expected at the first lesson of the month for that entire month.
Lessons must be paid for in a timely manner. If the balance is not paid by the time
agreed upon, lessons will stop.
If you know you have a conflict with a lesson within the month you are paying for,
please discuss it with your teacher at the time of payment & accommodations may be
made.
It is not usually acceptable to cancel lessons because of a birthday party, sporting event or other
social activity. Hiring a private music teacher means devoting time to that weekly lesson and keeping
absenteeism to a bare minimum.
Student's Responsibility to the Teacher:
· Be fully prepared for each lesson. Practice the material you have been assigned to work on.
· Follow guidelines pertaining to absenteeism. (Give appropriate notice.)
· Provide documentation (calendar) of practice time each week (initialed by parent if under 16)
· Provide and bring a spiral notebook and your music with you to each lesson.
· Provide and bring a 3-ring binder with you to each lesson for handouts and sheet music. (Note: You can decorate your binder however you want.)
· Check yourself in (at the beginning of your lesson) in the student folder.
· Voice students must bring a thumb drive/USB drive/flash drive to record each lesson. The recordings are to be reviewed during the week to assist with learning new music, warm-ups and techniques.
· Take notes in your notebook or on the music about new ideas, songs, and assignments.
Music
The teacher will provide most vocal music. Specific songs that the teacher does not have in her
inventory can usually be purchased online and downloaded for immediate use at sites like www.MusicNotes.com and these online sheet music songs typically are $5.25 each. The cost of
the songs is the responsibility of the student or parent. Parents & students are responsible for
providing recommended piano books.
Instrument Care
For piano students: Pianos and keyboards must be kept in good working order, including a working sustain pedal. Acoustic pianos need to be tuned to ensure optimal progress. Pianos should be placed in a dry place where humidity and temperatures are consistent. Avoid placing an acoustic piano on an outside wall, if at all possible, to help keep the conditions surrounding that wood instrument as consistent as possible. Remember the training of a student’s "ear" is as important as the training of the fingers!
For voice students: Your voice is your instrument. Do your best to take good care of it, which
means taking good care of yourself. Get plenty of rest. Avoid smoke. Do not strain your voice. Don't yell or push on your voice. You can support your voice with proper diaphragm support, but if you have to push to be heard, then something is wrong. Don't sacrifice your voice to make up for insufficient microphone techniques or amplification issues. Avoid heavy coffee consumption. The acid in the coffee can be problematic for your voice and throat.
For guitar students: Guitars should be kept in a dry place where the humidity and temperatures are consistent. Guitars should be tuned regularly and new strings put on when wear is starting to show on the current strings. Because most guitars are wood instruments, they can be susceptible to problems (like acoustic pianos) and that's why they need a constant temperature and humidity. Guitars can have neck or bridge problems so it's good to keep on top of anything that doesn't seem right with your guitar. Talk to George about the proper way to change your guitar strings and any problems you may be having with your guitar.
Parent Responsibility
All children/students need help with discipline. Expect to have to remind, encourage, even badger
your children to practice from time to time. Students and parents both need to be accountable
for consistent, quality practice. After good practice habits are established, if your student
consistently doesn’t want to practice, then call your teacher to talk about it. And don’t forget
to call the teacher if there is something that your child does not understand.
Revised 2/2/2012