Teacher responsibilities
The teacher’s pledge: to teach the discipline, language, and joy of making music at the piano. The teacher will provide a safe, supportive, and positive learning environment. The curriculum will be tailored to support each student’s individual learning and musical needs.
In order to provide the most effective teaching possible, the following policies have been established below.
Financial Policy
Invoice
Sometime close to the start of the lesson term, you will be emailed an invoice for the whole term. I offer a discount for folks that pay the whole balance within a week or so of the beginning of the term. You may make payments monthly if preferred.
Attendance Policy
Lesson attendance
It is your responsibility to show up to all of your lessons. I have blocked off our lesson time for the whole semester, and so should you. That being said, I offer one makeup lesson per term for those that miss a lesson for any reason. The makeups are usually the last week of the term. See the current schedule for details. Refunds or discounts will not be given for missed lessons. If the teacher has to miss a scheduled lesson, a makeup will be offered.
What if I need to take a longer break?
With 30 days notice, I am happy to refund any remaining lessons in your invoice
Practicing Policies
Practice
Practicing on your own is a critical part of learning any musical discipline. I expect my students to practice an amount roughly equal to their lesson time 5 times per week. So, for students signed up for 30-minute lessons, that means you should plan to practice 30 minutes per day, 5 days per week. This will ensure that you make steady, quick progress through your pieces. No one likes to work on the same music for weeks on end!
Lack of practice
I reserve the right to remove a student from my studio for lack of practicing. I speak with all of my students nearly every week about their practicing habits, especially if I feel as if their practicing could be improved. On the second week of little/no apparent practicing, I will inform the parent, and we will have a conversation about whether or not the student’s time is best served in my studio. On the third week of little/no apparent practicing, I will remove that student from my studio.
If I remove a student for this reason, no refunds will be given.
Location
Lessons on Mondays and Tuesdays for the 2023-24 academic year will happen at St. Thomas Episcopal Church, 201 Sun Valley Rd, Sun Valley, ID. Lessons on Thursdays will happen at my home in Hailey. Message me for the address.
Photos/Videos/Likenesses
I reserve the right to take photos, videos, or likenesses of my students. If I choose to distribute those files via social media, ads, or some other way, I won’t disclose the names of the students.
Privacy
I don’t sell your private information. However, I don’t speak for WordPress, Genesis, the theme developer, your ISP, your device manufacturer, or anyone else. I will put together email lists for my students, where the emails could be seen. You may also find out who else is in my studio, and when their lessons are.
COVID Release
I cannot predict how COVID will evolve, or whether you would catch it at a piano lesson. I consider this activity to be low-risk, but it is not no-risk. Please use your best judgment, and ask for a video conference lesson if you are concerned. A condition of meeting in-person for piano lessons is to indemnify and hold harmless for all COVID-related reasons Joel Bejot, St. Thomas Episcopal Church, any other staff and/or leadership at St. Thomas, and any other persons that might be onsite at either teaching location.