An annual calendar of studio events, holidays, and non-lesson days will be provided at the start of each school year.

Lesson Schedule

Please contact Melissa by August 15th of each year with your preferred lesson time for the year. Lesson times are first come first serve.

For a detailed reference of what lessons you are committing to for the year, please see the following google doc. This day/time will mark what you agree to pay for and your student agrees to attend for the entire year. Each year, your tuition reserves 38 lesson slots.

Recital Dates

Two recital dates are reserved and paid for at an appropriate event center each year. Melissa will inform students/parents of these dates and list them on the schedule.

Please mark your calendars with these dates at the beginning of the year.

All students are expected to attend and perform.

Performance opportunities compel students to work towards worthy goals, and teach them that they can do hard things. Melissa’s goal is to help students develop self-confidence, stage-presence, and discipline, while enjoying the gift of music. In addition, students will learn to collaborate as they participate in the annual duet recital.

Please plan to stay for the entire duration of each biannual recital.

It takes courage for students to perform and un-interrupted performances can help students cope with performance anxiety.  Families can show support and encouragement by staying for the entire recital and congratulating their peers for a job well done.  For families with small children, please be attentive to sounds they make, to avoid distracting performers. Please be prepared to take your child out during a performance if their behavior becomes distracting.  

Since there are always yummy desserts served at the end of each recital, please inform Melissa of any food allergies that may affect your student(s). She is happy to make accommodations.

Holidays

No lessons are taught on the following holidays, and are not included in the number of lessons you receive for the school year:

• Memorial Day
• Thanksgiving Break
• Christmas Break

For a more comprehensive breakdown of the holiday schedule for this year, please refer to the calendar google doc. It will explain when Christmas and Thanksgiving break begin and end for the studio schedule.

Summer Attendance

Left empty, your spot may be filled by a new student.

Melissa gives priority scheduling to students who have continued lessons throughout the entire year. In order to reserve your spot in the studio, a minimum of two lessons per month during July and August are required. Students who fail to meet these requirements during the summer are not guaranteed a lesson time in the fall.

The reasons for this are both logistical and ethical. If you choose to discontinue lessons during the summer, a new student may fill your vacancy. This student will also have priority for the spot in the fall. It would be an unethical business practice for Melissa to offer lessons to a new student in the summer without guaranteeing that she could continue their education in the fall.

Why summer lessons are important:

In Melissa’s many years of teaching experience, students who take year-long lessons tend to retain information and make more progress in their musical studies. Even if students practice on their own during the summer, students left without the guidance of a teacher stop making progress and actually regress in their musical development. This invariably leads to discouragement.

Students who take lessons during the summer however, have an easier time maintaining a positive attitude towards the piano, because they don’t associate it with the stress of being in school while associating the absence of it with summer freedom. It takes more time in the fall to re-teach material that has been forgotten, in addition to encouraging students who have become discouraged by a loss of progress during the summer.

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