Karen Young Piano Studio Policy – 2023-2024
1622 Merrimac Trail, Garland 75043
Cell phone: 214-577-7428
Studio email: karenyoungstudio@gmail.com
My Responsibilities:
I will teach your child the language of music in a positive and enthusiastic environment. I will tailor the curriculum to match your child’s individual learning needs. I will establish definite goals for each student. As a member of several professional organizations such as Music Teachers National Association, Texas Music Teachers Association, and Garland Music Teachers Association, I will attend workshops, conferences, and educational programs in order to provide opportunities to enhance my own teaching skills. I will choose appropriate materials for each student and will purchase them for your convenience.
The Teaching Year:
This Academic year for piano lessons this year will begin the week of August 14, 2023. Lessons will continue through Friday, May 24, 2024. Summer lessons (which are individually scheduled by the parent using My Music Staff) will start on Monday, May 27, 2024. A minimum of 5 summer lessons are required in order to retain a place in my teaching calendar for the next Academic year. These five summer lessons are included in the 40 weeks of lessons taught in the Calendar year. Summer lessons are flex days to accommodate personal vacation schedules. Summer lessons may be cancelled or rescheduled if 24-hour notice is given.
Student and Family Responsibilities:
Students should arrive at each lesson punctually and be well prepared with all their assignment materials from the previous lesson, including their assignment book. To make good progress, daily practice is necessary to learn assigned music so that mastery of the music can take place. Many students find that two shorter daily practice sessions are preferable to one long session. Daily reminders from parents to practice are almost always necessary for students to form good practice habits and self-discipline. Parental involvement in home practice is crucial for student success. If you are the parent of an elementary age student, please plan to sit with your child for at least a portion of their daily practice time, even if you have not had musical training. If you are the parent of a Kindergarten, First Grade or Second Grade student, plan to monitor their practice time daily.
Activities & Opportunities:
As a member of Garland Music Teachers Association (GMTA), my students are eligible to participate in any of the many Recitals and Festivals that GMTA sponsors each year, and I encourage their participation. Through my affiliation with Texas Music Teachers Association (TMTA), my students become members of the Student Affiliate division (SA), which provides even wider music experiences. In addition, as a JoyTunes Gold Award Teacher, my students learn to use technology both in my studio and at home through the use of an application called Piano Maestro. This app is used in the studio each week on my iPad to aid in teaching sight-reading, rhythm, and notation, and is installed on a student’s personal Apple iPad for home assignments that are practiced and prepared by students for each lesson.
Tuition:
There is a $50.00 annual Registration/Technology Fee for both new and current students, which will be billed for current students on the July invoice. New students will be billed for this amount in the first month of lessons or upon securing a place in the teaching schedule, at my discretion. In May of each year, an "Intent to Re-Enroll in Piano Lessons" form will be sent for each parent to complete for each child currently enrolled in lessons. In order to secure a spot for the next academic year, this form must be returned by June 1 of each year.
Tuition charges are based on a 12-month period of study from August-July and are divided into monthly installments that can be paid by several payment options: cash, personal check, Zelle, Venmo, or credit card via My Music Staff (convenience fee added).
Yearly tuition for a 30-minute lesson once a week is $1200.00, paid in monthly installments (12 months @ $100.00). Yearly tuition for a weekly 45-minute lesson is $1800, paid in monthly installments (12 months @ $150.00). A detailed invoice will be emailed to the parent before the first day of each month, which will include the tuition, plus the cost of any additional materials, memberships, or event fees. Payment is due on the 1st of each month, and is late after the 10th day. A $15.00 fee will be assessed on late payments, which will be automatically added to the invoice. After five years of study in my studio, tuition is grandfathered to stay at the same rate each year with no rate increases.
Tuition covers not only the actual lesson time spent with the student, but time preparing for each student's lesson as well. Tuition remains the same each month, August-July, and is based on lessons taught in the actual Calendar year.
When a new student starts lessons in the summer months, tuition will be billed monthly for the actual number of lessons taught multiplied by the Lesson Fee. For example, three 45-minute lessons would be 3 X $45.00 = $135.00. Three 30-minute lessons would be 3 X $30 = $90.00. Fees for lesson books purchased for the student are added to the monthly invoice. When the next Academic year begins in August, tuition will be billed in 12 monthly installments.
Attendance:
Students are expected to attend lessons each scheduled week. The 2023-2024 Academic calendar includes 40 weeks of lessons. My studio operates at full capacity, so no tuition credit or make-up lessons are guaranteed. If your child needs to miss a lesson because of illness, please contact me by 1:00 PM the day of the lesson to arrange a FaceTime lesson. Please do not contact me during the time lessons are being taught (3:15-8:00 PM). I appreciate your consideration in helping me run a healthy studio. Please do not send a sick child to lessons. If your child appears ill or feverish, your child's temperature will be taken upon arrival with a non-touch thermometer. If they are ill, a lesson will not be taught and you will be contacted to pick them up. If a sibling is available to make use of the absent student's lesson, that time can be utilized for teaching sight-reading, ear training, transposition, or theory. Please remind your child to remove their shoes when they arrive and wash their hands in the restroom with the antibacterial soap provided.
Teacher Cancellations and Vacations:
On rare occasions, I might have unforeseen complications so that I need to cancel lessons because of an illness, emergency, or family complication. Any notification of last minute teacher cancellation will be made by text and email. Any lesson missed by me will be rescheduled as soon as possible or a makeup lesson credit will be given. I will have limited make-up days built into my schedule for that purpose, usually during GISD student holidays or breaks.
Equipment:
All students must have an acoustical piano or digital piano for home practice. Please also make sure that your child has an appropriate piano bench, not a chair. The quality of your student’s home instrument plays a significant role in their potential for success. Acoustical pianos should be tuned at least once a year and kept in good working order. A digital piano should have a full-size keyboard (88 keys) with weighted, touch-sensitive keys and pedals and an appropriate piano bench. The piano tuner that I now use for my Yamaha grand piano is Scott Copeland. You may contact him directly at 559-301-9215, by email at smcope@ymail.com or at www.scottcopelandpianotuning.com. In order to utilize the app for Piano Maestro for home use, a student needs to have daily access to an Apple iPad (any size). Piano Maestro will not work properly if your instrument is out of tune! Remember to do a hard close on your child's Apple iPad at the end of each week to send their latest progress to my studio iPad. (See me if you do not understand how to do this.)
Media Release:
Photos of students, video or audio recordings of student projects and performances may be posted online and used for promotional and workshop materials. Identifying information will be excluded or limited to first name of student only. Parents wishing to exempt their students from any published media may do so by providing a written exclusion request.
Termination of Lessons:
All students stop taking lessons at some point. Ideally, this decision is made thoughtfully with plenty of discussion between the teacher, parent and student so we can complete the year with a positive sense of closure. If a situation arises in which a family must discontinue lessons mid-year (for example - moving), I require a 30-day written notice from the parent plus one additional month of tuition to settle the account. Remember that tuition is divided into 12 monthly installments. If you drop lessons at any time during the 12 month period except at the end of July, you will not have paid the total annual tuition. When you register for lessons, please be prepared to make the commitment for 12 months, from August through July, as it can be difficult to fill your reserved lesson time in mid-year. If there is a problem at any time, please talk to me outside of lesson time so I can help to make necessary changes. The journey of studying music is full of ups and downs, and I have navigated this path many times. Please keep me in the conversation and let’s enjoy the journey from beginning to end.
Holidays and Staff Development Days:
Regular lessons WILL NOT BE TAUGHT during Fall Break, Thanksgiving Break, Winter Break, or Spring Break. My studio uses the Garland ISD School Calendar. Regular Lessons WILL BE TAUGHT on all other Student/Staff holidays (including Staff Development days).
I reserve the right to schedule three weeks of personal vacation time with my family during the calendar year. In June of each year, I usually attend the Texas Music Teachers Conference, which will be held in Waco, Texas this year at the Waco Convention Center from June 13-16, 2024. This year, I will be traveling with a group of Fine Arts teachers from Garland from June 5 to June 17.
Teacher Conferences
If you wish to talk with me about a matter concerning your child, please text or email me to set up a mutually agreeable conference time outside of the lesson time. I will be happy to talk with you.