Agreement for Private Piano Tuition
Fair terms for both parties
This Agreement is the way I run my business. It sets out what I believe to be fair terms and conditions which are applicable to both the teacher and the student/billpayer.
What the students and parents say
Conduct
May I urge you to be as communicative as possible with regard to your feelings about the lessons. If you feel they are not going as you envisaged for any reason, please discuss it with me. I bring this to your attention with regard to conditions of Structure and Payment. Lessons are for your benefit and progress, and should be enjoyable for you as well as showing some real progress.
By starting lessons, you are agreeing to co-operate with me in your improvement at piano playing, in particular to practice in the ways I suggest. I will do all that I reasonably can to help you improve, but if I feel that you are deliberately and persistently not co-operating in this way after discussion, I may end this Agreement.
I will not enter you for competitions, exams or concerts without your consent.
To protect my reputation, you will not enter competitions, exams or concerts without my consent and full knowledge of what you are playing, even if it is a compulsory event within a school or college.
If I am forced to end this Agreement because your behaviour or the behaviour of someone connected to you makes it unsafe or unethical to continue with the tuition, a refund for any remaining lessons may not be given.
This Agreement may be terminated at any time by mutual consent, if it is confirmed in writing by both of us.
Structure and Payment
Lessons will be given weekly during state school terms for the most part; term dates available on the Term Dates page of this site. Lessons will be invoiced per half term, at the beginning of each half term, the lesson duration corresponding to the level of the student's progression. Extra lessons, e.g. during school holidays, may be arranged at mutually agreed times. The tuition fee is £28.50 per half hour (Beginner-Grade 3), £41 per 45 minutes (Grades 4-6) and £53.50 per 60 minutes (Grades 7, 8, diploma and beyond.) I may increase fees in future, but you will be given enough notice to opt out of the next half term in which the increase would take effect.
If you have problems with payment for unforeseen financial reasons, please explain to me as early as possible and I will try to come to a reasonable agreement with you. If you have not had such a discussion with me, the following late payment fees will be due: If more than 2 weeks overdue, an admin fee of £10 will be added. If more than 6 weeks overdue, the half term invoice plus an additional 20 per cent. During the first half term of lessons, either of us may end this Agreement without incurring payment/tuition for the following half term. N. B. Thereafter, you may end this Agreement by giving notice in writing no later than the last lesson of half term, to avoid incurring payment for the next two half terms. You may take any lessons which have been paid for even if you have given written notice of termination of this Agreement. I may end this Agreement by giving notice in writing no later than the last lesson of half term. If notice is given any later, I must still teach you for the following two half terms, if you still wish to continue.
Missed Lessons Missing lessons for three weeks or more due to serious illness is the only exception to these statements:
If you miss, or cancel a lesson, you may attend online if you cannot attend in person, or you may submit pre-recorded videos of your playing to be sent to me prior to your lesson time so I can produce practice notes for you. If you choose not to do so there will be no refund for the lesson because replacement lessons may not be offered. If there happens to be a convenient time slot available I may occasionally be in a position to offer a replacement but it is not obligatory nor usual in these circumstances due to the limited times available. If you refuse to accept any time slots offered and it was due to you that the original lesson was cancelled, you will lose the fee for that lesson.
Because of the nature of my career, being a practitioner of the profession as well as a teacher, I may have performing, examining or adjudicating engagements abroad or elsewhere in the UK. In these circumstances there will either be a replacement teacher for that lesson, or a replacement lesson time. If (rarely) neither of these things can happen then you will receive a lesson refund.
Once a replacement lesson has been mutually agreed, it is treated as a scheduled lesson with regard to the conditions of Missed Lessons.
I'm a parent of children enrolled in Suzuki music lessons. I'd like to explain to other parents why I feel - quite strongly, actually - that it is unreasonable of we parents to expect our teachers to make up lessons we miss, even if I know as well as they do just how expensive lessons are, and, equally importantly, how important that weekly contact is with the teacher to keep practice ticking along smoothly. I think that it is natural for we parents to share the point of view that students should have their missed lessons rescheduled, but if we were to 'walk a mile' in our teachers' shoes, we might change our minds about what it is reasonable for us to expect of our teachers.
Like many parents, I pay in advance for lessons each term. In my mind, what this means is that I have reserved a regular spot in the busy schedules of my sons' teachers. I understand - fully - that if I can't make it to the lesson one week (perhaps my son is sick, or we are away on holiday, or there is some other major event at school) then we will pay for the lesson, but that my teacher is under no obligation to find another spot for me that week, or to refund me for the untaught lesson. And this is the way it should be.
In my 'other life' I am an economist and teach at our local university. Students pay good money to attend classes at the university; but if they don't come to my lecture on a Monday morning, then I am not going to turn around and deliver them a private tutorial on Tuesday afternoon. When I go to the store and buy groceries, I may purchase something that doesn't get used. Days or months later, I end up throwing it out. I don't get a refund from the grocery store for the unused merchandise. If I sign my child up for swimming lessons at the local pool, and s/he refuses to return after the first lesson, I can't get my money back. So there are lots of situations in our everyday lives where we regularly pay in advance for goods or some service, and if we end up not using what we have purchased, we have to just 'swallow our losses'. On the other hand, if I purchase an item of clothing, and get home and change my mind, I can take it back and expect either a refund or a store credit.
So why do I believe that music lessons fall into the first category of 'non-returnable merchandise', rather than into the second case of 'exchange privileges unlimited' (which I think is one of the advertising slogans of an established women's clothing store!)? Speaking now as an economist, I would claim that the reason is that items like clothing are "durable goods' - meaning, they can be returned and then resold at the original price - whereas music lessons are non-durable goods - meaning, once my Monday slot at 3:30 is gone, my son's teacher can't turn around and sell it again. The only way she would be able to give him a lesson later in the week would be if she were to give up time that she had scheduled for her own private life; and that seems pretty unreasonable - I can't think of many employees who would be thrilled if their bosses were to announce that they couldn't work from 3:30 to 4:30 this afternoon, but would they please stay until 6:30 on Thursday, because there will be work for them then!
Many teachers hesitate to refuse our request to shift lesson times (because our busy schedules do change), because unless they keep us parents happy, we will decide to take our child somewhere else for lessons (or to drop musical study), and they will lose part of their income. This is particularly true in areas with lower average income, where it can be particularly difficult to find students. So they agree to teach us at a time that really doesn't suit their schedule. Teachers who are 'nice' in this way often, in the long run, end up exhausted, and feeling exploited; they try to draw a line in the sand. However, too few parents ask to switch only when absolutely necessary, and too many parents want lesson times when it suits them this week, which is not the same time that suited last week. If the conflict arises because my child is in the school play, and they have their dress-rehearsal during his lesson time, then I feel that I must choose between the two activities, and if he attends the dress rehearsal my private lesson teacher doesn't owe me anything.
During May, my eldest son will be missing three lessons because he is going to accompany me on a trip to New Zealand to visit his great-grandparents. I do not expect my son's teacher to refund me for those missed lessons, or to reschedule them by 'doubling up' lessons in the weeks before or after our departure. Since there will be lots of advanced notice, I might ask her to consider preparing a special 'practice tape' for that period, or to answer my questions via e-mail, but if she doesn't have the time (the second half of April is going to be really busy for her, and she wouldn't be able to do the tape until more or less the week we left) and so has to refuse, then that's fine. I certainly don't expect her to credit me with three make-up lessons; there is no way for her to find a student to fill a three-week hole in her schedule during our absence. Instead, I hope that she will enjoy the extra hour of rest during those three weeks, and that we will all feel renewed enthusiasm when we return to lessons at the end of the trip.
© 2001Vicky Barham