Policies & Procedures

General Information:

Weekly private lessons are held in 30, 45 or 60-minute sessions. Small groups and partner lessons are also available.

Calendar & Schedule:

McCabe Piano Studio follows the BHBL school district calendar. There are no lessons held during holiday breaks.

Student & Parent Responsibilities:

Practice: Students are expected to practice daily on a quality instrument. Ideally this would be a well-maintained acoustic piano, but if you will be using a keyboard, please make sure that your keyboard is 88 keys and that the keys are full size and weighted.
Promptness: Students are expected to arrive to lessons on time with all materials and music. It's quite helpful to keep all materials together in a canvas tote bag used specifically for lessons. Parents are welcome to wait quietly in the waiting area, wait in their car in the driveway, or "run errands" (so long as they return to retrieve the student in a timely fashion). ☺ Students who come right after school can ride the school bus to my house and do homework or another quiet activity until their lesson time begins.

Attendance:

Please do your best to attend every lesson available to you. Your student will do best if you attend all lessons regularly. When you register for lessons, your exclusive time slot is reserved for you through the teaching year. Unlike a doctor or a hairdresser, I am unable to "resell" the time slot reserved for you, nor can I create extra teaching time in my schedule. There are no guaranteed Make-Up lessons if you miss your reserved time. This being said, please talk to me if you have a family emergency or your child has a chronic illness. Special arrangements can be made.

***Any lessons canceled by me will always be made up at a mutually convenient time OR credited to the next month's bill.

Weather Cancellations:

For your safety, lessons will be canceled when the BHBL school district is closed for winter storms or when the school district cancels weekend activities (for Saturday/Sunday lessons). One or two-hour delays will only effect lessons scheduled before noon. If lessons are canceled due to weather, I will offer a makeup lesson in the form of a group piano class.

No "make-up" lessons:

Registration for individual instrumental & voice lessons is an agreement between the student and teacher to commit to the scheduled weekly lesson time. Lessons will be rescheduled in the event that the INSTRUCTOR must cancel the lessons. Make-up lessons or a credit on the next month's bill will always be given for lessons missed by Mrs. McCabe due to illness or professional obligations. Lessons that are missed without any prior contact with me will not be made up and no money will be refunded.

Contact your teacher directly by text, voice message or email as a courtesy if you will miss your lesson. For the fastest response, please send a text message if able.

Discontinuing Lessons:

Every student stops taking lessons at some point. Ideally, this decision is made thoughtfully with plenty of conversation between the teacher, parent and student so the lessons can cease with a positive sense of closure. For this reason, the teacher asks for one month's notice prior to discontinuing lessons. However, the teacher acknowledges the right of the student to end lessons at any time. Tuition refunds are not given to students who withdraw from lessons mid-month. Note: at the teacher's discretion a student may be dismissed at any time if they have unpaid tuition, excessive absences/unprepared lessons or show a lack of interest.