Scheduling Lessons

All scheduling matters should be discussed with your teacher, not the administration or the directors of the school. Please contact your teacher directly by phone or email.  Contact information can be found on page 2 of the policy and on the school calendar.

Make-Ups

We will make up all the lessons and classes we miss during the semester. In order to qualify for make-ups on lessons you miss, your teacher needs more than 24 hours advance notification.  Please call or email your teacher directly.   His/her contact information has been provided to you on the back of the school policy and on the school calendar.  If you call the school, we cannot guarantee your teacher will receive your message before your lesson time.  Your teacher will not be responsible for more than 1 make up for lessons you miss in one semester.  Teaching instrumental lessons is a performing art, as such; it has a specific time and place to be performed.  Your time slot is yours and the teacher is ready to perform during that time, so he/she deserves to be paid for it.  There are no make ups for group classes or chamber music classes you miss.  Please understand that the class will take place even without your presence.

After Lessons & Classes

Parents, please pick up your child on time!  We cannot be responsible for them when their lesson is over, since we usually have another lesson scheduled right away.  Please instruct your child to wait inside the school, not on the sidewalk.  (We cannot be responsible for children once outside the building and some neighbors don’t like having children wandering the block.)

If you’re not accompanying your child to their lesson, please come in during the last 5 minutes of the lesson to get important information or make sure to ask your child about their lesson and any information that may have been sent home.

Payment and Cancellation Policy

Full payment is preferred, although paying in two installments is accepted.  The first installment is to be paid prior to Week 1 and the second installment prior to Week 6 of the semester. ***Late payments will be charged $25***

We accept PayPal, cash, checks and money orders only.

Please do not ask your teacher billing questions.  Your lesson time is devoted to teaching. 

Contact Beth Ryan, Office Manager, by email at beth@gasseschoolofmusic.org.

The fee for a check being returned for non-sufficient funds is $40.  The school may also request that all future payments be made in the form of a cashiers check or money order.

If you need to terminate your commitment for lessons with us, we require a 4-lesson notice.  The reason we organize the school year in semesters is to support the commitment of the student and to ensure continuity for the teacher.  The teacher has committed his/her time to you for the entire semester, and needs adequate time to refill his/her roster before you stop paying him/her.  For that reason, we request payment for 4 lessons after your notice of termination.

Late Payments

The teacher will not be required to teach any lessons that have not been paid in advance.

Referrals

We appreciate your support. Referrals are our main source of new students. We will be glad to give you a $25.00 gift card for every student that registers with the school from your referral.

Recitals

The school expects all students to play in one recital each semester (not including summer).

Graduation recitals are required for Suzuki students. We consider them to be extremely instructional. An audio or video recording of all the pieces of the graduating book should be given to your teacher one month prior to the recital date.

Students and guests are expected to stay for the entire recital.  It is disruptive to leave during a performance.  We understand that there are exceptions.  Please discuss any exceptions with your teacher prior to the recital.

Suzuki Group Class – Chamber Music

The School strongly recommends that all instrumental students to be enrolled in at least one of these classes.  Please note that group and chamber classes cannot be pro-rated.  Group class and chamber music class will meet even without your presence.

Outreach Performances

GSM invites high performing students to participate in many outreach events through the year. These are great learning opportunities not to mention a great way to show off your playing abilities too.  We strongly recommend participating if you are invited.

Pictures and Video Permission

By registering at GSM, you automatically give permission to use free of compensation, the likeness in a photograph or video of the registered students, their parents and/or legal guardians, in any and all of GSM’s printed and digital publications for purposes of publicizing GSM’s programs or for any other related, lawful purpose.

School Recommendations

Before Lessons & Classes

• Please come early, unpack your instrument, music, and practice chart.
• Read all the news posted on the notice board. Do not assume all of it is old news.

During Lessons & Classes

• Everyone is welcome to observe a lesson, even young children if they can entertain themselves.
• Parents, please take detailed and understandable notes. Always use the same notebook.  Audio and video recordings are extremely useful since they eliminate discrepancies about what your teacher said or how a passage should sound.
• Parents and siblings are welcome to wait in the office area during their child’s lesson.  Please remember to keep noise to a minimum, as it can be distracting to the teacher and student.

Practice every day

If there are some problems, such as practices, lack of motivation, scheduling, communication with your teacher, etc., please keep us informed. Your teacher cannot help if he/she is not aware of the situation. Please do not let a misunderstanding go on for a long time.