Studio Policies

Payment Policy

The fee for the lessons (which consist of a 30 minute private lesson and up to 15 minutes of independent music lab usage) is a flat monthly rate of $110.00.*

These rates are based on students having 48 lessons per year. This fee schedule applies whether or not the student uses the lab time or cancels a lesson.

The following monthly flat rates will apply for families with more than one person taking lessons:

1 student ......................................................... $110.00

2 students ...................................................... $210.00

3 students ....................................................... $300.00

Tuition is due on or before the first lesson of each month and should be placed in the tuition envelope on our music bulletin board in the waiting room. All lessons must be paid for whether or not they are attended. Please see our Missed Lesson Policy for more details.

*These rates will be in effect through August 2026 and will change thereafter.

Purchasing Music

For your convenience, we will acquire any music needed by the student for lessons. For this reason, we require that each student pay an initial $30 Music Fee upon starting lessons and maintain a $10 minimum balance thereafter. Checks designated for the music account should be separate from the tuition payment and made out to either Jim or Chris Dorinsky. A periodic statement will be provided for your review showing all account activity. The balance of the account will be refunded, should lessons be discontinued.

Recital Fee

There is recital fee of $10– $12 (based on number of participants) for each student participating to offset the cost of the facility and other miscellaneous expenses. This will just be deducted from each participating student’s music account.

Holiday Schedule

No regular lessons are scheduled for:

– Thanksgiving and the day after
– Week of Christmas, December 24–January 1.
– Labor Day, Memorial Day and July 4th*

*Lessons that are missed due to these 3 holidays can either be rescheduled or credit will be given. We will send an email with the payment schedule for those months.

ALL OTHER HOLIDAYS
For holidays such as Martin Luther King Day, Presidents Day, etc., lessons will be given as scheduled.

Missed Lessons

We will reschedule missed lessons for:

– Student illness or family emergencies.
– Inclement weather
– School or church sanctioned event.
– Medical appointments
– Holidays (except Christmas break)

These are the only reasons that will be acceptable for scheduling a make-up lesson provided we are given advance notice. Rescheduling the missed lesson is the responsibility of the student/parents. We will email you our schedule with a list of numbers so that you can first try to trade with another student. This gives you more flexibility especially since it is often difficult for us to try and reschedule lessons that occur between our busiest times of 3 to 6. When this is not possible, you can call us and we will assist you in rescheduling the best we can.

Canceling Lessons

a. Built-in misses
As part of our flat-rate plan, students may cancel up to 2 lessons anytime during the calendar year without charge. However, any lessons missed beyond the 2 personal misses allotted must be paid for whether or not the lesson is rescheduled.

b. Missed group lessons
The pre-recital group lessons cannot be made up. However, you may be able to switch to another available group lesson time during the week of group lessons.

c. Summer Lessons
Students discontinuing lessons in the summer or during the school year for any period of time without payment will lose their reserved lesson time but can be placed back at the top of our waiting list.

d. Miscellaneous Cancellations

Any lesson, which we may need to cancel, will, at the students & parents discretion, be rescheduled or credit will be given.

Vacations, Winter & Spring Break

We include a total of 4 student missed lessons throughout the year (2 anytime, 1 for Winter break and 1 teacher miss during our vacation week). These misses are built into the flat-rate plan and are given as a courtesy to allow for times when the student will be away and rescheduling would be difficult. If you need to miss more than the alloted amount you will have the option to reschedule if so desired.