Studio Policy

Mission Statement

Faith Christian Music Studio (FCMS) is dedicated to teaching the art of musicianship for the glory of Jesus Christ through private and group piano lessons in Brittany Smith’s studio in Waxhaw, North Carolina. My hope is to instill in each student a deeper knowledge of our Creator and a biblical worldview in the context of an exciting and invigorating environment.

Enrollment

Faith Christian Music Studio operates like a school or an academy. Students who seek enrollment are reserving a weekly time slot in the studio. If the student is accepted into the studio, the weekly time slot is maintained through monthly tuition. If the student decides to drop lessons for a particular month, the time slot will go to someone else on the waiting list. The student is to apply for re-enrollment, but he or she may be put on the waiting list until an opening is available. If the student would like to reserve his or her enrollment in spite of being unable to attend for one month, paying the monthly tuition will reserve the time slot during his or her absence.

While FCMS is distinctly Christian, students of any background are welcome to enroll in the studio upon agreement with the studio policy.

Payment

Tuition for piano lessons will be charged on a monthly basis.
To eliminate the hassle of remembering to write a check every month, all payments will be made via pre-authorized electronic payments. It will also help both the teacher and parents keep better records for bookkeeping purposes.
Pre-authorized payments will be scheduled once per month.
If pre-authorized payments are canceled, enrollment will be discontinued. If the student would like to start lessons again, he or she may be put on a waiting list.
If student is receiving lessons from an intern in the studio, lessons will be charged weekly through automatic payment instead of monthly.

Practicing and Homework

Students will be expected to practice a minimum amount of minutes per week, If students reach the piano dollar goal, they will receive that reward.

Elementary Student – 90 minutes per week, 120 for piano dollar
Middle School Student – 120 minutes per week, 150 for piano dollar
High School Student – 150 minutes per week, 180 for piano dollar

If practice requirements are not met consistently, student may lose his or her slot in the studio.

Lesson Rescheduling

While school is in session, two rescheduled lessons are permitted per school semester for situations where a student cannot attend the lesson.
If a third lesson cannot be attended, that lesson will be forfeited without a refund.
Makeup lessons in the Summer are subject to openings in the schedule. But, there is no limit.
If the teacher must cancel a lesson, a refund will be provided.

Lessons must be rescheduled before the lesson time or else they will be forfeited without a refund.

There are three ways to make up a lesson:

App – You can look to see if there are openings in the app and schedule accordingly.
Makeup Days – There will be one day per month in which a few hours will be set aside for those who need makeup lessons. This will be included in the annual schedule and will be found in the scheduling app as well. If these hours are booked and another slot cannot be found within 30 days of the missed lesson, the lesson will be forfeited.
Additional Minutes – If it works for the teacher’s schedule, you can add 15 minutes to future lessons to help makeup. Please contact teacher to see if this is an option for your slot.
Online Lesson – If student is ill, but feels well enough for a lesson, Zoom and Facetime are available if students would rather not find a slot for a makeup lesson.

If teacher must miss a lesson, a refund or a reschedule will be arranged.

Premises Etiquette

Parents are more than welcome to attend and observe lessons – especially to support and encourage the student during practice sessions.
Siblings who are taking lessons back-to-back are welcome to stay and wait as long as they are seated quietly. If they cannot stay seated quietly, they will need adult supervision. Siblings under 12 years old who do not take piano lessons will need adult supervision at all times.
There is a waiting room with in the sanctuary, if it is not being used by another teacher, you may wait in this room. But, please be respectful of the church’s property and do not use the refreshments in that room.
Please do not allow anyone in your crew to explore the Church property. Students, friends, and family must stay within the church building or in the Church parking lot.
Please park in the gravel parking lot in front of the church. Do not park in the grass or anywhere else.
Please be prompt with the student’s arrival and departure of the lesson. Time will not be added to the end of a lesson to make up for a late arrival and supervision will be non-existent outside of the reserved time slot.
If the student arrives early or departs late, FCMS is not responsible for the child’s safety at that time.
Please do not bring food or drinks into the Church building. Bottled water is an exception, but it is never to be placed on the piano. This is to protect the piano from any possibility of accidental water damage.
Please send students to their lesson without chewing gum in their mouths.
Fingernails must be clipped and ready to play the piano.
Students must come to each lesson with all of their lesson materials and books. It may be helpful to purchase a tote or music bag specifically for storing and carrying lesson books to avoid forgetting certain items.
If taking lessons with an intern, please refer to that intern’s requests for premises etiquette

Recitals and Events

Throughout the year, students spend many hours preparing their musical pieces for performance level quality. Studio recitals are a wonderful way to set goals, meet those goals, and demonstrate the completion of those goals. Because of this, FCMS requires that all students participate in these bi-yearly performances. To demonstrate excellence, the dress code for all recitals will be as follows:

No t-shirts (collared shirts for boys and blouses for girls)
No jeans
No tennis shoes
No flip-flops (nicer flip-flops are permitted for girls in the Spring recital)
No pants hanging below the hips
No mini skirts/dresses (knee-length or longer)

Other events may appear throughout the year in which the student has the option to participate or not.

All students taking lessons from an intern, will also be included in these recitals.

Studio Breaks

Lessons are billed monthly at a flat rate no matter how many weeks fall into that month. It all pans out over the course of the year. Here is a breakdown of what you are paying for and not paying for.

Included in Tuition throughout the year:

48 weeks of piano instruction broken down below:
46 Private Lessons
2 Group Workshops – These two workshops substitute the weeks of Thanksgiving and Spring Break in which no lessons will be held in the studio.

Since there are 52 weeks in a year, you end up not paying for 4 weeks. Here are the weeks you will not be paying for:

Winter Break – 2 weeks for Christmas and New years
Vacation Weeks – You can choose 2 weeks of no lessons that you are ultimately not paying for.

Summer Breaks

Lessons will continue throughout the Summer.
Students who cease paying tuition during the summer will not be guaranteed a slot in the Fall. A student’s slot is reserved by maintaining monthly tuition.
If a student needs more than the 2 weeks chosen as explained previously, the teacher is willing to be extra flexible with makeup lessons in the Summer.
The teacher may take off specific weeks in the Summer in which lessons will be refunded.
Lessons with interns will not be on the same schedule. Please refer to your specific teacher for his or her Breaks.

Tuition

Monthly tuition is based on the length of time in a lesson and the type of lesson. Books and materials are purchased by the parent or guardian. The teacher will send links to these books via email when needed. NOTE: Every January, tuition will be raised.

Private Piano Lesson:

30 Minute Lesson……………………$140 monthly/student
45 Minute Lesson……………………$210 monthly/student
60 Minutes Lesson………………….$280 monthly/student

Discounted Lessons with Intern

30 Minutes……………………………………………$25 weekly/student

Note: Discounted lessons will have a separate policy that each intern will provide for student.