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

Makeup lessons are offered, but are not guaranteed. A lesson should be rescheduled before the normal lesson time of the missed lesson and the makeup time must be within 30 days or the lesson will be forfeited. If a makeup lesson is missed by student, the lesson cannot be rescheduled and will be forfeited. The amount of time given before notice will increase your chances of being able to reschedule.

There are three ways to makeup 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 of the student are welcome also as long as they are not a distraction and they remain under the supervision of their parent (s).
Please keep all of the student’s family members within the studio or front room across from the studio. Do not go into the dining room or kitchen area.
For the sake of the teacher’s family members, please make the curb your location for parking and drop-off. This will keep the driveway open for free access for the teacher’s family members.
To avoid traffic jams or fender benders, park on the mailbox side of the driveway. The streets are tight so someone pulling out across the street is more likely to hit your car if it is on the other side of the driveway.
Please do not roam the front or back yard.
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 studio. 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

Tuition includes 48 lessons in one year broken down as follows:

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.

The remaining 4 weeks in the year are divided as follows:

Winter Break – 2 weeks for Christmas and New years
Your Choice – Every family chooses 2 weeks to take off per year. This is usually during the summer due to family vacations.

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……………………$128 monthly/student
45 Minute Lesson……………………$192 monthly/student
60 Minutes Lesson………………….$256 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.