Trial lessons
Students may take trial lessons with a teacher before signing up for a term. Four trial lessons typically give the teacher and student sufficient time to get to know each other. After trial lessons students sign up for the entire term (or the remainder of the term).
Terms
The fall term includes 16 weeks, 14 lessons and 2 vacation weeks; the spring term includes 25 weeks, 22 lessons and 3 vacation weeks. Lessons in the summer are optional and depend on the teacher’s availability. If a student starts taking regular lessons after the term has already started, the number of lessons will be prorated according to the number of weeks left before the end of the term.
Vacation weeks
Students may take off any 2 weeks during the fall term and any 3 weeks during the spring term. Please announce vacation weeks at least 2 weeks in advance, or as early as possible.
Mutual commitment
When signing up for a term, students commit to the entire term. This means you must pay for the entire term even if you (or your child) stop taking lessons in the middle of the term. A commitment from both, the student and the teacher, is necessary to assure a productive learning and teaching experience. The teacher can only plan ahead pedagogically if there is a long-term commitment from the student. The teacher can only reserve the student’s chosen lesson slot, if the student commits to the reserved lesson slot until the end of the term.
Payments
The 4 trial lessons must be paid for up front before the first lesson. After the trial lessons, there are two payment options: A. A payment for the entire term (or the remainder of the term) before the first regular lesson of the term; B. Monthly payments before the first lesson of every month. Payments are made by check – payable to Rubato Music School, sent to 378 State Street #2, Brooklyn NY 11217. Reminder: all monthly payments must be made until the end of the term even if the student stops taking lessons in the middle of the term.
Cancellations and make-up lessons
Students or their parents must contact the teacher no less then 6 hours before the lesson start time if they need to cancel a lesson and would like to schedule a make-up lesson. A maximum of 2 lessons per term can be made up and there will be no rescheduling of make-up lessons. If the teacher is contacted less than 6 hours before the lesson time, the missed lesson will count as a vacation week. If all vacation weeks have been used the class will count as a regular lesson. If the teacher is contacted less than 1 hour before the lesson start, the missed lesson will count as a regular lesson, even if there are still available vacation weeks. There will be no transfer of make-up lessons from one term to the next.
Multi-student families
If more then one person in the family is taking lessons but one student can not take lessons that day then the teacher will make the other lesson(s) longer and/or add the remaining lesson time to subsequent lessons.
Teacher absences
The teacher’s concert activities occasionally require that s/he cancels and reschedules lessons. Teacher absences should not exceed 2 weeks in the fall term and 3 weeks in the spring term. If all vacation weeks have been used by the student(s) and if it is impossible to schedule make-up lesson(s), students will be reimbursed the cost of the missed lesson(s) at the end of the term.