Lightner Music Studio-Policy Statement
ATTENDANCE: Students are expected to show up to every lesson throughout the academic year- September 1-May 31st, except on holidays. Students should arrive on time to have their lesson with all their supplies needed for their lesson, such as their notebook and lesson books.
SUMMER LESSONS: Students are expected to continue lessons throughout the summer from June 1st-August 31st. Lesson times will remain the same time year around due to limited availability, unless asked in advance for special cases for June-August.
INSTRUMENT IN THE HOUSE: All students should purchase an instrument prior to starting lessons if they do not have one.
Books are required for lessons. If you need to come up with a payment plan for books, please contact me privately and we can work something out.
MAKEUP LESSONS: Due to my limited availability, I cannot always guarantee a makeup for each miss for everyone. The parent/student must contact me at least 48 hours ahead of time to miss a lesson. If illness/emergency occurs in the morning, up to 3 hours advance notice if possible. If there are lessons that need to be missed due to family events or school functions, they must tell me from 2 weeks- a month ahead of time. These events include sports activities, band/chorus concerts, other extracurriculars and weddings. Please let me know as soon as possible. Situations such as funerals, bad weather will obviously be taken care of differently on a case by case basis for makeups.
TEACHER ABSENCES: I reserve the right to miss/cancel lessons due to illness, family emergencies, or other professional engagements. In these cases, I will do my best to honor makeups within what I have available.
PRACTICE: Students are required to practice a minimum of 5 to 7 times a week. For first year students, 15 minutes- 30 minutes is expected. For second year students, 30-45 minutes is expected. For third year or later 45- over an hour is required.
PAYMENT: As of January 1, 2022 for any new students, I charge $18 per 30 minute lessons, $27 for 45-minutes, and $36 for 60 minutes. Payment is due for each lesson. Last minute cancellations include: illness, injuries, accidents, funerals, and family emergencies. If there is no payment for a lesson, you are responsible to pay for it by the following lesson. If the payment is not in by the following lesson, we will suspend lessons until the owed amount is paid. Check, cash, Venmo, PayPal, and CashApp are accepted.
PARENT PARTICIPATION: Parents are encouraged to help at the very beginning levels, especially if they are under the age of 7 for reading purposes, but parents are always welcome to help when they are at home if they have experience in piano lessons in their past. During the lesson time, parents may listen in from a different room, but not in the same room so no one is distracted.
OFFICE HOURS: My office hours are varied.
You are welcome to email me at hnlightner15@hotmail.com or text me at 724-599-4548. If you need to call me, please keep in mind that I may not answer right away, since I work in multiple places and drive a lot, so please leave a voicemail or text/email to ask me when is a good time to call.
I offer online lessons aside from live in person lessons. If interested, please let me know.