Five year old Jamie has just learned to play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
Congratulations to Kiersten and Caleb who have joined La Jeunesse Youth Orchestra this year. These two also won the talent competition at the Warkworth Fall Fair (for the second year in a row!) and received as their prize a recording session at a local studio. Way to go!
Studio Policy
Attendance & Cancellations
1. Please call me if your child is ill on the day of his/her lesson. I will call or email to reschedule as soon as possible.
2. As a courtesy to other students, if you know in advance that you will be missing a lesson, (i.e. for family vacations, religious observances or other special functions) please advise me as early as possible so that I can make arrangements for someone else to use the time slot for a make-up lesson.(I usually need 48 hours).
3. If I have to cancel a lesson, I will make every effort to reschedule with you at a mutually agreeable time. If this cannot be done within a month’s time, I will refund the fee for the lesson.
4. I give a maximum of three “rain cheques” for lessons missed by the student over the course of the year due to illness, sports events, vacations, etc. It is best to try to reschedule as soon as possible after the missed lesson. You must use your “rain cheques” by June 30. You may not “carry over” unused lessons from one year into the next.
5. One month’s notice is required prior to termination of lessons.
Expectations for Suzuki parents and students
1. I expect parents of children up to approximately age 11 (gr.6) to attend the lesson, to take notes on the teaching points of the lesson, and to keep a record of the lesson assignments.
2. The parent of a beginning Suzuki student should ideally rent an instrument for themselves for the first year of the child’s lessons in order to be able to work empathetically with the child.
3. The parent of a Suzuki student is their home coach and should be available to supervise the correct practicing of the lesson’s teaching points. At home, it is the parent’s responsibility to establish a regular practice routine, including listening and reading assignments. When the student is old enough to attend lessons on his/her own, I will begin to record the lesson assignments and ask that parents sign the student’s weekly practice log.
4. It is a basic expectation in a Suzuki program that students attend group classes and participate in at least one concert per year. I usually have details of group class schedule by mid-August and convey them by email. Please consider group classes as part of your family activity schedule. They are an integral part of the success of the Suzuki method.
5. Students who are unable to participate in group classes or string ensembles due to scheduling conflicts need to set other personal performance goals with me, such as Royal Conservatory exams or music festival competitions. In my experience, students without goals generally lose their motivation to practice, which leads to less progress and less success, and eventually, they quit. I am willing to discuss reasonable, attainable, individual goals with teenaged students, who often have difficulty with time management and need some assistance to plan their practice time. Such an agreement needs to be approved and signed by a parent, due to their financial commitment to the lessons.