Cincinnati Strings

Studio Policies

Contacting Us

Please feel free to contact your teacher directly with any questions or concerns that you may have about lesson scheduling or anything else related to your lessons. Your teacher will let you know the preferred contact method, usually email or text message. If you will have to miss a lesson for a non-emergency reason, please notify the teacher at least 2 days in advance, and as soon as you can in emergency situations. Please do not notify the office about scheduling issues as the message may not reach your teacher in time.

Lessons in your home

Lessons will begin within a 30 minute window of your assigned lesson time to accommodate for traffic and other concerns. For example, if you have a 4:00 lesson, the teacher will arrive at your home between 3:45 and 4:15. There should always be a parent or guardian present in the home during the lesson time.

Students should be prepared to begin their lesson immediately upon the teacher’s arrival in your home. Lessons should occur in an appropriate space free from distractions. Parent involvement in lessons is paramount to your child’s success and siblings are encouraged to quietly observe.

Parental Involvement

Parents of young students should plan on being active in private and group lessons and during home practice. For children ten years and younger this is crucial—your little musician needs help at first! Most parents are not musicians, but don’t worry, you will learn what to look for at home during lessons. 

Learning a string instrument requires patience and dedication. In order to grow as a musician, you should expect your child to practice at least 5 days a week. Your teacher will provide practice goals and expectations in each lesson. Continued participation in the Cincinnati Strings program is contingent upon meeting these expectations on a regular basis.

Performance Opportunities

You are invited to perform in at least two recitals each year in collaboration with a professional pianist.. Additional local performing opportunities may be available by speaking with your teacher.

Studio Calendar

The study of music is a year round endeavor. Cincinnati Strings students receive 44 lessons per year and are charged an equal amount each month. You will be given a weekly lesson time that the teacher reserves for you and lessons will occur at the agreed upon time each week, excluding vacations and holidays. Each teacher makes his or her individual schedule and will inform you ahead of time about vacation and holiday weeks. Because tuition is charged monthly and not assessed on a per lesson basis, some months may have fewer or more lessons than others.

Due to the complexity of scheduling in-home lessons, make-up lessons cannot be guaranteed, but may be available upon request and at the discretion of the teacher. Teachers will make every effort not to disrupt the regular schedule, but may occasionally need to reschedule the lessons. In such cases, you will always receive as much notice as possible and your teacher will work with you to find a suitable make-up time in your home, or provide a well-qualified substitute for that lesson.

In case of inclement weather or school closures, teachers may cancel the lessons and make them up at a later date. In such cases, the teacher will email you by 2:00 PM. Weather cancellations are at the discretion of each individual teacher.

Billing

The equal monthly tuition fee is charged to your credit card on the date you choose when signing up. If you need to make any adjustments to your plan, including changing the charge date or updating card info, send an email to info@cincinnatistrings.com and we will take care of it. Lesson cancellation requires 30 days notice and refunds are not available.

Your credit card information is securely processed using a third party application called Moonclerk, with bank level security, full SSL encryption and PCI Service Provider Level compliance.

Instruments, Music, and Accessories

For students renting a violin from us, there’s no need to worry about a thing! We will provide your violin, bow, case, extra strings, rosin, shoulder rest and cleaning cloth. We’ll bring it right to your house and take care of any instrument issues that may come up. 

You may apply rental credit up to 100% of the retail price to purchase the instrument that you are currently renting. If you return an instrument in good condition, allowing for normal wear and tear, rental credit may be applied up to 60% of the retail price of another instrument of similar or higher quality from our current inventory at the time of purchase. 

Rental instruments must be returned in good condition or purchased if lessons are terminated.

These policies are subject to change.