Writing Your Piano Studio Policy: The 5 Sections You NEED To Include
Are you looking to write your New Private Music Studio Policy? Check out the Top 5 things you NEED to have in your studio policy! Remember, your studio policy is your Terms and Agreement between you and your new student.
1) Number of lessons per month and year
Take your lessons from inconsistent to regular with this 1 step! Your students need to know what they are paying for and when they know exactly how many lessons they get each month and how many it equates to a year, then it becomes a commitment for them. It’s the First paragraph in my studio policy.
2) Pricing
Goes right along with how many lessons your students get, now they need to know how much it’s going to cost them. And remember, you are the expert in your field by offering to teach others. That means you should price yourself at a rate that you are comfortable with and that’s also reasonable in your area. The last thing you want to do (speaking from experience here) is undercut yourself and then increase your rates every year to get back up to what you deserve. It doesn’t feel good getting underpaid for what you deserve and it’s a hard thing to increase rates, every year.
3) Missed lessons policy
Missed lessons happen. But they should not be happening all the time. “Missed lessons are not the responsibility of the teacher. Lessons should be a priority for the parent and student.” Excerpt Successful Private Music Lesson Studio Policy Template. Making up lessons not only cuts into your time but also can be difficult especially if you have a family other other obligations. Create a rule on how many missed lessons can happen in the span of 4 months.
4) Terminating lessons
You are running a business, and it’s a business that can be reliably consistent. But, what changes that is when a student quits unexpectedly. You need to create a termination policy that allows enough time for you to fill the slot before that student leaves. Your goal is to decide what your max studio limit is, build your studio to where you have a waiting list, so that when you need to fill a spot, you call your waiting list and offer the new spot starting immediately after the final lesson for the previous student. When you get this timed just right it’s not going to cut into your monthly income.
5) Sign and Date From The Student
And at the end of every policy, have the student and parent sign and date the policy. This way you have a signed copy (contract) with that student and parent that they understand everything before you ever teach the first lesson to the student.
In the end, your studio studio policy should be direct and to the point, so that it leaves nothing to question.
Ready to start building your studio policy? Let me help make it easier for you! Use my Successful Private Music Studio Policy Templates that is already formatted with all 5 of these sections plus more to make sure all your bases are covered! Use the given texts or customize it to fit your needs! Your policy template includes a tutorial video to help you get it filled quickly and ready to hand out!
