Frequently Asked Questions

Does Lessons In Your Home Provide a Trial Lesson Before Sign-Up?

We do have a trial lesson policy. Basically, we complete all the steps for sign-up and have a teacher come out to your home. This includes sending out a welcome email and an invoice from our MyLessons online application for the full first month's tuition and registration fee. If after the first session, you are not satisfied with our services and would like to stop, you are only held accountable for the cost of the initial lesson. What we can't do is schedule a teacher and then have you decide on if you want to continue or not.

Does LIYH Teach Adults Or Just Children?

We love teaching adults. The best part is you'll be surprised at how fast you learn. Learning an instrument as an adult is easier then you think and very fun. For our adult music students, we recommend a 45 or 60 minute weekly lesson.

How Do You Select Your Teachers? What Qualifications Do Your Teachers Have?

Our staff is the number one reason LIYH is special. We select our teachers from colleges, universities, and recommendations from our current staff. We have a tough interview process and even though are teachers come already qualified to teach, they go through a very detailed training process on the Lessons In Your Home way. All of our teachers have degrees or are professionally established in our community. Most importantly, they love to teach music. Each member of our teaching staff has been background checked for criminal history.

Do I Have To Own A Piano To Take Piano Lessons?

Not at all, some students begin piano on smaller keyboards and some begin on digital pianos.  We'd love to guide you in the right direction and help you choose an instrument that's best for your student to learn on. Take a look at this article about starting piano lessons: How Do I Start Piano Lessons  

How Often Should You Practice For A Music Lesson

The age old question of how much should a student practice for their private music lessons. There are many answers because every student is different. Sometimes your teacher will tell you to practice a specific amount of time each week. Sometimes your music teacher will ask you to practice a section of music a set number of times. A fun variation is to practice your age. In any case all of the above and more will be asked of you but in short, consistently is always the best answer. Your teacher would rather you practice 15 minutes per day then an hour and a half one time per week. This is a universal truth.

Can I Choose My Teacher? How Will A Teacher Be Selected?

The most important job we do is bringing you the right teacher. It's a process we take great pride in. Here is the process in short: First, we find out as much as we can about our future students — including age, goals, and experience. Next we consider this information — as well as your location and the days and times you are available — in determining which teacher or teachers on our staff would be the best match. Lastly we schedule your first lesson. If you see a teacher while looking at our staff online that you think will be great, let us know. We won't be sure if we can schedule them with you until we find out the above information.  

Can My Wife and Daughter Take Lessons at the Same Time?

Sometimes it seams like a great idea for two people to learn an instrument together and while it sounds fun, it can defeat the benefit of a truly private lesson. Differences in ages and learning styles make it hard for this to be a reality. Our experience has been that both students will naturally progress at different rates. Learning how to play a musical experience is a joyful experience and gentle encouragement is always an added plus. Parents that take separately from their son/daughter are still able to encourage during lessons and gain the knowledge to help during private practice time from what they have learned. An added bonus is spending more time together and being able to schedule a once or week private practice time where you can share what you have learned with each other and maybe play duets!

What happens if we are not happy with our teacher?

If you are not satisfied with your teacher, we will do our best to coordinate lessons with another teacher on our staff. We want to ensure your satisfaction with the lessons we provide, and we understand that the connection between a student and their teacher is a very important aspect to having enjoyable, engaging music lessons.

Is there a contract?

No, our goal is to give our students the best music lessons. If we do that, we believe you'll stay with us as long as you need us. If you are ever ready to stop, just let us know.

I would like for my daughter/son to get a great foundation. Can we start with intensive lessons, 3 times each week, and progress from there?

Beginning to learn a musical instrument is a once in a lifetime experience for many of our families. We have found that too much too soon can be discouraging for both the student and parents. It is essential that students are introduced to new material during the lesson and use the days in between lessons to practice and improve on those skills before being introduced to others. Personal practice time is the most important part of any lesson!

My child has a learning disability. Do you have teachers with experience with children with special needs?

Yes, many of our teachers can provide adapted lessons to accommodate those who learn differently than others.

Can I take piano and voice lessons together in one combined lesson?

We do have some teachers who teach more than one instrument or subject. If their schedule and location matches with your availability, we're on. If not we can always have two or more teachers that can meet any of your instrument selection needs.

How soon will it be until my child starts playing something I recognize?

Sometime your child will be playing a recognizable song by the end of the first lesson. That being said private lessons are all about the meeting specific needs of a student and following the right path for them is our primary goal.

Will my child be required to play in a recital?

Required, no. Encouraged, yes. Sharing your skills in music is a vital part of why we learn. Music makes people happy and sharing that gift feels good. Our recitals are in family friendly settings where just doing your best is the greatest achievement one of our students can do.

What happens if our schedule changes sometime during the year? Our lesson time works now, but probably won’t work in the next few months.

If your scheduled time works now, you can start lessons with us and discuss with your teacher a new time for lessons when your availability changes, as they are in charge of their weekly schedules and can make lesson time changes with their students at their discretion. Please let your teacher know about the change in advance, and if there is an issue with scheduling between you and the teacher, please contact the office, and we will assist with a solution.

I need to change the day and time of my lesson who should i contact?

Usually the best person to ask first is your teacher. They have been giving authority to alter their current schedule. But you can always ask anyone on our main line about your schedule.

What if the weather is really bad on my lesson day? What do you do about scheduling or crediting me for that?

Sometimes the weather is out of our control. If we have to cancel your lesson do to the weather and you do not reschedule a lesson with your teacher you will receive a credit on your next lesson account statement.

What if we need to stop lessons before the month is over?

Our lessons are billed monthly and so if you are going to need to stop lessons please let us know ASAP. Of course these are private music lessons and if a unique situation comes up let us know and we can address that with you directly.

How does Lessons In Your Home handle “Making up” lessons we have to cancel? What happens if we Cancel a lesson? What if my child is sick?

The first thing to do if you have to cancel a lesson is let your teacher know. Although we don't guarantee a make up lesson your teacher will do his/her best to do so. We do our best because we know that lessons are important to you and they are to us as well. We cannot credit a cancelled lesson. While most students understand the policy, sometimes students are looking for more information on why we have the policies we do. The following independent article hopes to make sense of this issue in the private music lesson world. https://lessonsinyourhome.net/make-up-lessons-from-an-economists-point-of-view/ Make-up Lessons From An Economist's Point of View Article Copyright 2001 Vicky Barham

Does Lessons In Your Home Charge “by the lesson”?

Our tuition at Lessons In Your Home is based on a 48-week year and not based on a number of lessons in any month. Tuition takes into account Thanksgiving (Tuesday-Sunday), winter (two weeks), and Spring break (one week). These are four specific weeks in which lessons are not offered and are factored into normal tuition prices. Summer lessons are pro-rated to the number of lessons you are available for.

How Do Cancellations Work With Lessons In Your Home

There are two types of cancellations within our school. The first is if you're teacher cancels a lesson on you and the second is if you cancel a lesson on your teacher. Your teacher cancels on you: If your teacher cancels your lesson, they will call, email, and or text to let you know with as much notice as they can that they will be unable your make a lesson. Your teacher might ask you about rescheduling but if you or they cannot reschedule the the lesson, they will record the lesson on their calendar as canceled and your account will be credited immediately. If you've already made a tuition payment, the credit will apply to the following months lessons. You cancel a lesson on your teacher: If you need to cancel a lesson on your teacher please let them know as soon as possible. We don't credit lessons canceled by our students but you can ask your teacher if they can reschedule the lesson. We require that you ask about rescheduling at the time you're canceling rather then after the lesson day/time has passed. If your teacher can reschedule the lesson (we do our best) it will be done in one of three ways: You and your teacher will decide on a separate day and time to make up the lesson. OR... Your teacher will double up on the next lesson and teach twice as long as a normal lesson length. Or... Your teacher will add time to multiple lessons. Ex. to make up for a canceled 45 minute lesson, you and your teacher can agree that he will add 15 minutes onto the next 3 lessons. In either case, this will be properly visible on your MyLessons calendar. For cancellations during the summer months please see: Summer Cancellations For cancellations or what to do during holidays please see: Holiday Lessons

Can you teach lessons to my child in his/her school?

Yes, we need permission from your schools administration but we do this all the time. The lessons usually take place after school and the great part is that we can open up a program to teach other students there as well.

How can I get lessons started at my child school?

Call us, we’ll tell you how to get started. The usual process is for us to get permission to do so, and then we’re off to the races.

What kind of Music do you do in the school?

A lot, on a basic level we teach private music lessons. However, we start school orchestras, group keyboard classes, teach elementary music classes, run choruses, support existing music teachers, and more. Please visit the Music In Your School section of this website?

Do we have lessons if our school is closed on our lesson day?

No, we only teach in your school when it is open. We are aware of the day your school is closed though but if you want to confirm please call your teacher.

Can you start a chorus at our school?

Yes! We love running choruses and other types of groups at schools. Give us a call to fin out how we can get singing.

Can we bring Music In Your School into our Home School or group of Home school children?

Yes, and we love working with home-schoolers. We have started home school ensembles of all shapes and sizes, offer general music education classes, and more!

Do you teach group classes?

In school programs we do. A group class can be a group usually of 6 or more students. Typical topics are; group guitar, piano, or violin. We also love music theory, electronic music and recording arts, music history and more!

Do you teach music in preschools?

Yes and it’s a blast. Our preschool music program is called Little Music Makers. It’s a fun curriculum that’s fun and encourages growth in music through expression.

Do your programs have to start at the beginning of a school year?

No, we can start Music In Your School at any time of the year.

Can we pay for lessons automatically?

Definitely. There are two easy wants to set up automatic payments. 1. When you're making a payment via credit card there is a box to select Auto-Pay. If you select this box your tuition will be charged to the credit card you have on file the 7th of every month. 2. Login to your account, go to "my account", then go to "payment methods" and there you can set up a credit card to be charged automatically.

How do I pay for my lessons?

Music Lessons are billed monthly in advance. An invoice for your lessons is sent to your email on the 20th of every month* (unless you have auto-pay selected). This invoice is for the upcoming month and is due by the 10th to avoid a $10 late fee. From the email, click on the "pay now" button and you'll be directed to our login page. Once logged in you'll have access to pay for your lessons via credit card, manage your payment options, and much more. To pay by check, click the pay by check button once logged in. Then you'll be provided with the mailing address and a printable statement on that page. *auto-pay families are not emailed invoices unless their card has expired or is invalid.

I’m not going to be here for Spring Break. Do I still pay for that lesson?

Tuition payments are not for a specific number of lessons but rather a lesson each week. There are 4 specific weeks that are built in to the price of our monthly tuition. They are the weeks of Thanksgiving, Winter Break (2), and Spring Break. Please see our Holiday Policies FAQ's for more info. During the summer months your lessons will be prorated to the number of weeks you schedule lessons.

What happens if our family is out of town for summer vacations?

We understand that you may have family vacations, camps, and other fun activities go on during the summer and we want you to enjoy these moments as much as possible! Therefore in the summer, we offer pro-rated billing for lessons, which means you only pay for the lessons scheduled in the designated summer months (varies by Lessons In Your Home location). https://lessonsinyourhome.net/faq/how-are-my-summer-lessons-pro-rated/  

We are out of town a lot during the summer. We want to continue lessons but not pay by the month, what can we do?

IT’S SO EASY! During the summer, all you have to do is communicate with your teacher about lessons that you will have to miss and you won’t be charged for those lessons. We understand that you may have family vacations, camps, and other fun activities go on during the summer, and we want you to enjoy these moments as much as possible! You will only be billed for scheduled lessons. You can also speak with your teacher about rescheduling in order to make up for any weeks where your family is out of town. We will also be offering online make-up lessons as well as an additional option.

Can we change our lesson day and time just for the summer months?

Yes! Just talk to your teacher and he/she will move your lessons to a day and time that’s great for you. The best part is that when you move your lesson time during the summer you don’t change it for the next fall. All of our lesson days/times will remain the same in fall regardless of any changes you make throughout the summer. If you need to change your day/time for next fall please communicate that with your teacher. We’ll do our best to schedule a new day/time with you.

Can we take off the whole summer and start lessons back next fall?

Yes. Although we love seeing our students as much as possible sometimes it's not possible to take any lessons during the summer even though we do pro-rate summer lessons. Simply tell your teacher or director (person who scheduled your lessons) the date you'll be starting again and we'll be there on that day.  When you do this, you are reserving your day and time in our schedule for fall and are responsible for the first month of lessons even if you decide not to restart in the fall. The latest re-start date your first scheduled lesson day after Labor day. Stressed about making summer lessons work? We even can do on-line lessons during the summer.

When does the summer policy go into effect?

Summer months vary by city location so please ask your teacher or contact your local director (the person who scheduled your lessons) for more information.

I’m only taking 2 lessons this month but my invoice doesn’t reflect that. Why?

Because lessons are billed and paid for in advance, your pro-rated lessons will appear as credits on your next invoice. Our staff of teachers record prorated summer lessons “as the weeks pass”, which is the most common reason your invoice may not be credited when you first receive it. Once a teacher records a prorated lesson your account will be credited. Sometimes, because the number of lessons won’t fully be realized until the end of the month, our system will readjust your account to accurately reflect the number of lessons you had or had scheduled.

How are my summer lessons pro-rated?

Lessons during the summer are prorated to the number of lessons you take or have scheduled in a specific month. Your teacher will work with you in advance to have a clear picture of what your summer months look like and adjust your scheduled lessons with you based on your availability. Because lessons are billed and paid for in advance, your pro-rated lessons will appear as credits on your next invoice. Our staff of teachers record prorated summer lessons "as the weeks pass", which is the most common reason your invoice may not be credited when you first receive it. Once a teacher records a prorated lesson your account will be credited. Sometimes, because the number of lessons won't fully be realized until the end of the month, our system will readjust your account to accurately reflect the number of lessons you had or had scheduled.

We’d like to stop lessons because we don’t know what our schedule will be in September, and we’re taking the whole summer off.

You can stop lessons at any time, but there's a better way. Simply let your director and or teacher know that you'll need to take off the whole summer but want to let them know you want to stay on the schedule. Staying enrolled will make sure you are the first priority for your current teacher to reschedule in September, and you’ll have a spot on their fall roster even though we won't know when that will be in advance. Once we get close to fall we'll work out the details. In this way, you'll stay with the teacher you love and have the schedule you want. If you were to stop lessons, you wouldn't be guaranteed your current teacher. Our current students are our first priority and we want you to stay on our schedule for this reason.

Can We Make Up or Reschedule Summer Lessons

Of course! Rescheduling lessons is easy and there are a number of ways you can reschedule. 1. Double up your next lesson. 2. Spit the lesson you'd like to reschedule into to or three parts and make subsequent lessons longer. 3. Move a lesson by communicating with our music teachers about your availability. Then, do the lesson on a completely different day and time. 4. We can teach an on-line lesson, this may be the easiest way to reschedule a lesson you'll have to miss. Take the lesson over a video call anywhere you have an internet connection, even another country!

We want to take the whole summer off and need to stop lessons and sign back up in September. Can we terminate service at the end of May?

We’re always able to proceed how you’d like, but I’d like to suggest a different plan. Since this is our summer pro-rated season, you won't be charged for the lessons you don’t take in the summer anyways, but by staying enrolled, you'll get to stay with the same great music instructor and have a spot of their schedule in the first week of September.  This saves a lot of time and energy for you.  If you un-enroll, you may not be able to get your preferred time or same teacher in September. Simply tell your teacher or director (person who scheduled your lessons) the date you'll be starting again and we'll be there on that day.  When you do this, you are reserving your day and time in our schedule for fall and are responsible for the first month of lessons even if you decide to to restart in the fall. The latest re-start date your first scheduled lesson day after Labor day. Stressed about making summer lessons work? We even can do on-line lessons during the summer.

What Are Holiday Weeks & How Does Billing Work?

A holiday week is one in which LIYH is closed and there are no scheduled lessons.. At Lessons In Your Home, we have 4 annual, school-wide holiday weeks that are already factored in to our monthly tuition.  These are the weeks of Thanksgiving (Tues - Sun), 2 week Winter Break, and one floating week for Spring Break (follows your individual family or vacation schedule in March / April).  We offer lessons every other week of the year.  In the Summer, pro-rated billing is available. Music Lesson tuition is monthly, and a flat-rate.  We do not bill by the lesson.  This means that your monthly invoice will not fluctuate in longer and shorter months (i.e. more or less than 4 weeks).  Tuition is a consistent amount based on the month we are in, and holidays weeks when no lessons will take place have been factored into the flat-rate tuition rate in advance. Your instructor will remind you of upcoming holiday dates as they near.  Please note -- these are not teacher absences, but rather, a confirmation that our school is closed in our 4 holiday weeks. If you have any questions about holiday weeks, please contact your Director, and they will be happy to assist further!

Next Monday is Memorial Day, are we going to have lessons?

Yes, we teach on all "Monday holidays", If don't want to have a lesson or want to try to reschedule a lesson please speak with you teacher about dong so. If your teacher can reschedule with you the will but we cannot guarantee that a day/time to reschedule will be available for you.

How do you know when my spring break is?

We don't, so please help us by letting your teacher know. Spring Break is one of 4 weeks throughout the school year that we don't teach but since many schools have spring break at different times we'll need your help to know when your is.

Can I learn holiday music?

Of course, becoming a musician is about bring your new talent into all aspects of your life. Please let your teacher know that you are interested. If you have specific music you'd like to play have it ready.

When is the recital?

We host recitals all the time and in different places. Please call or email your local director and we’ll let you know.

Do adult students play in recitals?

They are welcome to but, often times we host separate “adult music gatherings” where a group of adult students get together and share what we are working on with out the kids. It’s common for our teachers to perform at these events as well.

Does my child have to participate in a recital?

No, but we believe it’s an important part of taking lessons. Often times we remember a fear of performing from when we were younger but times our different and our recitals are really a friendly family environment when students are encouraged to do their best. Dress is Sunday casual and students sit with their family up until the time where it’s their turn to play.

What should we wear to the recital?

Sunday casual is best but we have people where everything. We like stress free clothes so what ever makes your student more comfortable is best with us.